Evil

(xposts)

I suppose I'm interested in what made someone like Dr Harold Shipman kill lots of people apparently just for the sake of it.

Would he be less evil if it benefitted him?
Would he be less evil if it benefitted others?

Why do we like what we like or why are we who we are is a question not answered entirely, it's real meaning of life stuff you're getting at in some ways. I think so, anyway.

Likewise, I'm sure there are many people who've had murderous *impulses*, even randomly, while not acting upon them. What distances Shipman or Fred West from the rest of us is that, seemingly, that "I shouldn't be doing this" aspect has gone, or it just doesn't bother them, or whatever.

Maybe what is and isn't foreign to certain culture's isn't a reliable enough barometer? Where do the parameters lie in war zones? What about concepts like 'honour killing'?

Evil to me is shorthand for actions (and to a certain extent, thoughts*) that damage the ability of a society to function at its best. That's a really general description but I don't have the time (this is kind of a lie).

*I think stevem is OTM about the fact that not doing evil is a choice we make. While from an outside perspective there can be no thoughts that are evil, it is true enough that as individuals we can examine our thoughts and find them to be evil, which is the first step in not doing some of the things we probably think about doing.

Would I be evil if I admitted that I find these late night programmes on suburban couples who engage in gang bangs by night weirdly fascinating?

I drink Coca Cola - am I supporting an evil empire?

Seems to me most evil in fact is tied to selfishness of some kind

Not always of course, but it does bring to mind what Robert McNamara said regarding a nighttime firebombing of Japan by the U.S. that killed 100,000 people, admitting that if the U.S. lost he could have been prosecuted for war crimes.

So is most good.

Yes.

What I wonder is whether the pro-"EVIL" people think that if one doesn't have much interest in the word, one must be in denial. I mean I really really don't think this way about people ("Wait till your daughter gets murdered" yadda yadda). I just think the world and people in it get very fucked up at times. Even if it could be shown that Saddam Hussein and Ian Huntley were sitting there thinking 'mwah ha ha I'm so evil and I will take advantage of these woolly liberals', I really think I'd find it hard to see myself in some kind of cosmic battle of light against dark with them.

"Huntley was a pied paper figure, who lured children into his cave".

hahaha! I love that song.

Seems to me most evil in fact is tied to selfishness of some kind

-- ermes marana (ermin...), December 17th, 2003

Bingo. To me the worst crimes in existence can always be boiled down to thievery of some sort (murder is the ultimate act of thievery).

Evil is the absence of good. Evil is a violation.

But I do like what Ghandi said about confronting what was evil in ourselves before we fought evil outside of ourselves.

Then again, I don't think this goes against the Christian myth. In fact I think it is consistent. Ghandi did say in his autobiography that he thought Christianity was perhaps the one perfectly true religion. Unfortunately he experienced racist Christians, and was disenfranchised as a result...

Couldnt we also say natural evil exists and that many good things flow from confronting it, ie it allows people to be at their very best (or worst), what about the role of evil in character formation, could we not argue that far from being a non issue evil allows ouselves to be fully human?

That's evil,
Evil is goin' on wrong.
I am warnin' ya brother,
You better watch your happy home.

(Spoken: You better catch him, 'cause somethin' wrong, in your home.)

Well, if ya call her on the telephone,
And she answers aweful slow,
Grab the first train smokin',
If you have to hobo.

That's evil,
Evil is goin' on wrong.
I am warnin' ya brother,
You better watch your happy home.

If you make it to your house,
Knock on the front door,
Run around to the back,
You'll catch him just before he go.

That's evil,
Evil is goin' on.
I am warnin' ya brother,
You better watch your happy home.

--"Evil" by Howlin' Wolf

i guess emotionally it seems religious though. the idea of evil seems more fitting and less horrendous given the idea of an overwhelming good.

This doesn't mean I think murderers, rapists, dictators etc. are anything other than absolute bastards, just that it's not at all useful to explain away that kind of behaviour by saying 'They did because they are EVIL!'

waaaah evil

^^^the last 3 days on this fkn website

Evil is defined by bad deeds done for no reason
Like putting powder in the restaurant seasoning

The most hard for the least good

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2015/08/31/its-now-or-never-texts-reveal-teens-efforts-to-pressure-boyfriend-into-suicide/?tid=pm_pop_b

I saw that on Gawker, really having trouble understanding why she would do that. Evil sounds right.

I was wondering if she couldn't have genuinely believed he was better off dead. grim thought but maybe the kindest interpretation idk.

jfc that is disturbing read
maybe sthing of munchausen-by-proxy to it
but i'm fine with calling it evil

“Not yet LOL,” he replied.

yep, that's definitely evil.

also evil: when people on the internet start calling her family with death threats, which has probably already happened, because lol, the internet.