December 7, 2007 8:48 PM GMT
Oh geez, Marsha is opening her mouth again, watchout. My opinion is there is good and bad. Evil is the epitome of bad, meaning the continual intentional causing or wishing of extremely bad things upon a person or place. Obviously who is acting in an evil manor is up to the individual, but calling someone evil just because you don't like them is ridiculous as was Q's statement about Cheney and Bush being evil. They may have made some bad decisions, whether misinformed or whatever, but their intentions were not bad. Chances are Clinton was Q's favorite president and He and Hilliary both believed Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, so get over it. Serial killers and the likes are evil, Are we therefore evil ourselves for wishing those people removed from society, I don't think so.
While I'm on a roll why not one more jab for the evil Bush haters out there. Bush's Patriot Act and spying on americans is thought to be so bad, check your history books folks, Robert Kennedy wiretapped Martin Luther King. Maybe I'm evil for continually, intentionally, pointing out the hypocircy of Bush haters. Thing is I don't wish any of you ill well, your welcome to your opinions, just understand not everyone believes like you do and they might just point out the other side. In the end we all want the same thing, how we get there is debatable.
December 9, 2007 9:38 PM GMT
Really good conversation happening in this thread for sure.
Some stuff Marsha said made me want to say that our differing opinions are proof for the subjectivity of evil. BUT, I thought about it and I don't know if you believe that. Just because Marsha believes that Bush's actions are not evil just maybe bad choices or misguided DOES NOT mean that her view is correct. Now it is hard to know whether her or mine or anyone else's view is correct. But, someone must be right on this issue. Either Bush is misguided or he did what he did out of malicious intent. There is no real half way with malicious intent. In my opinion Marsha just does not have the facts about this issue. BUT like I said its hard to know what is true and not about a subject with so many secrets.
Anyway, let me state though that I think that Bush and Cheney should be tried for war crimes. I think that they are causing the destruction of life for their own personal gain. That is my opinion and we should prob start a new thread debating this topic.
And... please don't assume that I am an all out supporter of Clinton. I think he was better than Bush as far as internal policy but is still part of the imperialistic machine that the US has built. But this is another thread also.
Back to the idea of evil. I liked Robyn's idea about evil being a continuum especially if that were to be some sort of spectrum say to rate how evil a person is. To go along with this idea and bring a little science into it, I want to reiterate the case that no one is completely evil. A person can move further down the continuum but just as absolute zero is impossible to attain so is absolute evil.
I dunno if that idea is as clear as I wanted it to be. But, such is life. Tell me what you think
Summer Sunshine Q
December 11, 2007 5:12 PM GMT
Actually we do adopt a sliding scale of evil in our own attitudes and understanding of the difference between right and wrong. Certainly the Justice System takes a Utilitarian approach to crime and punishment. If concepts such as good and evil, love and hate inhabit the human psyche in equal measure then how do we distinguish between them. How do we make our choices, and is it a question of choice at all. And if we hate someone ( and hate is a powerful emotion ) why do we not act accordingly. What prevents us all from behaving as our darkest desires tell us to. Is it because we are taught to know better, is it out of fear of punishment, a sense of guilt, is it because in the end love conquers all! Why are wars between nations rarely as bloody and venal and full of hatred and loathing as civil wars. Because we hate our neighbour far more than we hate any foreigner. In times of peace we show restraint, remove the shackles of mutual self-interest and common decency, and the freedom we are possessed of is not that desirous of love, compassion and understanding, but the freedom to hate without restraint.
December 6, 2007 5:11 PM GMT
I believe both are very subjective terms depending upon one's point of view, your example of the US and Iran captures this very well, they each believe the other to be evil. It also depends of course upon your own moral standards of what is and is not acceptable behaviour. Like black and white, one cannot exist without the other and they can at times be separated by a very thin line which is all too easy to cross. Particularly in the heat of the moment.
Nikki