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Researchers have not yet figured out who exactly first said the famous phrase: "The road to hell is paved with good intentions," but almost all of them agree on one thing - this sentence is damn true! For thousands of years that humanity has existed, there have always been people who sincerely wished to benefit others - all or only partially. The concept, as always, was nothing but wonderful, but the results were much worse.

This happens at all levels, from, for example, Thanos, who, in order to implement a truly brilliant and outstanding idea of solving the issue associated with overpopulation in the universe, chose the most unsuccessful means to achieve it, up to your neighbor, who, in their frantic desire to improve their surroundings, comes into conflict with those around them. In fact, doing good deeds is not that easy.

When a few days ago in the AskReddit community the user u/WorldsBiggestNarcist asked readers the question: "'The road to hell is paved with good intentions,' what is a real life example of this?", they probably didn't even expect such popularity. Now the resulting thread has over 36.2K upvotes and almost 15.6K various comments, where the given examples are immediately and heatedly discussed. In other words, all the signs of a viral thread are present.

Out of pure good intentions as well, Bored Panda has collected the most popular, interesting and unexpected examples and stories of the original thread in this brilliant compilation, so all you have to do now is to scroll it to the very end, upvote the narratives and ideas you like best, and of course add your own real-life or historic examples in the comments below. And we, on our part, genuinely hope these good intentions will bring no less good things to readers this time!

More info: Reddit

This post may include affiliate links.

#1

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group My parents thought that if they brought us kids to church every week (Wednesday, Friday, Saturday and **all** day Sunday), had us go to private religious schools, and made us volunteer for religious organizations, we'd stay out of trouble and be as zealous as they are. As soon as each of us could, we ran away and never looked back. One of my sisters won't attend a funeral if its in a church!

001235 , Tery14 Report

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#2

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Zero tolerance in schools. Now the bullied kids are being punished.

markedbeamazed , Allison Meier Report

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CrazyKnitter
CrazyKnitter
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I knew someone who was punched in the face in school. No warning, someone just walked up to him and broke his nose. He was suspended for a week. He still has breathing problems 20 years later.

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#3

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group In every War, even the most righteous ones, there were members of the “good side” that were rapists, sadists, plain old vile.

Samurai_IX , bufalu Report

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Fabian Bernard
Fabian Bernard
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Yes, sadly war crimes were also commited by Allies, US and USSR triops on Nazi Germany during WWII

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#4

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group The invention of social media.

When Tom was working at Friendster, I genuinely believe he wanted to build something that allowed people to socialise and communicate in a new and modern way.

On paper, early MySpace is a brilliant concept that made a lot of people realise the potential of the internet.

This concept was that mutilated and turned into what social media is today. Quite possibly the single most socially damaging invention that ever happened. Far away from bringing people closer together, it has turned into a tool that is tearing people further apart, making them feel more disconnected with society than ever- and instead of democratising discussion, it has put even more power into the hands of the elite.

layendecker , Tracy Le Blanc Report

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N Miller
N Miller
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I'll give you a hint about when the rot started. His name is Rupert Murdoch - his company Newscorp bought MySpace. That man has done more damage to modern society than any of the usual go-to's for evil.

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#5

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group The introduction of non-native species as a means of solving an environmental problem.

Addwon , belgianchocolate Report

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#6

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group The introduction of Kudzu for erosion control. It has become invasive and girdles and kills plant life above ground without establishing proper roots, therefore causing soil erosion.

Aldous_Hoaxley , Katie Ashdown Report

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Laura Gillette
Laura Gillette
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

GOATS GOATS GOATS. The good thing about goats is that they are domesticated animals and can be rounded up at the end of the day and taken back to the farm or wherever they are being kept. Unlike wile animals that will just grow and spread.

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#7

I knew a guy that saw a kid trip into the street, since a car was coming the guy grabbed the kid by the arm picked him up and dropped him on the sidewalk. The car missed the kid but clipped the guy and broke a couple ribs.

The car kept going.

The mom of the kid who wasn't paying attention only saw the guy drop the kid on the sidewalk, she proceeded to accuse him of kidnapping and started hitting him. This was on a busy NYC street corner.

He didn't have medical insurance and had to use a free clinic which he couldn't get to until hours of questioning by the police. He had to walk there on his own.

He missed his classes and his teacher didn't buy his story saying it wasn't realistic enough, he was not allowed to retake an exam he missed.

