What the Devil is Evil?

Essay

Provocative title, huh? More on that later.

I made the mistake once of bringing up my Perfect World concept in a drinking establishment. Once. They say alcohol is the lubricant of truth, but I think it is the mortar of stubbornness. We all complain about our less-than-perfect lives, even raise a glass to our shared misery in some swill-scented gin joint, but if someone were to challenge that life we live, why is it that we should suddenly feel the need to defend it to the death? We hate it! Why are we defending it?

For every valid social problem I brought up, there was a drunk lout in the room who would praise its benefits, then deride me for rocking the boat. More voices joined in what soon became a slurring tribunal to stubborn foolishness. Lesson learned. I should find a better place to air my solutions to our problems than a roomful of people trying to forget the very problems I am reminding them of.

I settled on the blog idea pretty quickly. After all, nobody will be able to throw up on my shoes in the blogosphere, nor will a bar stool be sent on a collision course with my skull. No, I can state my case clearly and concisely, and most of all QUIETLY.

But attempting to speak my mind to a wide variety of people has, in itself, taught me a great deal. Some of the valuable lessons I have learned are:

• It is hard to get people to discuss a subject without them interjecting learned behaviors.

Example: I explain about a moneyless society, yet people can't accept the idea of working at a job for 'nothing'.

• Everyone has their own anger which blinds them to the potential of a World Family.

Example: Somewhere in your life, someone has done you wrong. Now anyone who even looks like them is suspect, forever.

• Few people can see how labeling diminishes people and shrinks them into a one-dimensional blurb. Humans are enormously complex, and no one action can possibly define an entire human existence.

Example: Paul Rubens is a gifted comedian and actor. But one indiscreet action and he is labeled a 'deviant' for his entire life.

• People are far too ready to slip into an 'us versus them' mentality, preferring to join ranks with those they know, to war against those who are strangers to them.

Example: High schoolers can become viciously competitive against their neighboring schools, often engaging in practices ending in property damage or injury.

• Everyone seems to believe that evil exists.

I'm sure you're thinking that I just slipped that last one in to see if you were paying attention. Don't worry, I was. But it's also a very important piece of information. So much so, in fact, that it's the focus of this post.

DOES EVIL EXIST?

Now before you rush in and exclaim "Of COURSE Evil exists! Hitler! Bin Laden! Cheney!" keep one eye open to the possibility that, at least to the evildoer, they had an entirely different motivation in mind. One in which the goal had little to do with evil.

Let me tell a little story. There was a country not too long ago whose citizens were doing their jobs, raising their children and living their lives-- in other words, minding their own business-- when suddenly there was a huge attack which destroyed all the political and military centers in the country, and caused quite a few collateral damages as well. The enemy killed thousands of people, including the president of the country, built huge army bases and dug in thousands of troops. They remain there to this day.

That poor country! Those poor citizens! Who would do such a heartless thing to them?

Have you guessed?

Us. That's right, the US of A. And the country? Why, Iraq, of course.

Don't shoot me as a traitor... all I'm trying to do here is to show you how perspective makes a world of difference. We all know that American citizens are good, hardworking, god-fearing, family loving people... but to the good, hardworking, god-fearing, family loving people of Iraq, Americans are EVIL.

Many such examples exist, even to the indisputably horrible Adolph Hitler. In many historical narratives Hitler is portrayed as a man with a plan to make a better world... maybe even a PERFECT WORLD... yikes! What I'm saying is simply this:

EVIL is a matter of PERSPECTIVE.

One person's evil is another person's 'grim determination to get things done, no matter the odds', and if the two people had switched jobs then the former would be thinking the latter, and vice-versa.

Here's an example. One country (let's call it, umm, Turdistan) fears the other country it shares a border with (we'll name that one Crapenia) is planning an attack, and so takes them out with a first strike. To Turdistan, they have narrowly avoided devastation, and so can breathe a collective sigh of relief. But to Crapenia (and to the rest of the world as well) Turdistan is an evil empire that attacked without provocation. It's all about

PERSPECTIVE.

Some guy robs your Tarmucks coffee shop. You needed that money, and because you lost it, you had to close your business. Then you lost your house, and your wife left you. That robber, in your eyes, was evil.

But that robber had a Tarmucks once, and a house, and a wife. He lost it all when some guy robbed him. (What IS it about coffee?)

That last scenario begs another question... what would cause someone to take an action like that, knowing full well that it could cripple the other person's business? The answer is...

FEAR!

