What makes people become evil with money?

Answer 1

Lure for wealth and power and the corrupting influence of money.

Answer 2

Want to see human behavior at it's grimmest and darkest moments? Starve a few people for a couple weeks, throw them in a cage and throw in a small morsel of food into the cage. You would see all the nasty behavior come out in a hurry.

The analogy is the food is similar to money. Money can take care of our material needs and wants. Since human nature instinctively knows what we have today may be gone tomorrow, we tend to want more and grab and hoard what we can get. The same nasty behavior is the result.

My point? It is not money that is the root of all evil, it is the need for money that becomes the root of all evil.

It seems when people need or want something, the devil comes out and if it is not then it is forgotten or neglected.

Answer 3

Because the more money a person has, the more power a person has, and the more power a person has, the more corrupt one is, and corruption is a type of evil. People want more money so they can have more power, and in the end they do become more evil.

Answer 4

Do you mean use money for the purpose of perpetuating evil or that the person with the money actually BECOMES evil? The old adage is that money is the root of all evil, but these days money provides power and absolute power corrupts absolutely... there are no real life Spiderman-like people. (With great power comes great responsibility.)

Answer 5

I don't really think that money could make anyone evil. I think it has to do more with the temptation of the power that it would evoke. When I think about money I think of it terms of an energy and it can be used either for good or for evil.

So in the end I think it's the person but like I said they have a lot more temptation then I do to do something and get away with it but they have a lot more to lose.

Answer 6

Money doesn't make people evil. Money is just a tool that provides a convenient way to trade value for value. People produce value. If you produce apples and I produce grapes, then we can trade apples for grapes. But if you want grapes but I don't want apples, then you can give me something that stands for value (money) and I can use that to buy peaches from someone.

Does producing value make people do evil (coercion, dishonesty, etc.)? Of course the very way by which people obtain money can be done by evil (theft or fraud), in which case they did not produce this value and it is not rightfully theirs. But I would say that there are few genuinely evil, genuinely rich people.

Answer 7

Society is based on mutual selfishness.

What we call good or 'fair' is when both parties profit from an arrangement. Society is based on the win-win scenario.

But much of life is based on the win-lose. Cows do not agree to become hamburger. If something tries to hurt us, we call it evil, when we kill and devour something, we call it dinner.

When someone gets rich, they have fewer 'needs'. They don't need to borrow you car, or a few bucks, they don't need you to babysit or pick them up from the airport. They don't need a shoulder to cry on. They can pay for all of that.

So a rich person doesn't have to view you as a teammate. They have the option of seeing you as a tool, prey or a nuisance. I.e. the same way you view the lesser creatures.

This doesn't happen as often as our class baiting politicians would have us believe, but when it happens, this is why.

Answer 8

Well, first, you have to define what your definition of evil is, since evil is a subjective term.

However in most cases, the answer is simple. Indolence & gluttony. When most people come into money, be it through hard work, inheritance or other means, they start to have delusions of grandeur and slip out of reality into a self created fictional mentality where money means less work and more power. While it is true that in today's day and age, money generally does equal power and the more of one generally indicates more of the other is present as well, it is also true that once you have a certain amount of money, most people begin to think of themselves as better then others. This wouldn’t be such a bad thing if the reasoning had something to do with personal ability, skill, knowledge or other useful attribute, unfortunately, for most people that come into money, this attitude is based on there fanatical standing alone. They have money to waste and profligacy (wasteful spending) leads to further wastefulness in other areas of life and a desire for thing beyond one's needs. (Gluttony) and this often leads to spending money to keep from having to do work for one self. Not just a matter of efficiencies, such as using a computer in place of a calculator or pen and paper, but to hiring people to do ordinary day to day tasks so you can focus on relaxation, fun and play. (Indolence) Unfortunately, profligacy, indolence and gluttony tends to make a person less likely to want to learn new things, unless it makes life more fun or interesting and thus ignorance enters the mix of evils and eventually, these people become conformists to the world around them because they are afraid that if they don’t conform they may loose their money and positions. This fear becomes all consuming and a constant consideration to the point that life decision are based on the fear of loosing their wealth and lifestyle. (cowardice.)

In other words, money can easily lead to ignorance, indolence, gluttony, profligacy and cowardice. These are five of the 6 motivations I have identifies thus far as 'evil.' The last being bigotry.

My personal; definition of evil, albeit still incomplete is: Actions and inactions resulting from intentional and unrepentant ignorance*, indolence**, gluttony+, bigotry++, profligacy# and cowardice.## {See Note Below}

I hope this helps.

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NOTES:
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* Ignorance: The condition of being uninformed or uneducated. lacking knowledge or information
** Indolence: Habitually lazy, procrastinating, or resistance to physical or mental labor.
+ Gluttony: (archaic definition) Thoughtless and unreasonable excess. (This is not limited to food and drink by could include any substance (drugs, alcohol, tobacco, etc...), sex, gambling, etc... even money! [seeking money for the sake of having money or seeking it to the exclusion of all other pursuits would be gluttonous.])
++ Bigotry: Irrational intolerance and/or disdain of others based on racial, ethnical and/or cultural differences.
# Profligacy: completely given up to dissipation and licentiousness, wildly extravagant; a person given to wildly extravagant and usually grossly self-indulgent expenditure.
##Cowardice: Lack of mental or moral strength to venture, persevere, and withstand danger, fear, or difficulty to a reasonable level of commitment.

Answer 9

They truly believe that they are justified in their actions. I've met people like this. They view kindness and generosity as weaknesses to be exploited. Money is nice but it should be the bi-product of success not the goal.

Answer 10

A great deal of money can buy a great deal of power, and as the saying goes. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.