He was already suffering from social anxiety and questioning if he had enough self worth to keep going.

somedoofyouwontlike Report

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PigSquatch
PigSquatch
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Doesn't pay to do the right thing anymore. Has not for a long time truth be told. Everybody is so fucken sue happy thinking it will net them millions in cash.

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#8

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Lobotomy

Surgery to fix the mentally unwell

It sounds so good: no more reliance on medication, you’re good from now on.

But it didn’t work.

The outcomes were awful and it was frequently done without any sort of consent

It all could have been shut down fairly quickly if people were honest about what was happening, but careers and money was at stake….so many unnecessarily suffered

raftsa , meo Report

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Kathleen
Kathleen
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.

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#9

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Once upon a time, I found a wallet on the beach.

Having lost my own more than once, and not having it returned to me, I am aware that it is a stressful life event.

So, my first thought was how to return it quickly.

Looking through the contents, the owner was from out of state and there was no contact information other than the drivers license. Aside from that, only a few credit cards and some cash.

Not knowing how long ago the owner had left, I thought let's just sit here for a while and maybe he will return looking for it since it is the first thing I would do.

After a couple hours of fun and sun we needed to move on; my next best idea was to turn it into the local police station which we found easily enough just down the street.

What I thought would be a quick in and out turned into a full on interrogation session during which I was, at one point, accused of theft/robbery.

It was a bizarre experience, to say the least, which wasted an hour of our day.

notawhingymillenial , Rob and Stephanie Levy Report

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Bill Evs
Bill Evs
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Something similar happened to me. I found a wallet in a hotel car park early one morning so went in and handed it to reception. However they said they couldn't take it so I had a look to see if there was any ID and found a work pass with an email address. Emailed the guy explaining I'd found his wallet and told him I'd be in work till 4 so call me to collect it. Calls me about an hour later and then starts grilling me about how and where I found it. He wasn't aggressive but you could tell from his tone that he thought I'd taken it rather than found it. Yeah, makes total sense I'd take it and then contact the owner to say I had it.

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#10

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Most moral panics?

Stranger Danger: convincing people in the 1970-90s that hundreds of thousands of American children were being yoinked into random cars by evil strangers each year, while downplaying and underfunding the resources that could actually help decrease child abduction.

Child abductions not only never came anywhere near those huge numbers, but it was and still is nearly always a custodial issue or a very close family member. Teaching people to be wary of kidnapping is great; directing all their fears toward vague spooky strangers and not helping people learn how to *actually* prevent kidnapping is kinda s**t.

Much_Difference , Jussi Savolainen Report

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Skulls.N.Succulents
Skulls.N.Succulents
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

1980's : Don't tell anyone anything personal about you (name number address) don't talk to and do not accept anything from strangers 2023 : Let's order food that a stranger delivers to us and have them call us when they arrive and then we can order another stranger to come pick us up from home and take us someplace and make small talk while we're riding about where we are going and why!!

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#11

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Purity culture and the *I Kissed Dating Goodbye* book/movement. It was a response to hookup culture and the "free love" movement of the 60's and 70's, and all of *its* downsides and dangers. But it left people with no idea how to have healthy relationships, sexual dysfunction, and worse. (Not to mention, a net *increase* in STIs and teen pregnancy, as they never learned how to protect themselves and mitigate risks.)

coffeeblossom , Karen Report

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Bonesko
Bonesko
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I don't like the word 'pure' being used for virgins, or for abstinence. It sends a negative message. It implies that you're 'dirty' if your not. Having sex, not having sex, there's nothing wrong with either. It's about what you're comfortable with.

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#12

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Those parents who solve all their kids issues and don't make them "stress" about consequences of their own actions. Their kids just turn into inept and entitled adults who still act 15 for decades and not only have a harder life for themselves but make life miserable for everyone around them too.

Edit:

1)yes it's bad to go too far the other way, raising a child is a balancing act, I get that, but ignoring a child isn't usually from good intentions while spoiling them often is and that was the prompt :)

2) if this sounds like it happened to you, I promise you that you can get yourself out of the cycle. It sucks and it hurts and it's unpleasant, but you can do it if you want to. Get ready to fail, and then keep trying anyway. Persistence will be a new skill, and you will be bad at it. And that's okay.

You didn't do this to yourself, you don't need to feel shame. Digging yourself out however is something you'll be doing yourself, and you can take pride in every step you make it the right direction.

