Do you believe in the concept or example of `evil'

[Terwilliger]

...like "evil" Bush or "evil" terrorists or "evil" "monster"...that kind of thing?

OnEdit: gotta remember I cant put anything in quotes in the subject line :eyes:

[LuLu550]

1. yes!

See this guy???? :evilgrin: I rest my case!

[jus_the_facts]

2. perspectives.....if there's no evil....then there's no good either.....

...or some such fundy bullshit! :D

[Terwilliger]

3. How have you been?

Hope things are well down there :hi:

[jus_the_facts]

7. Hey Robbie....jus sittin' here chillin'....listening to some Sabbath....

....partaking of the herb bearing seed o'happiness....postin' lyrics amusing *myself* it seems....no worries....uhhhh til the LSU game comes on lol! :smoke:

:hi: hope alls well wit choo out on the west coast! :pals:

[jus_the_facts]

31. Well it's 24/0 LSU.....*wickedly evil grin*

:evilgrin:
......AND.....I'm listening to 1999...DMSR is on RIGHT NOW!! *asses wigglin'* :D

.......MAKE THAT 31/0 LSU LSU LSU LSU LSU LSU!!! :crazy:

[leftofthedial]

4. evil is a perfectly good adjective

I had an evil hangover the other day.

My mother in law is evil (not really).

The invasion of Iraq was evil.

It is not something that can be incarnate though. There is no reservoir of purely negative "stuff" somewhere waiting to be unleashed.

So, practical, literal "evil"--yes.

Supernatural or metaphysical "evil"--no.

[Terwilliger]

5. umm

yeah, I can see using even as a catch-all type word...like fuck, shit, or Smurf...

but truly, aren't you using it in these contexts because of the original definition?

[Darranar]

14. Agreed, leftofthedial...

though I generally prefer the word "immoral" over "evil" because evil can seem to convey a supernatural element.

[Nikia]

6. Yes

Some people and concepts are good respresentations of evil. I haven't decided theologically exactly what form it exists but things like hate and greed are part of it.

[NashVegas]

8. An Interesting Definition of Evil

Comes from James Carse, author of Finite and Infinite Games which EVERYONE should read:

Evil is the termination of infinite play. It is infinite play coming to an end in unheard silence.

...

Evil is not the attempt to eliminate the play of another according to published and accepted rules, but to eliminate the play of another regardless of rules. Evil is not the acquisition of power, but the expression of power. It is the forced recognition of a title - and therein lies the contradiction of evil, for recognition annot be forced. The Nazis did not compete with the Jews for a title, but demanded recognition of a title without competition.** This could be achieved, however, only by silencing the Jews, only by hearing nothing from them. They were to die in silence, along with their culture, without anyone noticing, not even those who managed the institutions and instruments of death.

** you know, that reminds me a little of the 2001 RW talk of how Al Gore was trying to steal George Bush's presidency. Baker and company demanded recognition of Bush's title, didn't they?

[OneBlueSky]

9. evil is simply the absence of good . . .

much as darkness is the absence of light . . .

[Deja Q]

10. Evil is more than the terrorists Bush keeps harping on about

Evil is also what corporate america has done to America and the rest of the world.

corporate america (the the politicians who support them) is also the root cause for the evil everybody else has against us.

And our society prefers to blast away symptoms rather than annihilating problems.

So the evil will remain.

[rbnyc]

11. I think that evil is...

...the inability to see/feel from another's point of view, or the refusal to do so.

[SOteric]

12. Yes, but in my concept of evil, it's not particularly political

'Evil' to me is a level of superlative dark in a world painted several thousand shades of grey. I believe there is an evil, but most things are only tinged with it to one degree or another.

It takes an evil the depths of Jeffrey Dahmer to darken all the way to near black. It takes a complete and nauseating disregard for 'other' to the benefit of one's own petty gratification.

That doesn't mean the Bush junta hasn't acheived such a thing. Certainly, Hitler did, Mustafa Kemal Ataturk did; Antiochus Epiphanes V... There've been several truly evil people in human history. Bush is not out the woods for consideration.

[Swede]

13. Genuine evil is here and it walks the earth

A lot of what we call evil is only the law of the jungle. Or else it is an insane mind. Some of the barbarity is political.
But some of it cannot be explained.

[sistersofmercy]

15. Yes and Doctor Evil

[xJlM]

16. Science can't prove there is a god

But they can prove there's a force of evil in the universe. If you look at the actions of some men, the answer is pretty obvious.

[Terwilliger]

17. Why I posted this poll: there is no evil

there is no such thing

People are deranged or psychopathic, not evil.

There is no "evil force" in the universe...all springs from nature, and there is no evil in nature.

