Tuesday, September 19, 2006
Evilness in Strangers
It is hard in life to define what truly constitutes "evil". This term cannot include such pettiness as backstabbing friends, cheating boyfriends, gossips, ect. It does not define the assholes of the world or even those cold hearted individuals that one would like to assume as "evil". "Evil" cannot be someone who has only wronged you, it cannot be someone who has hurt you, but someone who has destroyed you in an intentional, purposeful, repetitive manor. But even then my definition is insufficient because there are those random evils that occur once in a life time, those random thoughts that are truly evil that only occur on occasion rather than routine. I wonder then I have ever met a "truly evil" individual? Sure I have known the person, been a victim of an evil act, but does that mean the person is evil forever?Example: When camping two drunk men came up to the camp sight and started to taunt us. One of them went to the side bushes and there found a snake. (the poor thing) He then proceeded to smash the creature to death and then with its final agonizing minutes taunt us with it, by setting it on seat as if a king and then throwing its uncoiled body at me. Is this truly evil? On first impulse I say of course, not only was this man abusing his fellow human but in the process killed an innocent creature of nature. But on further reflection does this one action make this man evil to the core? There are instances such as pedophiles and other horrid crimes that constitute pure evil, but even then isn't it in our nature to just assume that they are mentally unwell. ?
Can a person in this day and age be considered evil then? By my own definition I feel I have only met one maybe two truly evil people in my entire life. I have heard of many more. But what does this say then, has humanities definition of "evil" laxed? Am I leaving out a whole group of individuals: the cold hearted bastards, the cheating x's, the unsympathetic bystander, the gossip, as un-evil because they are not the most horrid? Why is this?
My own personal opinion states that we have just become more aware of the evil within ourselves and therefore justify it in others. Because I have cheated, gossiped, been apathetic, I am much less inclined to view these acts as truly evil. I do not like the idea of myself as an "evil human being". I like to think I try to be decent. Therefore my conclusion is that evil must always be foreign to ones own self for it to be truly "evil". So by that note only those who are not me are evil, and probably only strangers can be evil because knowing someone allows for the same allowances we make ourselves.