EisConfused , EKATERINA BOLOVTSOVA Report

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#13

We judge ourselves by our intentions and others by their actions.

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#14

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Haiti did not have cholera. A disastrous earthquake hit Haiti in 2010, after the earthquake humanitarian forces from the UN arrived to help, and the Nepalese contingent reintroduced Cholera to Haiti. This epidemic has since infected approximately 850,000 people and killed over 10,000.

scootarded , Kelly Report

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Yeah, okay.
Yeah, okay.
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Who has said it wasn't brought on by the relief workers? It was documented and caused the WHO to change policy on jetting emergency workers from one area to another without a wait period and medical vetting first.

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#15

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group George W Bush admin created subsidies on corn to promote the production of ethanol to be used in fuel, etc. Better for the environment and so forth. Couple of downstream effects:

1) Ethanol in fuel lowers the fuel efficiency, so you have to buy gas more frequently (more of an inconvenience, but that's why fuel with no ethanol is usually slightly more expensive).

2) Corn sold for other purposes than ethanol didn't qualify for the subsidies, so there was a strong financial incentive to sell to ethanol produces instead of for food. This drove the price of food corn (and food that uses corn-derived ingredients) up, affecting poor people the most.

3) The financial incentives were so strong that farmers were buying up cheap land in areas that were very unsuitable for corn production or switching away from crops that would grow more easily if they couldn't afford more land. In western Kansas, corn needs to be heavily irrigated in order to grow. There is an enormous aquifer that stretches from South Dakota to the Texas panhandle. Increased irrigation combine with a years-long drought drained the aquifer to the point that the city of Hays has to truck their water in.

Edited to add line breaks.

Edited again to say thank you for the awardsand the likes, kind strangers!

afwaltz , Pussreboots Report

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David H
David H
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

People also forget that Bush did this as a compromise with Democrats who wanted it, and it was pushed by groups like Sierra Club who had been taken in by special interests groups manipulating enviro groups (Happens more than you think). Many Republicans were against this at the time, and voted against it (though against it bc they wanted that subsidies for natural gas exploration). It was a case of bad science and enviro groups getting manipulated again by special interests groups, and in the end was worse for the environment.

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#16

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group A man named Dr. Spock wrote a handbook for childrearing. It was widely circulated and well received. Many of our parents likely got their childrearing advice from this book.

In it he recognized that babies throw up a lot and therefore recommended newborns be laid on their stomachs to sleep. Unknowingly, this would result in the accidental smothering deaths of thousands of newborns. A huge number of SIDS (sudden infant death syndrome) cases can be laid at his feet.

To this day the back to sleep campaign is still fighting to update parents on what we now know: newborns should sleep on their backs until they can reliably roll over for themselves.

LatrodectusGeometric , Karolina Grabowska Report

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Mabelbabel
Mabelbabel
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The recommendation for prone sleeping arose out of observations in neonatal intensive care in the 1960s. It was found that premature babies with lung issues did better being placed on their stomachs, as that position improved the blood flow to the lungs-it was identical to the situation with the covid pandemic where the sickest patients were put into the prone position. This then made people think that if prone sleeping helped premature babies, it must also help normal babies. Unfortunately, that turned out not to be true. In the UK, a famous TV presenter, Anne Diamond, lost a baby to SIDS in the early 80s. She started investigating and found research from Australia showing back sleeping was safer. Just 4 months after her baby's death, she'd made a documentary about it and that triggered a national public health campaign to promote back sleeping-she undoubtedly helped to save the lives of innumerable babies over the years.

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#17

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group I recall hearing that the person behind the 'like' function of Facebook legitimately just saw it as a nice way for people to show others what they like, or a way to positively react on things - it turned out that it had/has a huge negative impact on social congnition, such as teenagers, especially girls unfortunately, developing depression.

Faoroth , Tobias Dziuba Report

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#18

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Since the abysmal performance of American schools has been in the news recently, "No Child Left Behind" and it's replacement "Every Student Succeeds Act"

America has never had really good public education, but it used to be serviceable. NCLB came in to try and create some milestones and accountability. Instead it made the problem worse. ECSS came in and tried to address it's problems, but changed the stuff that wasn't the problem and left the bad parts unscathed.

Taken all together 57% of highschool GRADUATES can't read at a 7th grade reading level and over a quarter are functionally illiterate.

