what is evil?

Question

i have to write an essay on this and im finding it difficult to choose a specific topic, since its obviously a very broad subject. any ideas? what is "evil" in your mind?

Answer 1

It's 'live' in my mirror.

Answer 2

This could be a facinating essay. Personally, in the larger scheme of things, I do not believe there is such a thing as evil. I don't believe the universe acknowledges evil. It is a human-made perception and that it is completely individual. Each person decides what is "evil". Although there are many things most would agree seem evil.

Answer 3

The Eastern view of evil is selfishness. I've kind of adapted this to my own view point. Most real life villains are insane. You can't tell me your average cannibal serial killer has normal brain functions and just decided to start killing people one day.

To me, true evil is someone capable of helping those in less fortunate situations and not doing it. I'm not saying that the rich shouldn't be allowed to enjoy their wealth or that middle income folks should carry guilt for not donating to every charity that comes around. However, if we all pitch in to become part of the solution then we all win. If the bottom of our society fails, we all fail.

Answer 4

There is so much you can chose from but it would be wise to chose something that you care about personally. It could be a person in your life that you feel is evil or it could be some music you feel is evil, or the government and the many things they do that appear to be evil.

Answer 5

Murder for pleasure is obviously evil, but most things that people do that can be considered evil is totally debatable. Is stealing bad if you need the money?

Answer 6

I like Albert Einstein's definition of evil. He believed that evil was the 'absence of God', in the same way that cold is the absence of heat and dark is the absence of light. This means that evil is not something that exists specifically (e.g. via 'the devil') but, rather, is the absence of goodness - the absence of God.

Answer 7

i wrote this very same essay before and i got an "A"...what is evil? i'll give you great starting point....you can expand from there...
what is evil?
look in the mirror i always say. evil is not a disease or some easily recognizeable thing like tattoos or a birth defect. evil is and always will be the easiest of choices made by us. a man has a dilemma at his job in which he can easily steal the money he needs for his bills because he has the access or he can humble himself and ask for it in which he might be told no. the hardest thing for most people is depending on another by humbling themselves. therefore, lets say the man takes the money now everyday he has to live with the fact that he'll be found out. lets go further, advance the timeline a bit. the man gets found out and fired. he returns to the workplace the next day and shoots his boss. is the man stealing "evil"? no. it was in his mind a necessity. is the shooting of his boss "evil"? no. it was a choice. a conscious choice. evil is the absence of options or choices. evil is when we suspend all reason and logic and take the path most direct. had the man taken the money and then on his way out shot his boss then that would have been evil.evil has been the scapegoat of weaker beings since the dawn of time. whenever we don't understand the things people do, we call them evil.there is no imaginary devil making us do anything we aren't already programmed to do. its the choices we make that define us. a man who has taught school for many years, is well liked in his community and has never done even the slightest to break the law; one days propositions or touches a female student in his classroom. is that evil or a choice? a choice. exactly. the man could have kept his inhibitions and lustful desires to himself and never acted on them for sake of his career and standing in the community. he choose his path as all people do. so whats evil about his actions? nothing. evil is just a word created by man to mask himself in the illusion that good and bad are two warring factions (like heaven and hell; god created the devil. is god evil? is the devil evil for his desires and thoughts? god destroyed whole cities and drowned armies to save the israelites. is god evil?) within whereas the truth is that the choices we choose are not good or evil but what we perceive as either right or wrong. a man who kills hundreds of thousands of people might be called a war hero and another who does the same would be called a ruthless dictator or a war criminal.but that same dictator or war criminal might be revered by their followers. are the followers evil ? israel fights constantly with its neighbors. is israel evil? the united states wars against many countries under the guise of peacekeepers while we have alternative motives. is the united states and its populace evil? evil is a blanket term used by the supposedly"good" to make us see others in a more "darker sense".on 911, terrorists flew planes in new york into buildings. were they evil? these were the same people the cia abandoned to be slaughtered by the russians years ago after the united states had a so called policy change with russia in which we withdrew leaving these people high and dry. the cia taught these people everything they knew about terror tactics, explosives and identification falsification. was the cia evil in abandoning them? the united states dropped the atomic bomb on nagasaki and hiroshima. was that evil? or just necessities of war. we blockade cuba and don't trade with them but we maintain a base in guatanomo bay. is that evil? when a country sets out to develop arms to protect itself, we call them evil perpetrators of war. when we set our armed missile batteries and armaments in other countries, we call it defense. we send our battleship fleets to other countries all the times. but if a country sends their battleship fleet to our shore we call them invaders and warmongers.so who is evil, them or us?evil to me is when you pass a hungry person on the street and you fail to help that person even though you know you can. evil is looking at a kid with raggedy clothing and no shoes and laughing. evil is spending thousands on your car while your kids live poor and unkept. evil is spending every dime you have on a person you are pursuing when your own kids have nothing. evil is watching your country go to hell with poverty, disease and natural disasters while you beg for more cash to feed the flames of a war that isn't even ours. evil is knowing you can effect change but ignoring the opportunity to do so. evil is going to church every sunday but denouncing the faith of others as laughable during the week.evil is the hypocrite, the unrepentant sinner, the deadbeat dad, the killer who thinks his crime was easy and boasts about it, the celebrity who passes the poor and remarks "better him than me". evil is the prisoner in his cell who doesn't try to talk young people out of a life of crime but instead builds himself up like a leader or someone to be admired. evil is the drug dealer who takes from the mouth of children for his own gain. evil has many forms and fashions. it wears many guises. it wears my face and yours.

Answer 8

The opposite of good.
The devil.
Liers
My brother.
Lawyers

Answer 9

well the way anything could happen and i not know about it