Do you think that a person or people of a certain ideology can be evil?

[Ana]

Do you think that a person or people of a certain political ideology can truly be evil? Why or why not?

[Steph Ace]

The Lucifer Effect :twisted:

[Laurawrzz]

Here's a deep philosophical on that...

Evil can't be objectively defined, what's evil to me might not be evil to the next person and so on. There's a cool moral philosophical argument of JoJo by Susan Wolf; JoJo is the son of a tyrant who has grown up surrounded by evil acts (genocide, murder, deliberate poverty etc.) as a norm - so as a result JoJo's moral compass would be massively screwed and his perception of what's evil may not include genocide, murder or deliberate poverty. What would JoJo define as evil? Since he's grown up watching his father do all this does he actually have any concept of it being an evil act? That's an extreme case, but take it down to reality and the same rule still applies. Evil is purely subjective according to personal experience.

But then to add another layer of craziness, does evil even exist? Depending on whether someone believes in a deity/s or not has a lot to do with it. To me, evil seems to be purely a social construct. Who says genocide is evil as a definite fact? I would say it is, but if I grew up like JoJo would there be an inner moral compass to me that says genocide is evil despite my own father facilitating it? Or is genocide just a normality to JoJo?

Philosophically, evil can't really be defined or explained by true definition by anyone. Therefore I'd have to say that nobody can ever be truly evil, they can only be subjectively defined as a social construct of what I constitute as evil.

(You can tell I'm about to do an exam on this can't ya :D )

[scarletlatitude]

Evil all depends upon your perspective.

I think it is possible to live well and to not harm. I think it is possible to be your own person and stand up for yourself. I guess if what you are standing up for is different than what someone else is standing up for, then they may spin it to say that you are evil.

Example: I believe that killing other people is wrong, except for in cases of self defense (like, I had to kill him or he was going to kill me). Does that make people who kill evil? Not necessarily. It makes them a mean person, but not necessarily evil

[Holy Ghost]

nazis are evil

[The Strong Force]

Hitler was an artist, Republicans are evil (I AM BEING ONE THOUSAND PERCENT SARCASTIC, NAZI ARE EVIL)

[EricK]

As soon as someone thinks their ideology is more important than other people's welfare then they are capable of doing evil things. This is true whether that ideology is religious or political or both.

[Scottthespy]

Very little that is real is evil. Misguided, bad, improper, perhaps...but all of those are subjective terms. No one considers themselves the villian. Even Hitler didn't wake up in the morning and think 'how can I be the bad guy today?'. There are no Skeletor's or Evil Step Mom's in reality. Every one, no matter what they do in life, has some reason, some justification, for the acts they commit. Depending on where and when they are, they may be seen as 'evil' by those around them, but evil is an entirely subjective term, and it depends wholly on people and their feelings, morals, and logical processes. There will always be some one who thinks something you do is evil, and there really is no objective right or wrong side.

[Rising Sun]

If the ideology in question is based on hatred or extremism, yes.

I've known truly evil people, but not a lot. I mean, most people are just easy to influence and the very few genuinely bad people in the world take that as an opportunity.

[Busrider]

nazis are evil

+1.

[Batman's Ace]

How did we get to Nazis in five posts? This forum hardly ever gets to Nazis! I don't know whether to applaud or roll my eyes.

I prefer the other question: can a person actually be good? 'Cause no matter how wonderful a person is, I've never met one (including myself) who didn't have some little streak of unpleasantness in them somewhere. Often a big streak. And a lot of nasty people can manage a little niceness once in a while.

On the other hand, evil is an abstract concept, and no person (a concrete concept) can be an abstract thing. A person can't be hope, or love, or sadness, or boredom, either.

[Rising Sun]

Pure good, no. But so much good that the few little bad things seem invisible... If a golden heart is the definition of a really good person, yes they exist... <3

[Guest]

If the ideology is to intentionally hurt people and take pleasure from it...then kinda. But most people who have such ideology don't outright have the intention of hurting people, they have some way to justify it in their minds or have some twisted way of thinking it's actually beneficial. So it's not quite that simple.

I think that though all people have evil in them, few if any are bad to the core ...we fight not against flesh and blood.

[Robin L]

I think that one can see another person as evil, but that doesn't make the person evil.

[Mangosteen]

I don't believe that anyone can be truly evil, whether from birth or through personal development. I call those people "misguided". Not only because I'm religious, but because it seems like the right word to use to refer to someone who hasn't managed to become a decent human being.

I might also add that I see evil as a seed that can be easily placed in a person by another person, an event, experience, etc., and if allowed, will start growing weeds in that person's being, sometimes to the point of no return.

[BerenErchamion]

There is no such thing as an evil person.

Evil deeds, absolutely. But that's due to a failure on society's part, whether its duty to provide for the individual or to properly morally educate zir.

[Atheno]

Very little that is real is evil. Misguided, bad, improper, perhaps...but all of those are subjective terms. No one considers themselves the villian. Even Hitler didn't wake up in the morning and think 'how can I be the bad guy today?'. There are no Skeletor's or Evil Step Mom's in reality. Every one, no matter what they do in life, has some reason, some justification, for the acts they commit. Depending on where and when they are, they may be seen as 'evil' by those around them, but evil is an entirely subjective term, and it depends wholly on people and their feelings, morals, and logical processes. There will always be some one who thinks something you do is evil, and there really is no objective right or wrong side.