Twokindsofpeople , xMizLitx Report

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David H
David H
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Well one big statement is false, the second paragraph. Back in 1971 the US was ranked 3rd in the world in Math and 5th in reading (and top 10 in every educational category). Why 1971? because that was the year Nixon created the US Dept of Education, to "fix" education so America would be number 1, and instead we went downhill, education became heavily bureaucracitzed, and more. Also its 1/3 of High School graduates read at a 7th grade level or lower, mostly inner city public schools where the numbers is over 50%, because we neglect those schools.

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#19

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Federally backed student loans. Once money was guaranteed, colleges jacked up tuition and continue to do so, with no end in sight.

DapperSmoke5 , Cindy Shebley Report

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Benjamin Munson
Benjamin Munson
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Once the money was guaranteed *state governments withdrew public support for universities, thereby putting the burden entirely on students. There, I fixed it.

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#20

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group The invention of plastic!

The-Go-Kid , JoslynLM Report

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Alex J
Alex J
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

The modern world wouldn’t exist without plastic. It hurts the environment, but also allowed for amazing scientific advancement that has undoubtedly helped the human race. I think “overuse” of plastic or plastic for convenience is a better idea.

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#21

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Sheltering your kid from every possible problem.

Easywood , Ksenia Chernaya Report

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#22

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group A company in a town I used to live in “employed” a lot of people from the local disability support center, these people had mental disabilities such as Down syndrome and this company “employed them” to come in a few hours a week and “work” - and by work I mean little tasks that gave these employees lives a sense of meaning, purpose and structure. Things like folding pamphlets and stamping papers and they would be paid a small amount for their time, not minimum wage but enough for them to be absolutely thrilled with their “pay” from working.

The government made some changes so that these people HAD to be paid minimum wage (I assume to avoid people being taking advantage of), I am sure they had the best intentions but this company, and many others could not afford to pay all of these people minimum wage and so they had to cut back to only letting 1-2 people work instead of all of the people who were benefiting from “working” for them initially.

It was really sad especially because these people did not understand why they were not allowed to work anymore.

yamsnz , Brisbane City Council Report

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David H
David H
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

where I live the govt pays 2/3 of the salary to meet min wage. That way stores can afford to hire them to do things like stock shelves (they tend to work much much slower), but also saves the govt a ton bc it keeps them active and not in govt expensive runs programs during the day

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#23

Thomas Midgley

A Great scientist. He help to get rid of the problem of petrol causing 'knocking' in engines.... By adding lead to Gasoline

Then he turned his endevours to reducing the amount of Toxic and flammable gases used in Air con and refrigeration systems....... and invented CFC's

ArcTan_Pete Report

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LK
LK
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thomas Midgley "came up with the non-brilliant idea of adding tetraethyl lead to gasoline --despite lead being known as a toxic chemical-- to solve the problem of engine knocking, that is when fuel burns unevenly in the engine's cylinders of an automobile causing noise and potential damage to the engine's cylinder walls and pistons." He knew it was poisonous, bu went a head with it anyway. It's estimated he cause the premature death of 1.2 million people.

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#24

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group My mom called my Christian university (that 17 year old me attended by my parents behest) to inform the school that I was smoking weed, drinking, and having sex. She thought because it was a Christian university, they would put me into a counseling program to get me “back on track.” The school told me to pack my bags, leave immediately and they rescinded the 80% scholarship I obtained, causing me to owe the full 100% for that semester which I’m still paying off a decade later.

- Edit: this comment is getting a lot of traction so I figured I’d add another nugget. After getting kicked out of college, my 18th birthday was the next month. My parents somehow (my dad is a tech nerd so he could hack any account I had) found out that I was going to have a party at a friend’s house to celebrate. There was alcohol and weed at the party. Low and behold my parents called the state police and alerted them of the party. I and 3 other friends got arrested that night. Most charges were dropped or expunged eventually.

- Edit 2: thank you to everyone for your responses! There’s too many comments and dms to reply to so I will answer some here:

- For those saying I got what I deserved or my mom was justified - It takes 2 to tango. My choices played a role for sure. This story was a response to the prompt about good intentions going sideways. My mom had good intentions when she alerted the school of my activity. She didn’t want me to get kicked out and still be paying for it years later but that’s what happened. I don’t claim sainthood in this scenario. I broke the rules knowingly.

- How did my mom know about the partying/sex? I visited home for a weekend and she went through my bags while I was in the shower. She found condoms and a bottle of liquor. She already knew I’d been smoking weed here and there for a couple years at this point.

