Sundays occasionally render me in a contemplative recognition; such is no different at this moment, for I am wont to consider what I call the “nature of evil” which, for me, begs four master questions:
- Is there true Evil?
- Can persons actually be Evil?
- Can one, then, attempt to reason with Evil?
- Can Evil even recognize Reason?
I would care for your thoughts. This has a great deal to do with our current world and worldview philosophies, on many fronts and many levels, national and political.
I myself wholly believe in the existence and prosperance of Evil. I have viewed it, seen its wastes, smelled its stench in the night, known people who canonized its name, seen its carrion-strewn carcasses, looked it directly in the eye and understood when it wished to kill me.
A smattering of the innumerable cases I handled:
– A mother smothered her child by putting her head in a Ziploc bag; she left the child in her crib, called to schedule a nail appointment. The child, sick, kept her from a bowling appointment and a prior nail appointment. We found her stirring soup on a stove with a dead baby in the other room.
– A high schooler, angry at having been fired from a pizza job, returned with a gun and robbed the store, shooting his once-best friend because “he should have quit after I was fired, if he was my friend.” In the interview, he was not to blame because “the doctors should have done a better job saving him.”
– A couple had decided to split up; in the process of determining who received what, an argument ensued over who owned the batteries in the TV remote. One spouse shot the other in the neck and then removed the batteries from her dead hand. The pulsing arterial spray hit the white apartment wall from a distance of 5 feet away.
– As he had lost face and was losing control of the relationship because his wife was suddenly making more money than he, a former star collegiate football player from an incredibly successful and heavily-monied family (and an obsessive-compulsive neat/control freak) peaked one night when his son would not be quiet. He struck his 5-year-old on the head, caving in his skull and killing him. His pregnant wife walked in seconds later and observed the scene. She too was killed as was the fetus. To obviate his guilt he doused all the bodies with gasoline and lighted them all on fire, blaming an unknown and unseen assailant.
I ask you again:
— Is there true Evil?
— Can a person actually be Evil?
— Can one, then, attempt to reason with Evil?
— Can Evil even recognize reason?
Your thoughts?
BZ
There are sooooooo many examples that I don’t know how anyone could ever think there wasn’t evil. So yes to the first 2 questions. And no to the last 2.
LMC: PRECISELY!
BZ
LMC said it all for me … there is no bloody way you can reason with evil. It can only be permanently isolated, or executed. No other solution applies.
At the risk of being redundant: PRECISELY. And to do what I call the Logical Extension: how, then, can we as a nation, or yours as a nation, even remotely begin to “reason” with an entire religion that espouses death for non-believers, death for Infidels, that has no central ruling core, or individual, that CHOOSES death over life, that CHOOSES to live in the Dark Ages, that CHOOSES to oppress 50%+ of the planet in terms of the sexes?
If you cannot sit down for an extended exposition with a mindset like that — then what CAN you do?
How do you FIGHT or, at minimum, ameliorate Evil?
I am at a loss. I am awaiting further instructions.
BZ
Going by the dictionary definition?
(morally wrong or bad; immoral; wicked)
Is there true Evil?
Yes.
Can persons actually be Evil?
Yes.
Can one, then, attempt to reason with Evil?
No. and Yes.Sometimes.
Can Evil even recognize Reason?
Sure, why not, but they don’t care.
Jenn: Yup. My point is being made by everyone visting here. My absolute thanks.
Further, I would ask: how many Left leaning individuals actually believe Evil exists? Few. But moreover, how many believe that, if it might exist in some kind of sorta benign form, it can be “reasoned” with?
I would wager: the bulk of Lefties.
If ONLY we could all sit around a table at Starbucks and. . .
Well, you get the point.
BZ
Of course it’s “yes” to the first two and “no” to the second two, BZ. I’ve also seen evil up close and personal. There is absolutely no way to reason with it!
It is a fact that I have personally found out through experience that the only way to protect oneself from evil is to be stronger than the person performing evil acts. Evil will not listen to reason and evil will never stop until it is stopped by force! We cannot, either on a personal level or a national level, expect to use diplomacy and get anywhere at all. I wrote a post recently with “Beauty is as Beauty Does” included in the title. “Evil is as evil does” is equally true. It can be recognized by it’s actions of violence. How incredibly stupid of the left not to recognize that inarguable fact!
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Hey BZ and everyone else:
Gayle, your comment is totally spot on! YOu guys are right in that a lot of liberals don’t believe evil exists.
I believe that people make deals with evil and at some point in their life, they make a CHOICE to be evil or not.
I believe that there are evil forces and spirits that we cannot see but feel all of the time.
I once was in a room with a few guys and a girlfriend of mine. I kept feeling a sense of breathlessness and heaviness in my chest. I wanted to get out of that room! I later found out that each one of those guys had spent time in San Quentin for felonies, and I believe one was a murderer who had served his time.
Needless to say, I got out of the situation but the scariness of being in the presence of such men was palpable.
It wasn’t that they looked thuggish or anything, but rather how they interacted and communicated.
After all is said and done, BZ I do think EVIL is quite real and that some folk choose to be EVIL>
Mahndisa: I do concur that I feel some persons have actually made the choice of Evil. It is very alluring and very intoxicating.
BZ
Evil doesn’t have a reason and doesn’t need a reason. Its inherently senseless.
I feel at least some need to disagree with this opinion, simply because there has been no other dissenting opinion so far, and I don’t believe that something as important as the true nature of humanity should be entirely uncontested. I’m struck by the examples offered on the page. Yes, they are truly horrific, but isn’t it entirely possible that rather than knowingly committing an act that these individuals would define as entirely evil, they were caught up in a more human desire, such as greed or envy or anger? true EVIL, in my definition, would have to be the very contradiction of the individual’s established moral code, and in these cases, they do NOT contradict themselves. Now, while these may be sick, sick individuals, and they are not capable of being reasoned with (that point I entirely agree upon), isn’t it at least possible that these individuals are not evil, but rather mentally ill to the point where they no longer fit in with the rest of society’s moral standards?
I’m not saying that they were right, and I’m not saying that they shouldn’t be punished for their actions and removed from society. I AM saying that humanity is not a morally perfect system, and I’m not sure whether it’s possible to make the case that these people are “pure evil” without some sort of base knowledge of their actual personalities.