Ask Lemmy

The point is that you'd also like to have good things done to you.

It really depends on how much you have to do, to be considered as doing 'good'. Do you consider returning a shopping trolley as a good act? It's a simple, small act that you do have to go out of your way to accomplish, and it brings some utility to others, which you might unknowingly be a recipient of.

That's not to say you're expected to return every trolley in the carpark, or that all the evil corporations are actively trying to exploit this for free labour.

Society requires that people do good to exist, while continued Evils tend to slowly destroy their community.

Because helping others around you and "doing good" helps build community, which you are a part of.

If you want to look at it from a selfish perspective, doing good and helping others builds goodwill towards yourself, and sooner or later, you may need to rely on others doing good for you. It's much easier to get help if others think highly of you.

As far as being manipulated, you probably shouldn't just blindly help people who request it. Keep your eyes open and your guard up when dealing with people you don't know or trust.

Dude, looks like you are just looking for an excuse to be an asshole. Don't ask for permission, just go and make other people suffer, if that's what you want. Let's see how far you get with that mindset. Maybe one day you'll be the president of a country. Shrugs

Because you shouldn't want to make the world harder for anyone else, and should be able to put yourself in someone else's shoes and see how they'd feel from your poor treatment of them.