- I said my dad “hacked” my online accounts to discover I was throwing a party. Excuse my lack of intelligent tech vocabulary there. He had a program or software where he could track key strokes to then discover passwords to my accounts or something along those lines. Similar to what they used to monitor the computers in my high school.

- How is my relationship with my parents now? It’s great. I have forgiven them completely. That doesn’t mean I don’t feel some resentment now and again. Their choices (and mine even more so) made my life very difficult. At my lowest point, I made a plan to kill myself. All of my dreams and potential seemed crippled by debt and a lack of gainful employment opportunities. I lived in a town (technically a village) of 300 people in rural north east, USA. Thankfully, before I was able to harm myself too badly or permanently, I had a “mystical” experience. During that experience, I saw my situation, my parents, myself, and reality from a perspective that was not my own regular waking consciousness. I saw that I could choose to perpetuate pain and suffering by holding onto anger, hate, and resentment for my parents and myself for the choices we made. I saw it was possible to feel joy, to forgive, to repair, to heal. My life didn’t instantly become better the next day, but my perspective shifted to where I wanted to repair the damage that was done. “Anger is the 2nd wound your enemy inflicts upon you” was very applicable in my situation. I could let the anger and hurt dictate what my life would look like or I could choose to cultivate joy, come what may. Holding onto anger and resentment was another form of allowing my parents to control me. The real “power move” is to forgive. To release the hold your “enemy” (for lack of a better term) has over your life through your unhappiness. Behind true forgiveness is where we find freedom. Much love, Reddit.

GunasInFlux , Reb2008 Report

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Lakota Wolf
Lakota Wolf
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

OP is a far better human being than I am. I applaud them and admire them. I don't think I will ever be able to forgive my mother for a childhood of beatings and abuse, but I'm cognizant enough to recognize in others the ability to forgive, and I am jealous XD

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#25

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group On a personal scale trying to help a really drunk person. I'm a woman and talkative and I started talking to another woman at a bar who was really really drunk. She told me her friends deserted her so I said she could hang out with me and my friends as it was my birthday (to keep an eye on her and because she seemed fun). Then she started falling off of chairs and spilling drinks so I encouraged her to get a cab. She started crying how everyone hates her as I was helping her outside but agreed to go home. I got a cab, paid for it because she was a mess, and all of the sudden she got really violent and ended up kicking me in the face trying to get out of the cab because she 'wasn't done'. She pushed me and told me to f**k off but ultimately sat back down in the cab crying.

We had already exchanged numbers so the next day she texted me apologizing profusely and asking if we could stay friends. I told her I appreciated her apology but no thanks.

I will always try to help people where I can but that turned me off from going above and beyond. Plus, you can rarely rationalize with really drunk and upset people.

Zemykitty , Pixabay Report

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Detective Miller's Hat
Detective Miller's Hat
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I lost a long time friend because of this sort of behaviour. I was going through a lot of my own issues and eventually I just couldn't handle her problems anymore. I feel terrible for her, but she refused to get real help and was just an emotional vampire. That was a little over ten years ago, and as of this past year, she is still behaving this way and has lost every single one of her friends because of it.

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#26

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group The D.A.R.E program

youngmcdonald85 , KurtClark Report

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#27

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group The beginning of any political journey I suspect

LibbyUghh , Joe Hall Report

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#28

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Keeping on trying to help someone so desperately that you lose sight of your own actions and end up hurting everyone around you by neglecting your own health and becoming overly defensive of that person, even insulting and attacking others for them.

This can happen too fast when you fall in love with a bad person

Bierbart12 , Anna Shvets Report

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Old Roadie
Old Roadie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Avoid allowing the *wants of others to take precedence over your *needs. It is the essence of codependency. It's toxic.

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#29

Qualified immunity

Addwon Report

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ginny weasley
ginny weasley
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

How was this anything other than asscovering for cops from the begining?

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#30

People giving up all their rights because they believe it will solve problems

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Kathryn Baylis
Kathryn Baylis
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Ben Franklin had something to say about that. To paraphrase, he said those who would give up their freedom for a little safety deserve neither freedom nor safety.

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#31

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group The opioid crisis. Initially it was highly restricted and doctors hated prescribing it because they KNEW how addictive it could be. Well here we are.

