Evil Redux Again: Commenting on the Comments

5 Responses to “Evil Redux Again: Commenting on the Comments”

1. Marly says on 5/19/06 at 9:13 am:
   

   Thanks!

2. Marly says on 5/19/06 at 9:48 am:
   

   I’m so glad you feel that way, btw!

3. goddess says on 5/19/06 at 10:36 am:
   

   see, this is what i thought about the gemini chick who was worried she was too scattered for her virgo man…her friends had said their combined chart was a disaster and she was worried she didn’t have much to offer him. hogwash! love is never “not enough” to offer someone.

   and it’s kind of like your question about evil people, too. you have the energy. you have the forces and the factors pulling you one way or another. but it’s always you’re responsibility how you choose to express it.

   thanks, e. you make me think.

4. isthmus nekoi says on 5/20/06 at 11:46 am:
   

   Let’s not forget the role of context in determining who gets called evil and who doesn’t. A few random examples:

   What about sociocultural norms? Some people still think certain human groups (eg homosexuals, Muslims, Americans etc) can be homogenized and deemed evil.

   What about changes in environment? The skilled psychopath can be a reputable community figure in a major corporation, but a dangerous evil criminal if that business happens to be… I don’t know, trafficking drugs.

   What about indirect evil? Take for example, the fascist regimes of WW2 Germany and Japan. Was everyone supporting those nations evil? What about those supporting nations engaged in the brutality and evils of colonialism and now, neocolonialism, neoliberalism or whatever you want to call it?

   I don’t think we can ignore context when it is so important. It’s easy to point at extreme individuals, oversimplify the situation and think, “oh but I/my friends/my family etc could never be evil.” As Elsa has written, energy is energy.

5. Toni says on 5/21/06 at 12:09 am:
   

   I think that that’s the point a few of the bloggers were trying to make- that ‘evil’ is a clunky, puritanical word that gets bandied around far too easily. The actions of Nazi supporters, missionaries, suicide bombers etc are horrific after a dose of hindsight and liberalism but not ‘evil’. That is because for the most part the actions were executed with a clear conscience. (There were ppl who knew the nazis were bad news but did nothing, but I won’t go into that here.)

   I don’t classify people who do damaging, horrible things that they believe are GOOD things as ‘evil’.

   I will write a true story exemplifying what I consider to be an ‘evil’ person. (It’s a long story, sorry. I’ll try to be as concise as possible.)

   When I was very young we lived in a small town. My father was the local doctor and one day got called in to the prison to conduct an examination of a convicted child molestor and murderer.

   Now, my father is an absolute scientist. He doesn’t believe in anything he cannot smell, touch, taste, prove is there. He thinks astrology, reincarnation and god are emotional crutches invented by flakes and lost people.

   I don’t know what happened when he examined this man, but he came home staring with his hair on end. He said then and many times since if he could have his way ‘that monster would never see the light of day again.’ What convinced my father, the most reasonable, humanist man I know that this individual was evil? Well…

   A few years later the paedophile was released. Less than a week after he was released a little boy went missing off some rocks at a fishing point near the town. When his body washed up he was naked and had cuts and abrasions ALL over, including around his rectum. The whole town knew it was this man. Nobody had any proof. So he left for another town, another lot of children to abuse and kill, without punishment. He may have started life as a reasonable human being but by the time I knew about him he had lost his soul for good. THAT is what I consider evil.

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