What do you think evil is?

[MaskedOne]

Re: What do you think evil is?

What. The. Fuck.

Okay, I'm gonna puke and then spend time sharpening a machete and plotting violent deeds. That does provide one possible answer to my challenge at least in regard to whichever particular sterling examples of idiocy believe it. Rape peads to immortality. I should know better than to ask for the motives of scum.

[LadyGarnetRose]

Re: What do you think evil is?

Evil is the absence of good. It is not an entity unto itself rather it is the description of what happens when good is completely removed.

[Tylluan Penry]

Re: What do you think evil is?

I really hate it when people do something horrible and say 'The devil (or whoever) made me do it.' Evil is not an entity. There are evil people, evil deeds, and yes, sometimes evil entities, but evil itself is not an entity. Neither is good. At least, that's my opinion.

I don't believe personally that anything is totally good or totally evil. Good people can do some awful things. Horrible people can perform unexpected acts of kindness.

So in reply to the original headline, 'What do you think evil is?' I would say it's the result of a choice that someone very ordinary has decided to make.

[Clive]

Re: What do you think evil is?

What about something like what the Jigsaw Killer did in the Saw movies? I personally think those movies (aside from the first one) suck, but the premise is interesting: This person kidnaps people whom he feels are abusing and wasting the gift of life - men who cheat on their wives, drug addicts, and so forth - and puts them in a situation where they have to use their brains or die. He makes a valid point, but his methods are violent and gruesome to say the least.

Putting somebody in a situation where they have to think fast or die in the hopes that they make it out alive and adopt a new gratitude for their own life. Is that evil?

[Eryx_UK]

Re: What do you think evil is?

My personal opinion is that good and evil are purely human concepts. We just view things in a certain light based upon our society and personal values.

[Ophidia]

Re: What do you think evil is?

Putting somebody in a situation where they have to think fast or die in the hopes that they make it out alive and adopt a new gratitude for their own life. Is that evil?

I don't feel it's 'evil' so much as misguided, narcissistic and flawed. You can't make people change - it's why interventions tend to fail. What makes the perpetrator of the act believe that they are the one who should place the other person in that situation in the first place? And chances are, the victim isn't going to have a new-found sense of gratitude - they're going to be traumatized and possibly haunted by PTSD among other psychological problems.

[sadodosah]

Re: What do you think evil is?

I think evil is based on who is on the other end of the act which is being scrutinized. It is subjective to the community, country or person involved.

For my one part, I tend to consider people to be evil when they do things which affect me or my loved ones negatively. And I am not swayed by their circumstances or knowledge when they committed the act.

The more you repeat such actions, especially if you show enjoyment the more evil I believe you to be.

Further, I do not consider negativity to be innately evil and equally I think that positive things can be evil.

In the case of the Devil and other entities, I would refer to my opening statement. If the 'good' ones did what the 'evil ones' did, it would be good and not evil even if the action was the same. Thus I don't class bodies, or parties or entities as evil until they have interacted with me directly.

[Bjorn]

Re: What do you think evil is?

I cannot define evil in words. Not at 11am and no breakfast yet, that shit just ain't happenin'. However, I do think that BEHAVIOR can be evil, and I think even good hearted people can have moments of it.

I'll use examples

- molesting children is evil
- beating/abusing/raping/intentionally hurting people is evil
- beating/abusing/intentionally hurting animals is evil
- murder is evil

I use such extreme behavior because evil is an extreme word. There is good and bad behavior (and I don't give a flying flip what anyone says, everyone KNOWS what good and bad behavior is), but Righteous and Evil behavior is something else entirely. Good behavior might be holding doors open for people, or giving up your seat for an old lady. Righteous behavior would be like... giving your own bread bowl to the starving child and going without. Evil behavior might then be stealing that bread bowl from the child and having two bread bowls to yourself.

Again, it's difficult to pinpoint such wiggly concepts with words.

[Clive]

Re: What do you think evil is?

I use such extreme behavior because evil is an extreme word. There is good and bad behavior (and I don't give a flying flip what anyone says, everyone KNOWS what good and bad behavior is), but Righteous and Evil behavior is something else entirely. Good behavior might be holding doors open for people, or giving up your seat for an old lady. Righteous behavior would be like... giving your own bread bowl to the starving child and going without. Evil behavior might then be stealing that bread bowl from the child and having two bread bowls to yourself.

Again, it's difficult to pinpoint such wiggly concepts with words.

Indeed. I think those of us who aren't deranged can agree on your examples of good, bad, righteous and evil behavior. An interesting question that follows is whether or not the acting person's intentions color the nature of the act. Do acts of good such as giving away money with no expectations of repayment become evil when the giver is doing so to boost his or her ego? Does it then become a shameful act of unhealthy pride? Or is the fact that someone received help and was better off for it all that matters?

It seems that most of our thoughts of what evil is pertain to acts of harm against others - assault, theft, murder, rape - but what of harmful acts inflicted upon oneself? Are self-mutilation and suicide, for example, evil?