Mamanfu , Dave McLear Report

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Qadgop the Mercotan
Qadgop the Mercotan
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I've been a physician for 4 decades, recently retired. I've seen the opioid prescribing pendulum swing back and forth. I condemned the opioid boom of the late 90's and early 2000s for making them much too easily available. I knew it would cause addiction and death. But now I see too many cases where significant traumatic and post-operative pain is treated inadequately, leading to a LOT of suffering and hesitancy to get needed procedures.

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#32

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Harry Frederick Harlow(scientist)

He wanted to prove that humans cannot survive without love and affection.

He needed an animal that was sufficiently humanlike and he settled on rhesus monkeys. Harlow's research went in a really dark direction.

Harlow wanted to prove the importance of early social interaction in social development, and the importance of family and love, but his cruel methods ended up causing some of the monkeys to engage in self-mutilation or starve themselves to death. He raised the monkeys from birth with as little love and affection in isolation chambers for up to 24 months. They became empty shells of living animals.

SuvenPan , Chokniti Khongchum Report

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Kharyss
Kharyss
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Not just monkeys. In the 1940’s and 50’s they did social deprivation experiments of various sorts with human babies. Google “forbidden experiments”.

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#33

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Story:

My uncle took me and my brother in because he wanted us to get a good education. My mom and dad agreed as they knew that my uncle would be able to give us a better shot at making something of ourselves. My uncle's intentions were good.

However, my uncle's wife made our lives hell. She basically mistreated us and my uncle was unable to do anything about it. So his inaction made him complicite.

Even through the hardships, my brother and I still managed to get an education, but my uncle's reputation was affected negatively. Family members don't see him the same way and his wife is really disliked (to put it mildly).

It started with good intentions, but it didn't end well for my uncle.


**Edit**

Hey guys, I appreciate all the comments and perspectives shared. I'm not sure why this post has gained so much attention, but maybe it's because it resonates with a lot of people.


In conclusion, I want to say that what my brother and I went through as teenagers shaped us. My uncle's wife may have believed she was inflicting pain, but in retrospect, she was unknowingly instilling resilience in us. Sometimes when you think you're hurting people, you're inadvertently teaching them the skills that will contribute to their success.


What we went through definitely contributed to our success at different stages of our lives:

-- In university, it gave us the motivation to work hard and excel as we knew it was the key to financial independence and freedom from family influence (including from my uncle and his wife).

-- As adults, it has helped us handle the challenges of work and business and achieve success.

-- Additionally, it has taught us about the kind of women we really don't want to associate ourselves with. I will never be with a woman who mistreats my family. It's not even an option, nor is it negotiable.

ksoss1 , Vidal Balielo Jr. Report

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#34

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group During one of china's extreme dry seasons (think of their dust bowl period) Mao ordered the killing of birds to prevent bird eating seeds and so increase agricultural productivity

instead what happened is that birds that feeded on plants pests were killed making the situation even worse and resulting on the death of millions

a bad dry season, deforestation, missuse of pesticides and a war against nature under his belief that conquring nature was the way to inprove agricultural yield and so the welbeing of their citizens

stupid uninformed decisions even if semingly rational to a layman resulting in one of the biggest human and ecological cost disasters

we still making such decisions from time to time, sometimes for profit on the belief that such will benefit all and sometimes for genuine good reasons

urmomaisjabbathehutt , Aardwolf6886 Report

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Ellie Vanille
Ellie Vanille
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Mao was an idiot. A very charismatic idiot (they are the most dangerous ones). Never believe "the savior". The one person who knows how to rule everything. No problem has one easy answer. Solutions are often complex and imperfect and need the thinking and compromising of many.

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#35

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group A lot of old programs centered around weight and eating disorders just led to kids being more conscious about being judged about their weight despite the intentions of wanting to prevent bullying or healthy weight. It did not even matter if it was anti-anorexia or wanting to decrease obesity. Also in my school they showed us pro-ana sites with like a ''beware!'' message and I also could not help thinking that this talk was the only reason I knew they existed.

Currently the focus is more on eating healthy instead of weight. Still has some pitfalls, such as orthorexia.

PeopleEatingPeople , Magnus D Report

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#36

Giving kids everything they ask for.

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Sarah SH
Sarah SH
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

As a kid I got everything I wanted and nothing I needed. I got a pony for my birthday (seriously), but my parents never really took care of me or taught me how to take care of myself. Money became like an emotional currency for me as I got older. Like if my boyfriend was going to yell at me all the time, the least he could do is buy me things. It took a while (and counseling) for me to see things differently.

