Is evil really just clouded revenge?

Question

There's three things that cause evil:

-Mental illness/disability (personal weakness)
-Trauma (the environment)
-Power (magnifies personal weakness)

A "bad" person hurts others because they're too weak to feel love and compassion and need a drug to replace it or because they're been victimized and are getting blind revenge toward people who aren't to blame (or are to blame).

How can a "good" person that gets revenge on a "bad" person be any better than them if they're just doing the same thing, only more clearly?

Answer 1

WOW! Aren't you a bit full of yourself!

What is "good?" What is "Bad?" What is "Evil"?

According to the teachings a Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels., Vladimir Lenin, Mao Zedong and many other socialist and communist, The U.S. and other capitalistic societies are evil, corrupt and immoral. Based on our way of thinking, the same is generally thought about socialist and communist.

Some people believe that permitting a child to be born into this world when the parents don’t have the financial means to support the child is EVIL! Others believe killing a fetus, even if it is using the day after pill is murderous and evil.

Is killing a repeat criminal offender immoral? Is keeping him alive in a hellish prison moral?

Perhaps this 'BAD' person hurting others is doing so not because he is too weak to feel compassion, but rather he is strung enough to ignore it. Maybe it's not revenge. Perhaps this 'bad' person has decided to rise above the pettiness of the rest of humanity that hides it's greed, anger, pain and lust in the shadows by using legal trickery, deceit and manipulation to get what they want and has chosen to be upfront about what he wants and how he will get it?

Maybe the man hurting other is merely giving the person what they deserve.

Maybe, you and your 'peaceful resolutions' are actually deteriorating our society and making it easier for people to getaway with hurting other people.

Maybe, the reason crime rates keep going up, politicians are so dishonest, corporate entities take advantage of their employees, more and more woman are abused, drugs are so prevalent and rape is on the rise is because the 'good' people think it's wrong to walk up to a 'bad' person and kick the crap out of them, thus teaching them that there are consequences to their actions.

What you find 'bad' or 'evil' other find necessary.

Did you find the tsunami that followed the Indian Ocean earthquake in 2004 killing approximately 283,000 people 'bad' or evil? What about the Bhola cyclone of 1970 that killed over 500,000 in Bangladesh. Or what about the Yellow River flood of 1931 that was estimated to have killed no fewer then 1 million people and estimated to have killed as many at 3.7 million? Are these events 'evil' or 'bad'?

What about war? The War of 1812, between 7 and 24 thousand killed. Then there is the U.S. Revolutionary war and the estimated 70 to 80 thousond deaths. What about the American Civil War, about 970,000 killed. World War I, between 15 and 66 million killed and what about WWII and the 60 to 72 million estimated to have been killed during that war? Were these bad and evil as well?

Evil is not what you are thinking it is. If so, then perhaps you should classify yourself as 'evil' as well.

Answer 2

I am very much afraid that I will offend you with my answer, but I must respectfully point out that I believe your conclusion is based on a false hypothesis. Evil is not caused by mental illness (which, by the way is not a sign of personal weakness), trauma, or power. Evil is pure and unadulterated absence of any good or positive force, power, or intent. Revenge may be accomplished by a normally good person, but evil? True evil is only accomplished by one who does not possess any good force, power or intent.

Answer 3

Evil is a privation of what is good. People seem motivated to commit deeds which are considered evil because they misapprehend that evil for a good. Revenge is associated with a sense of justice and rendering to someone who has harmed us what we believe that our sense of justice demands they are due. There are often no clear villians or heroes in acts of revenge, because revenge consumes those who demand it with the same iniquity that caused the desire for revenge in the first place.

Answer 4

Hello again!

I don't think vigilantes should be honored, because I agree it's a form of victimization. I would hope the system would give them the sentence they (the original offender) deserve but I know it doesn't always happen.

Have you seen the movie "A Time To Kill"? Samuel L. Jackson plays a father who kills the men who rape his 9 yr old daughter. I am very curious to know how you feel about that....

Answer 5

Why would a good person seek revenge? Isn't that a contradiction in terms? Is that what you are asking?

Answer 6

It is the sign of a stunted brain.