“Hate has never led us anywhere worth going.” That’s the root of all of it. Hate on either extreme needs to subside to see others for what they bring to the table.
“Hate has never led us anywhere worth going.” That’s the root of all of it. Hate on either extreme needs to subside to see others for what they bring to the table.
Exactly. If you really think someone is evil (not just doing evil things, but that they themselves are evil people) or if you think they're too profoundly disturbed to be reasoned with, then you are not going to attempt to find any common ground that could change hearts and minds, or to search even for glimpses of your shared humanity, because you're simply on the side of good and they are the villains. You're on the 'right side of history' and they have been lost completely. It's only a few short steps from there to believing that "Bad things aren't bad if they happen to bad people."
It's possible that we're using different concepts to describe similar ideas, so I should clarify my intent: when I hear "someone is evil" I understand that as a statement of their fundamental nature. If someone is fundamentally evil, they don't have complete agency over their actions and they can never meaningfully choose to act in ways that are good. I don't believe that our actions, no matter how wonderful or abhorrent, can ever change who we fundamentally are as creatures who *always* retain some measure of agency over our lives and choices.
In many ways, this makes the question of evil more challenging, because we're faced with the fact that people can and do choose to behave badly...but it also means that people never, ever lose the opportunity to choose better. Which is why I think it's so essential to understand that, at a different time or under different circumstances, we ourselves might make very different choices. I never want to assume that I am a separate class of human from anyone else.
I always think, if the mere idea of someone's existence bothers you, that is a you problem not a them problem. But the thought that someone must act on that their perceived issue, just isn't the way.
If the idea of Hitler existing bothers me is that a me problem? Because I think when people commit heinous acts it would be a me problem if I didn’t have a problem with them.
I think you misread what I mean. So let me use Hitler to describe what I mean, the existence of Jews bothered him and that's an issue for him, not the fault of the people whose existence he didn't like because they were Jewish. Of course he wasn't right to act against them, but he acted against them based on who they were and nothing else. Does that help? And this is really simplified way of saying this...
Hitler's choices and actions bothered me (to say the VERY least), but I'm not bothered by the fact of his existence. Are we essentially saying the same thing?
“Hate has never led us anywhere worth going.” That’s the root of all of it. Hate on either extreme needs to subside to see others for what they bring to the table.
Exactly. If you really think someone is evil (not just doing evil things, but that they themselves are evil people) or if you think they're too profoundly disturbed to be reasoned with, then you are not going to attempt to find any common ground that could change hearts and minds, or to search even for glimpses of your shared humanity, because you're simply on the side of good and they are the villains. You're on the 'right side of history' and they have been lost completely. It's only a few short steps from there to believing that "Bad things aren't bad if they happen to bad people."
Emily and Emily have nailed it. 🙌
I believe I can think someone is evil, and not wish bad things happen to them, but I think you may be generally correct.
It's possible that we're using different concepts to describe similar ideas, so I should clarify my intent: when I hear "someone is evil" I understand that as a statement of their fundamental nature. If someone is fundamentally evil, they don't have complete agency over their actions and they can never meaningfully choose to act in ways that are good. I don't believe that our actions, no matter how wonderful or abhorrent, can ever change who we fundamentally are as creatures who *always* retain some measure of agency over our lives and choices.
In many ways, this makes the question of evil more challenging, because we're faced with the fact that people can and do choose to behave badly...but it also means that people never, ever lose the opportunity to choose better. Which is why I think it's so essential to understand that, at a different time or under different circumstances, we ourselves might make very different choices. I never want to assume that I am a separate class of human from anyone else.
I always think, if the mere idea of someone's existence bothers you, that is a you problem not a them problem. But the thought that someone must act on that their perceived issue, just isn't the way.
If the idea of Hitler existing bothers me is that a me problem? Because I think when people commit heinous acts it would be a me problem if I didn’t have a problem with them.
I think you misread what I mean. So let me use Hitler to describe what I mean, the existence of Jews bothered him and that's an issue for him, not the fault of the people whose existence he didn't like because they were Jewish. Of course he wasn't right to act against them, but he acted against them based on who they were and nothing else. Does that help? And this is really simplified way of saying this...
Hitler's choices and actions bothered me (to say the VERY least), but I'm not bothered by the fact of his existence. Are we essentially saying the same thing?