I think the concept of evil has sprung from the same sources that gave us god concepts...an artifice of men to inspire their flocks to fear. If something unexplained was transformed into evil, then the ignorance was restructured into an abject fear, which spawned so many other ignorances.

"Evil" is something that makes people afraid.

[xJlM]

18. This sounds like an opinion

If that's all this was about, wasn't it about a waste of time?

[Terwilliger]

21. excuse me...why is an opinion about it wrong?

there's nothing scientific bout evil

[Terwilliger]

24. you'll notice quite a few disagreeing with your certitude

[sistersofmercy]

19. I agree to certain extent but...

some really do lend themselves to the concept of "evil." Such as Hilter, Ted Bundy etc. But if you had said devil, I'd completely agree.

[Terwilliger]

22. well, that's nonsense

these people are (were) psychopathic...if they weren't, then we'd have to consider them dangerous anti-social, etc.

there is no evil here...evil is an otherworldly concept

[sistersofmercy]

27. Ok, but that is what one definition is

but not all. My definition of evil is not necessarily "evil is of the devil/satan." Can just be morally bad. Just b/c r-wing religious fruitcakes say evil=devil likeness, not my definition at all. So again, had you said devil, I'd agree.
You can stick all sorts of labels on Hilter and the like, sociopath, psychopath, but the most rudimentary is evil.

[SOteric]

20. I disagree.

[Terwilliger]

23. I saw that above

[ForrestGump]

25. The term 'evil' is certainly overused, but

I'd say that what it purports to describe - with no 'religious' connotations necessary - is a real force. Perhaps we should use a less loaded word, but we'd still be describing the same thing. It's primarily, or solely, a human quality and I tend to think of it as a descriptor of action and expressed personality rather than as a blanket characterization of the person's inner being. It's real, though, even if it's something as naturally-explicable as yin and yang being wildly at odds within an 'evil' person.

[Terwilliger]

29. 'a human quality'

human qualities are explained with reason and logic through psychoanalysis...evil has nothing to do with it

so, how do you define an "evil" personality? that person or his persona is "evil"...how is it evil?

what force? bad juju?

[2cents]

26. Sure

While it sounds adolescent and simplistic to the ear, if you were looking for a one word description of the dark side inherent in our species, that would do it.

[populistmom]

28. Evil is making a choice to doing something wrong for self-gain

There are various levels, but that's basically it. We all have the capability of some evil, but its very hard to understand, say, the kind of evil that would allow you to make up reasons to start a war!

[ForrestGump]

30. 'Evils' is the twisted

anagram of 'Elvis.' Elvis was real. Therefore, Evils are real. This is all explained in great detail in Reverend Mojo Nixon's prophecy of the coming of the anti-Elvis.

I believe that the recent closure of Levis denim manufacturing plants within the US is also tied in, 'Levis' being the third point of the anagrammatic trinity, but I'm too tired to make the connection. Maybe after a hot cup of cocoa.

One he was famous, Elvis basically only wore denim in a couple of movies, shunning the material because of negative feelings associated with the dungarees he had to wear during his poor youth. And in the 1958 film, "King Creole," he sang the lyric "I'm evil." Thus we have Elvis shunning levis and embracing Evils. This imbalance means something...

[Nikia]

32. I have a good example of an evil person

He is not crazy and has not killed anyone to my knowledge, but I wouldn't put it past him. I had written a post with a very good description of him, but I was afraid that he'd have ways of knowing that I post here and who I am so I pressed the back key instead of post. Let's just say that I consider people, with a lot of money who have lots of power and use that power to do wrong and crush everyone in their way just because they can, to be evil. I am not saying that all or even most rich, powerful people are like that. I just have witnessed such a person firsthand and know that there are others like him. Such a person is devoid of all human compassion. How is this not evil? Such a man is not a psychopath either.

[rasputin1952]

33. Evil...

is so overused, it has lost a lot of its momentum.

It is easy to use words like sociopath, psychopath, etc., in individual cases, like Hitler, Dahmer, Stalin et al. But evil is larger tahn individual pathologies.

Evil is out there everyday in many forms. The Holocast, "Ethnic Cleansing", mass bigotry, slavery...yes, there is evil in this world.

Scale is what defines evil, as opposed to pathologies. How can entire nations of 'civilized' people, be driven to exterminate others, not just Germans/Jews, but Christians/Muslims, Hindus/Muslims, Christians/Jews, take any two or three groups you can think of, and there will be situations where evil can, and will show it's face.

Hundreds of millions have died over the past few centuries, usually because others sent them into situations they would not go into themselves, evil is out there, and it is constantly being fed by ignorance and watered by greed and power.

Evil exists, just as light exists; it is a question of magnitude.