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#37

Somalian piracy.

It all got started because white collar criminals from Europe were illegally dumping toxic waste in the water near Somalian fishing waters because it was cheaper to do that than dispose of it properly. This not only killed the fish those villages needed to survive but also resulted in miscarriages, stillbirths, and birth defects. Eventually a bunch of the fishermen decided they’d had enough and, knowing that no one else was going to protect them, motored out to the dumping boats and took the crew hostage, demanding reparations.

Thing is, they made a LOT of money from that. Like, crazy money. Word of that started to get around, and a lot of men fighting in the militias against petty warlords decided to desert and start their own pirate crews to make bank. Suddenly the pirates weren’t just fishermen going after the criminals who were killing their children - now they were greedy mercs going after any boats unlucky enough to enter their territory.

The irony, however, comes when white collar criminals in Europe (sound familiar?) realized that by dropping a few thousand bucks to set up a crew with a boat and some AK-47s, they could stand to make millions back. Sponsoring pirates was an amazing investment in terms of return. Soon most pirate crews were picking their targets based on Intel provided to them by European sponsors.

If anyone wants to know more, read Blood Ransom by John Boyle. Amazing book.

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#38

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group I'll poke a little at my fellow leftists here.


Plastic bags.

Back in the late 90s there was a huge push for people to stop using paper grocery bags because of the amount of trees being cut down for paper.

Unfortunately, it turns out the logging industry can be pretty sustainable (though not entirely faultless!) and plastic bags are unrecyclable and so thin that reuse is uncommon. Instead contributing to massive amounts of plastic pollution in the environment.



Another example is the protest against hunting white tailed deer. Unfortunately we killed their natural predators, and hunting is an effective way of keeping their population at sustainable levels.

Nixeris , Jo Naylor Report

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Old Roadie
Old Roadie
Community Member
1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Deer eat 5 pounds of vegetation per day. They breed at 6 months. Usually have twins. They are so numerous that they destroy entire ecosystems in a single season... stripping vegetation needed by insects, killing slow growth saplings like oak and walnut, trampling habitat needed for ground nesting birds, amphibians and reptiles. They cause 200 fatalities, 10,000 injuries, and $1.2Billion in damages yearly.

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#39

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group 'Helping' someone by enabling them in their self destructive behaviours. Sometimes you help someone by denying them what they say they want.

Metric_Pacifist , Matthias Zomer Report

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CrazyKnitter
CrazyKnitter
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Sometimes the best way to help is to step away or be brutally honest with them.

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#40

Student loans.

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Old Roadie
Old Roadie
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Tech school. Fast track to the workforce in higher paying job without staggering student loan debt. You can always work toward a degree part time.

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#41

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Adobe Flash

zonghundred , Marco Raaphorst Report

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#42

I feel like dynamite is a pretty great example, he literally just made it for mining and was so horrified by people using it on other people he made the Nobel peace prize.

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and_a_touch_of_the_’tism
and_a_touch_of_the_’tism
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1 year ago (edited) DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Different guy, same idea- Fritz Haber. “The man who killed millions and saved billions” by discovering how to take nitrogen out of the atmosphere to use for fertilizer. He also was instrumental in creating the atomic bomb, I believe.

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#43

Neville Chamberlain's policy of appeasing dictatorship in the 1930s

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Lord of the laserprinter.
Lord of the laserprinter.
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I think that history misjudges Chamberlin. Without the appeasement buying enough time for Britain to rearm, the country would have found it´s self woefully unprepared for the coming war with Germany and the world today could well be a very different place.

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#44

"The Road To Hell Is Paved With Good Intentions": 30 Times People Wanted Nothing But Good Yet It All Ended Badly, As Told In This Online Group Trying to rescue too many cats.

Tackybabe , zeevveez Report

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Fabian Bernard
Fabian Bernard
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Depends on how: paired with a neutering and vacciné program, it can allow an acceptable number of stray cats to live their own lives

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#45

The guy that came up with the pesticide that later on got used in the concentration camps comes to mind.

Edit: I might be wrong but I'm too lazy to check (not too lazy to browse reddit at work tho).

Darius117 Report

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Alex J
Alex J
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1 year ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Pretty sure hydrogen cyanide wasn’t invented by this guy, and he, and Bayer (yes, that Bayer) were very willing to be monsters for an extra buck.

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