"If this is not evil, then evil has no meaning", early 21st century philosopher and president G.W. Bush regarding Iraq.
Merriam-Webster says:
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1 a : morally reprehensible : SINFUL, WICKED -- an evil impulse b : arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct -- a man of evil reputation
2 a archaic : INFERIOR b : causing discomfort or repulsion : OFFENSIVE -- an evil odor c : DISAGREEABLE
3 a : causing harm : PERNICIOUS -- the evil institution of slavery b : marked by misfortune : UNLUCKY
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So which one is it do you think?
I have always been offended by the notion of evil. I think I got that from reading Nietzsche at a particularly vulnerable time in my alleged. When I hear Bush speak it, I can't help but hear the Christian context of the word. To me it implies a universal value system outside, above, beyond all that we are. It implies moral absolutes. However, the word is more often used to grossly oversimplify a situation for ends that are rarely moral. Crusades anyone?
Evil. What is evil? Morally reprehensible? Is that the definition to apply here-and-now to this context? Who's moral code would we be holding that up against? Arabic? Ours? If it's ours, then we're really setting the bar low, and I can't imagine that violates the standard U.S. immoral code.
[Ooop... stay on target... stay on target.]
Why does the word evil get me so riled? I'm sure it has SOMETHING to do with my catholic upbringing. Or rather my rejection of my catholic upbringing. To cast something as evil, in my mind, presumes the caster is good. They (the pointed at) are darkness which implies then that we are light. It polarizes the struggle into black and white. Perhaps that is a comfort to John Q. Public concerned only with the number of channels he gets on his tv, but it really is unsettling. I'm sure that was the motiviation for the wording originally in the phrase "axis of evil". The Americans were emotionally vulnerable or rather they were searching for an answer to why 9/11 happened. They desperately needed to understand what happened. Should we talk about our long sordid history and why groups of people hate the United States? Nah -- let's go with something the dumb common man can understand. Evil.
Yet there is no white or black -- darkness or light -- there is only the gray. Casting into such a light, particularly in the realm of global politics, is simply propaganda. We need an enemy. We need a face. We couldn't find the face attached to the event that ushered America into the rest of the world, so let's make do with another face... a face with oil maybe? And that fact... that face is evil. Is it that simple? As far as most people are concerned, the more simple the more better :-)
I'm writing this as I work on four different things. I bet I'm coming off as a schizo... moreso than usual.
Merriam-Webster says:
=================================================
1 a : morally reprehensible : SINFUL, WICKED -- an evil impulse b : arising from actual or imputed bad character or conduct -- a man of evil reputation
2 a archaic : INFERIOR b : causing discomfort or repulsion : OFFENSIVE -- an evil odor c : DISAGREEABLE
3 a : causing harm : PERNICIOUS -- the evil institution of slavery b : marked by misfortune : UNLUCKY
=================================================
So which one is it do you think?
I have always been offended by the notion of evil. I think I got that from reading Nietzsche at a particularly vulnerable time in my alleged. When I hear Bush speak it, I can't help but hear the Christian context of the word. To me it implies a universal value system outside, above, beyond all that we are. It implies moral absolutes. However, the word is more often used to grossly oversimplify a situation for ends that are rarely moral. Crusades anyone?
Evil. What is evil? Morally reprehensible? Is that the definition to apply here-and-now to this context? Who's moral code would we be holding that up against? Arabic? Ours? If it's ours, then we're really setting the bar low, and I can't imagine that violates the standard U.S. immoral code.
[Ooop... stay on target... stay on target.]
Why does the word evil get me so riled? I'm sure it has SOMETHING to do with my catholic upbringing. Or rather my rejection of my catholic upbringing. To cast something as evil, in my mind, presumes the caster is good. They (the pointed at) are darkness which implies then that we are light. It polarizes the struggle into black and white. Perhaps that is a comfort to John Q. Public concerned only with the number of channels he gets on his tv, but it really is unsettling. I'm sure that was the motiviation for the wording originally in the phrase "axis of evil". The Americans were emotionally vulnerable or rather they were searching for an answer to why 9/11 happened. They desperately needed to understand what happened. Should we talk about our long sordid history and why groups of people hate the United States? Nah -- let's go with something the dumb common man can understand. Evil.
Yet there is no white or black -- darkness or light -- there is only the gray. Casting into such a light, particularly in the realm of global politics, is simply propaganda. We need an enemy. We need a face. We couldn't find the face attached to the event that ushered America into the rest of the world, so let's make do with another face... a face with oil maybe? And that fact... that face is evil. Is it that simple? As far as most people are concerned, the more simple the more better :-)
I'm writing this as I work on four different things. I bet I'm coming off as a schizo... moreso than usual.
i might have to come back to the above post...
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