[Bjorn]

Re: What do you think evil is?

Indeed. I think those of us who aren't deranged can agree on your examples of good, bad, righteous and evil behavior. An interesting question that follows is whether or not the acting person's intentions color the nature of the act. Do acts of good such as giving away money with no expectations of repayment become evil when the giver is doing so to boost his or her ego? Does it then become a shameful act of unhealthy pride? Or is the fact that someone received help and was better off for it all that matters?

It seems that most of our thoughts of what evil is pertain to acts of harm against others - assault, theft, murder, rape - but what of harmful acts inflicted upon oneself? Are self-mutilation and suicide, for example, evil?

Intent is the driving force of all human behavior. I would suggest that intent does not color the act itself, but the actor. If I wanted to boost my own ego by giving someone who truly needed money some of mine, then this falls into interpretive thinking. To the person who is receiving money, I am a godsend and have acted Righteously. That is their personal Truth given the information at hand. For them to think that perhaps I was giving under false pretenses, or with ulterior motives might color THEIR behavior and make them less grateful.

A good deed is a good deed. It matters not the intent because the deed is done for someone else and that person benefited. However, MOTIVE can be purely evil. But to say that motive colors the output is not always true or fair. Regardless, I gave that money to someone who needed it. I did a good thing for that person, as well as a good thing for myself. In that example, I don't see why this can't be good behavior on both parts because at the root of it, I am making myself feel better not by harming, putting down, or belittling, but by lifting up and helping.

[Yazichestvo]

Re: What do you think evil is?

Intent is the driving force of all human behavior. I would suggest that intent does not color the act itself, but the actor. If I wanted to boost my own ego by giving someone who truly needed money some of mine, then this falls into interpretive thinking. To the person who is receiving money, I am a godsend and have acted Righteously. That is their personal Truth given the information at hand. For them to think that perhaps I was giving under false pretenses, or with ulterior motives might color THEIR behavior and make them less grateful.

A good deed is a good deed. It matters not the intent because the deed is done for someone else and that person benefited. However, MOTIVE can be purely evil. But to say that motive colors the output is not always true or fair. Regardless, I gave that money to someone who needed it. I did a good thing for that person, as well as a good thing for myself. In that example, I don't see why this can't be good behavior on both parts because at the root of it, I am making myself feel better not by harming, putting down, or belittling, but by lifting up and helping.

For the most part, I agree. However, I think just the fact that someone attaches part of their self-worth to their generosity is a sign of goodness.

[Danial McCoy]

Re: What do you think evil is?

Evil is a term, like good, bad, ect... that is subjective to the viewer and has no basis in objectivity. Like all subjective terms evil exists to positively or negatively reinforce the personal perspective of the viewer. It simply does not exist outside of the human mind. To borrow an old and overused phrase:

"There is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so." - from Hamlet , Wm. Shakespeare; Act II, scene ii

This is how evil is currently viewed in my own little world haha!!

[Denarius]

Re: What do you think evil is?

Good and evil are nothing more than ideals, but they are based on and rooted in something I believe is far more important and fundamental to the human experience: Instinct and rationality.

Morality is just an extension of what we think and how we feel.

[Eveningale]

Re: What do you think evil is?

To me 'evil' is just a word. A word used to describe things which are considered to be bad. Good, evil, to me they are just descriptive words which us humans created in need of making norms all humans are expected to follow. In need of an order.

'Evil' is a very strong word that people use to judge each other for their believes, doings, ways of living or pretty much just anything these days. Yes, murdering or raping someone isn't an rightful act, but I think we should look deeper into things before going after their heads. No one is born with a weapon in his/her hand. There are other reasons than just being 'evil' why people do these horrible things we see as 'evil'.

And well, what you see as 'evil' might not be 'evil' to someone else. Cultural differences should never be forgotten when talking about these things.

But to me it's just a word.

[Louisvillian]

Re: What do you think evil is?

To me, "evil" is a consistent attitude and pattern of behaviour of immoral or unethical action. While "immoral" is usually simply discounted as a relative concept, constantly changing between cultures and religions and so is not relevant to the modern experience. I have a belief that human-created morality is capable of being objective. It just takes time and thought to find the best system. One that works for everyone and provides for a way to achieve a virtue or "highest Good" as Aristotle said.
My morality is based around the Aristotelian ethic of reciprocity and a Kantian consistency of action; all people ought to treat others the way those people wish to be treated in order to achieve happiness for oneself and others. While how to treat those people will vary from person to person and situation to situation, and therefore be subjective and not absolute, I believe this to be an objective moral system. It proposes that the highest moral Good is happiness, for oneself and others. An objective ideal or virtue, rather than one that change with the times and culture.
In such a paradigm, "immoral" would be actions that inhibit the happiness and freedom of oneself and others.

Some say that it's wrong for people to make judgements about good and evil, or to judge people or cultures as evil or bad. I say that there's a reason we have a sense of judgement. We just have to use it properly.