Fear of starvation, fear of homelessness, fear of loss. So what is happening in that last scenario is not evil at all-- it's survival... survival in a society which is good to the winners and bad to the losers. The lesson from that example is:

EVIL IS FEAR.

A person spends years becoming a doctor, and practices for years without an issue. Then a disgruntled patient sues the doctor for malpractice, costing the doctor money, time, patients and credibility. Even if the doctor performed his talent at less than expectations... does the punishment fit the crime? The doctor is human, and is subject to the human imperfections that plague us all, so why is he (and really, all of us) punished for the crime of being constantly human? And the patient, who expects reasonable care, is punishing the doctor out of anger. What does this mini-parable teach?

EVIL IS ANGER.

Joe has multiple personality disorder, but due to his lousy health care it goes undiscovered and untreated. Joe is wary of his Crush personality, who comes out when Joe is frightened or angry. Crush in turn is terrified of Spike, a personality whom Joe doesn't even know about and who comes out when Crush is hungry for retribution. Spike likes knives, and has on more than one occasion taken apart-- in slow, screaming strips-- the source of Crush's ire. Joe regularly wakes up in a nearby forest, covered in blood and with no knowledge of his actions. Meanwhile, the victims-- normally a shortchanging cashier or a cranky waiter or the like-- leave a spreading trail of grief in their wake which will undoubtedly trigger the schizophrenia in some victim's friend, family member or coworker that starts the process all over again. And all it would have taken to prevent was a pill a day. A pill a day keeps the evil away.

EVIL IS ILLNESS.

An undereducated man in some rural burg, walking through the woods on a hunt for some game, comes upon a house. Peering inside, he witnesses a woman making objects float in midair. He figures the only people capable of doing such things are enchanted and evil, so kills the witch with a slug to the forehead. Weeks go by until there's an investigation into the murder of a physicist, gunned down in her remote home in the sticks, killed during an experiment in magnetic levitation. The killer is defiant, proudly exclaiming that he rid the world of unspeakable evil, incredulous at the lack of gratitude, all the way to the electric chair.

EVIL IS IGNORANCE.

Now rewrite the above story with a doctor who performs abortions as the victim and a religious fanatic as the 'righteous' murderer. A person who hands over his moral center to his house of worship will smile broadly as women and children die, so long as it's written in their Bible... and interpreted by their shepherd. What the flock is going on?

EVIL IS FAITH.

A huge company, P.I.G., wants another company, ANGEL, but the owner, G.O. Dumass, won't sell. P.I.G. spreads untrue rumors about ANGEL until stock prices plummet, then scrapes the broken ANGEL out from under the penniless Dumass. Hey, it's just business, right? Nothing personal. And competition's the American way, after all...

EVIL IS COMPETITION.

Thousands of people walk down the streets of New York City every day. Sometimes they have to do a little dance to get out of the way of some obstruction-- road repair, trash bags, hot dog vendors, sleeping homeless people, even the occasional dead body. And what do they do? In each case they do the same thing-- they step out of the way. 'Not my problem-- I got somewheres to be, y'know?'

EVIL IS INDIFFERENCE.

A happy man, well loved by his family and friends, successful by most definitions, leaves work one day and stops at Wal-Mart long enough to buy a shotgun and all the ammo the store carries, and then proceeds to cut a wide swath of mutilation and death all the way home, where he turns his loving but astonished family into hamburger, whistling cheerfully all the while.

EVIL IS EVIL... umm, wait.

I've never heard of a happy, loving, successful man just up and killing his friends and family and coworkers. You know why? That's because it doesn't happen. A happy, well adjusted person who can live well within society's guidelines has no reason, no need and no desire to commit unspeakable acts. Such things are not part of their psyche, and the only way they could possibly change would be to be on the receiving end of such punishment.

Evil for evil's sake? I'll never believe it. Take a good look at every act of 'evil' and what you will find is:

Fear or

Anger or

Illness or

Ignorance or

Faith or

Competition or

Indifference.

(I may have missed a few. This post is a work in progress.)

Okay, let's assume for a moment that I am right and there is no such thing as evil. I'm sure the question on everyone's mind is:

HOW DO WE GET RID OF ALL THE TERRIBLE THINGS THAT OCCUR?

I'm not one to keep you hanging on, so I'll end the post with the answer and let you mull over where the next logical place is to go with this information:

We re-design society to eliminate or greatly reduce the negative aspects of living within its boundaries.

And THAT'S why I'm writing this blog.

copyright 2009 Bruce Ian Friedman