What does "The lesser of two evils is still evil, and the enemy of my enemy is not my friend" mean?

Answer 1

lesser evil - It is less evil then the other option, but it doesnt make it good

enemy of my enemy - because your enemy has an enemy, that enemy is theoritically your friend

Answer 2

The lesser of two evils: Suppose you were an airplane pilot and were going to crash. You can hit a school and kill hundreds or you can hit a house and kill five. You would choose the latter, which is the lesser of two evils. You would be good in choosing the latter, so the statement is false because you would be choosing the good (if we assume that good and evil are opposites), although harm is still being done.

Your enemy's enemy could also be your enemy in the 3-way fight.

Answer 3

Hmm. Okay, I'll break it into two answers.

The first question "The lesser of two evils is still evil" means that although one "bad" choice, option, or path may be less "bad" than a second or alternative choice, option or path.. the fact that both options are "bad" is not remedied or made right by the fact that one is less bad than the other. In otherwords, they both still stink!

The second question, "The enemy of my enemy is not my friend" means that you can't count on the fact that because you and someone who also doesn't like your enemy have that ONE thing in common, that fact is not sufficient evidence to make the assumption that the two of you are friends.

Answer 4

"The lesser of two is still evil."

Evil is evil, but some have a greater magnitude. An evil act that is small in magnitude is still evil.

"The enemy of my enemy is not my friend."

Logically, the enemy of my enemy is my friend. However, since the world is not as black and white as logic, an enemy is only a friend such as long as their goals do not infringe on your goals.
Because such goals rarely coexist, an enemy is a friend as long as you have the common enemy. Once the bigger enemy is gone, your friendly enemy becomes competition and, thus, an enemy.

Answer 5

lesser evil, out of two or more evils it is the less evil or harmful but that doesn't mean it is the right thing to do

and enemy of my enemy means that even if someone else hates the same people you hate doesn't mean that you will get along with them or that you both co-operate against the common enemy

Answer 6

You could think of it this way. If you subtract a small amount of evil from a large amount of evil. You still end up with evil.

Let's say I'm your enemy. That means you hate me right? Now let's say Sally hates me too. Sally is your friends because you share hate for me. That means you and Sally can come up with evil ways to get rid of me together. This gives you a common bond or friendship.

Answer 7

Wash the rice daniel san.

Well even though its less its still evil, an because an enemy of my enemy can't be trusted as a friend.

Frenamies.

Answer 8

One evil may not be as bad as another evil, but it is still bad.
For example: Stealing money is not as bad as murder, but stealing money is still bad.

If my enemy has his own enemy, that doesn't make that person (or country) into my friend. My enemy's enemy really doesn't have anything to do with me, and I am not going to like him just because we have trouble with the same person.
For example: If a person named Joe is telling lies about me, then he is my enemy. If a person named Bob is telling lies about Joe, that doesn't help me or harm me. I don't call Bob my friend.

Answer 9

here are two perfect examples

1. Vote for John Kerry or George W. - neither choice that great, I would go with George W. as the lesser of two evils.

2. Back in the 80's we gave Iraq all sorts of weapons to keep Iran in check - Iraq was the enemy of our enemy but as you well know, they were not our friend.

Get it? OK now give me my 10 pts.

Answer 10

the end justifies the means.the basic lesson is that you save your own butt. once you you have that done all you have to do is figure out who is your actual threat