I think this is generally true, but I doubt it's absolutely true. I've done things that I considered at the time (and still consider, I suppose) to be wrong, as have I think most people. I imagine there must be a very few people out there who very deliberately commit actions they believe to be wrong-- maybe not objectively wrong, not wrong as determined by some deity-- but actions that they themselves feel are wrong, that they wouldn't attempt to justify with anything besides "I felt like it"-- they wouldn't believe that's a good justification either necessarily.

Anyway, it's a good/difficult question for me. I generally think I should try to be fairly tolerant of other people, whatever their views, not to say, "well your views are okay, I guess"-- but to say, "well, you're okay even if your views are messed up." Racists, heterosexists, sexists, and then of course, at the extreme end, members of ISIS (or whatever you want to call them) and Nazis... I don't really know the answer. On the one hand, people belonging to all these groups may be pretty sincere, on the other hand, I imagine a lot of them take a perverse pleasure in hatred and violence. Is the ideology something of an excuse for something ugly in them? So I don't necessarily have a good answer.

[Scottthespy]

Very little that is real is evil. Misguided, bad, improper, perhaps...but all of those are subjective terms. No one considers themselves the villian. Even Hitler didn't wake up in the morning and think 'how can I be the bad guy today?'. There are no Skeletor's or Evil Step Mom's in reality. Every one, no matter what they do in life, has some reason, some justification, for the acts they commit. Depending on where and when they are, they may be seen as 'evil' by those around them, but evil is an entirely subjective term, and it depends wholly on people and their feelings, morals, and logical processes. There will always be some one who thinks something you do is evil, and there really is no objective right or wrong side.

I think this is generally true, but I doubt it's absolutely true. I've done things that I considered at the time (and still consider, I suppose) to be wrong, as have I think most people. I imagine there must be a very few people out there who very deliberately commit actions they believe to be wrong-- maybe not objectively wrong, not wrong as determined by some deity-- but actions that they themselves feel are wrong, that they wouldn't attempt to justify with anything besides "I felt like it"-- they wouldn't believe that's a good justification either necessarily.

Ah, but 'wrong' is not 'evil'. We, from our point of view, can argue that, for instance, the slave trade was 'evil'. Back in the day, many slave owning may have though "well, its not necessarily the best thing ever to have Tituba look after the kids while I tend to my social life but...well, darn it, if I slip in rank our family will be looked poorly on! I won't stand for that!"

As an example of something I've done that is 'wrong', I've purposefully not picked up the phone when a friend I knew wanted to talk was calling. I did it simply because I didn't feel like dealing with the drama. I knew they needed to talk, I knew that I didn't have any legitimate reason not to pick up, but I also knew they weren't suicidal. It was 'wrong' of me not to pick up, but it wasn't evil. There is a distinction between knowing what you're doing is wrong but not caring, and thinking what you're doing is downright evil and doing it anyway.

[AWF]

As evil is a social construct, I think it can be defined within a social setting.

I've noticed at my various places of work that there's always at least one person that everybody has a problem with. In isolation, I certainly wouldn't call these people evil. Where the adversity comes from, I believe, is group interest. These people often have a goal that conflicts with the majority, and the higher profile they are within the workforce the more controversy is created.

This is a microcosmic example, but can be extrapolated. The point is that people themselves aren't definitely evil, but rather represent a "common evil". The group interests that they threaten can be systemic and not inherently moral, or even be individual specific and culminate against this person.

What I think this has to do with is equilibrium. Even in settings where the problems are "#firstworld...", if a person's needs are mostly met other problems that would otherwise be insignificant become prominent. The irony is that problems created by common evils help to bring people together.

[LaMaestra]

I genuinely believe some people are born evil. You cannot blame society as not everyone born into the same circumstances follows the same path. Those who choose to do wrong were obviously born evil.

[Guest]

nazis are evil

I don't see them as evil, just misguided and forced to be between a rock and a hard place.

There are also Nazis that are famous for helping people escape the holocaust so it seems unfair to lump the whole group as evil.

This is coming from a Jewish person btw.

[Skycaptain]

BIG TW, here. The following point goes against popular opinion, may well be upsetting to anyone who has experienced a problem with the medical profession, goes against all medical, moral, reloigious and legal ethics in the UK

Kisa the Cat, big for being so tolerant, most won't be. It is a difficult question. In Britain we can look at the case of Dr Shipman, Found guilty of over 1000 murders, viewed by one section of society as the ultimate in evil, sworn to prolong life for as long as possible and does that? Yet, others would say "Why keep people alive in that state, if you treated animals the same way you would be prosecuted"

But, and this is why the TW. If I ever found myself alone, suffering from maybe dementia or a terminal pain causing illness, I would wish that he was my doctor.

There are some who are truly sick, those who inflict harm and suffering on others for their own personal pleasure, but believe the victim enjoys it. Are they evil? In all to many cases it is shown that these individuals have experienced the same treatment in their own upbringing. Nature being overruled by nurture?

Even people who have invented WMD'S, the vast majority have been either created as a side effect of something innocent, such as getting rid of agricultural pests, or in the case of bio-weapons, they have been devised mainly so that country A, expecting county B to have developed the weapon, has done so themselves so that they can crate an antidote. So, again, evil as they have devised weapons to kill millions, or saints because they have devised an antidote to protect millions.

[allrightalready]

short answer - yes

longer answer - any person or group with a philosophy that harms others (not just other homo sapiens even) with intent (other than in the defense of self and/or others) is evil