Are there inherently evil people? Or are "evil" people just people who've been traumatized in some way?

Answer 1

When I was young and less experienced, I believe that evil was mere a concept and that is didn't actually exist in a pure form.

That all changed when I lived in Haiti. On a number of occasions I went to a VooDoo 'church' that was near where I was living.

During one of those visits, a participant in the 'ceremony' became possessed by an entity that I knew had a reputation for being evil... As the dancing progressed and he worked up to a fever pitch, he came to where I was sitting, grabbed my hand and pulled me upright to him, so our faces were literally inches away from each other.... I'll never forget those eyes... they were like black pools of oil and the evil I saw there was very scary...

So... do I believe in "evil"?... the answer is a definite YES. Over the years I've been around mean people... but that was the only time I can honestly say I saw evil in it's purest form

Answer 2

To me, evil seems to be a matter of perspective.

Hitler (insert whatever person you like) certainly didn't see himself as evil - if he thought his actions were wrong, he wouldn't have committed those actions.

Generally, people do things when they feel justified in some way for doing them... when they rationalize in some way.

Where perspective comes in is when the masses look in from the outside and conclude collectively that the action is wrong. Then, when the same actions continue (drive by shootings, drug dealing, murder, war atrocities, genocide, religious fundamentalism (no, I don't mean only Islamic fundamentalism), etc.,... The masses start calling it evil.

To me, it seems that evil is a label given by society, not a state of being. However, since at the end of the day, the many outweigh the few in most cases, the many can and do use the term evil in a useful way.

.... unless the masses themselves are blinded by faith or despiration or self righousness or a mob mentality that is.

Truely a sticky issue.

Heck, the 'Devil' (metaphorically speaking) probably believes himself to be the only truth teller around - after all, He IS the bringer of light...

Does that mean that God is in fact the evil one trying to limit and control enlightenment to keep his creation from exercising the free will He gave his creation?

That all depends on who you ask. If the answer was certain, there would be no debate on the matter would there.

Consider this: an analogy for good and evil.... law school class placement....

50% of all lawyers graduated in the bottom half of their class. Our instant reaction is that something must be done to improve the quality of the lawyers out there practicing in the real world. Clearly those in the bottom of their class shouldn't be practicing to begin with.

However, lets cut those 50% in the bottom. What do you have now? The 50% to 75% graduates have just become the bottom 50% percent. For their to be a top 50%, there must be a bottom 50% by definition.

To often, we get trapped by our initial reaction and stop thinking - we have already convinced ourselves we've come to the correct solution to the 'problem' when we haven't actually figured out it there IS a problem to begin with or whether the 'problem' even HAS a solution.

Humanity's greatest fallibility is our limitless ability to believe we are infallible. We won't say we're infallible when asked, but won't hesitate to act as if we are infallible at the slightest opportunity.

How can one be infallible in our thinking without the necessary quality of omniscience?

Answer 3

No - for both questions. People aren't inherently anything at all - they live their life and make choices which the outsiders - that is,us - may classify as right or wrong. People do have some characteristics of their personality that can prove to be good or evil according to the way they use it. And,besides,even if - as you asked in second place - they had been traumatzed in some way,that couldn't work as an excuse. It could help providing you with a context to understand one's actions but never to excuse them. Someone once said: there's no good nor evil: just power. Maybe it's true...

Answer 4

Sorry to get Zen here, but

Evil is just the backside of Good.

See wolf good is rabbit evil. The wolf got to eat, the rabbit got killed.

You belong to a nation that controls vast farmland and natural resources. That's good. Your ancestors probably took the land from someone else. These people think you are evil.

Good just means your team is winning.

Since one teams victory means another teams loss, you can't really have good with out evil. So it's not that people are inherently evil, it's that evil is inherent.

Now sometimes a person who should be cooperating with the tribe gets traumatized and decides to completely screw over the tribe in pursuit of their own self interest. So trauma can change a persons loyalties so you consider them evil. But anyone who considers your society evil, will think the trauma has made this person good.

Hope this helps. Bit of a paradigm shift though.

Answer 5

How do we determine the measure of relevant evil?

One man works in a field which employs literally
thousands of men and women who round the
clock are calculating what response their
advertisements get and, as a result, work
further round the clock and calendar to
design words, ways and pictures which
make tobacco inhalation seem the thing
to do.

Their rationale is that it employs the farmer,
and provides for their own.

For that matter, it employs a considerable
share of the health care system too.

When confronted, EVERY time, those in
the PR fields shrug and retort mutterances
about people's free choice.

Certain musicians who've made comparitively
obscene fortunes for themselves by creating
a network of rhythms, sounds and tones
not to mention curious, mysterious lyrics
do so in much the same way as the above
mentioned.

Millions of people for decades have been
documented to view their musical choices
as a drug, let's be honest. They'll forgo
certain habits, foods and beliefs just in
order to satisfy their listening cravings.

But is anyone forcing, or being forced?

Splitting hairs or addressing what's really
going on?

Just thoughts. Thank you.

Answer 6

I think some people commit evil acts because of past traumatic experiences they have had. However, I feel that many evil doers have psychiatric illnesses, which they may have had since birth or have acquired due to their environment and negative influences.

Sometimes even children commit sadistic acts for the sheer thrill of it. I am thinking of two 12 year olds in the U.K. that kidnapped a toddler, tortured him and then left him to die. One has to question why they would do such a thing, when investigations showed that there were no family circumstances or prior ill treatment that could have been influential in their deciding to be so evil.

Answer 7

I think every once in a while a person is born evil. I have seen Lil children from good families that were just plain evil. I guess like everything else in our DNA, we must all be different in some way to survive. Some people are made evil by abuse all kinds of abuse or by some kind of terrible loss or just by something terrible or awful that happened to them. When we see a serial killer caught they always talk of some kind of "thing" that happened to them as children. Kids matter.

Answer 8

I wouldn't agree that people are born evil no matter what the movies show. But Circumstances may cause a good person to do bad things. Untreated mental health problems may cause the same thing. But I think people are innocent of evil acts until they are "taught" to be evil...

Answer 9

The rational part of me says that evil is not a fixed idea, but depends on your viewpoint. The caring part of me says that many "evil" people are simply mentally ill .... how many "witches" who were burned for their "evil" acts were simply dotty confused old women, perhaps going senile or coping with menopause very badly without modern medical treatment?

However, there are some people that when you meet them, they give off a distinct aura of evil - their eyes seem cold and dead, and they are absolutely terrifying. These aren't rapists or serial killers - they are normal people. But they make me decidely uneasy.

Answer 10

Human nature is bad. People are sinners(Romans 3:10, 3:23.) Some people are worse than others, like those who were abused as children.