Am I "Good" or "Evil"?
J. J.:
Quote from: freedomburns on October 24, 2004, 11:19:10 PM
Mum! Dad! Don't touch it, it's evil!
Time Bandits, the last 5 minutes.
You also note that I don't get personal until the other guy get's personal.
Two subpoints:
1. If you ask me a question, expect an answer.
2. Don't mess with North Phila!
Gabu:
Quote from: J. J. on October 25, 2004, 12:40:27 AM
Quote from: freedomburns on October 24, 2004, 11:19:10 PM
Mum! Dad! Don't touch it, it's evil!
Time Bandits, the last 5 minutes.
You also note that I don't get personal until the other guy get's personal.
Two subpoints:
1. If you ask me a question, expect an answer.
2. Don't mess with North Phila!
CITY NOT TO MESS WITH: North Phila
CONSEQUENCES OF MESSING WITH: Getting an answer to a question
RECOMMENDED ALTERNATIVE: Pittsburgh
12th Doctor:
Quote from: Gabu on October 24, 2004, 10:42:32 PM
Quote from: John Dibble on October 24, 2004, 10:24:02 PM
Quote from: Gabu on October 24, 2004, 08:08:37 PM
Everyone does both good and evil actions, but I don't consider anyone evil as a person.
Not even Hitler?
I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for this, but no. An evil person would be one who simply naturally does evil things for no reason whatsoever. I don't believe that people are born evil; I believe that people are tilted to doing evil actions through negative events that occurred as they were growing up. If Hitler had been loved and cared for by, say, Jews as he grew up, had been born today rather than when he was, and had had a positive upbringing, would he still have been who we remember him as? I doubt it. He would have been a completely different person. I have heard that one's personality is dictated by roughly 10% genetics and 90% environment. Remember, the other profession he enjoyed was art, which was a rather different tune for him.
Does this mean that I don't think people who do evil things shouldn't be dealt with? No, of course not. I think Hitler was insane and did more evil things than he could ever make up for if given a million years. The move to defeat Hitler was a very morally just move.
However, do I think Hitler was evil as a person? No. He was a person whose environment turned him into a very hate-filled person and which led him to do innumerable evil actions.
I suppose it depends on what you define "evil person" as. If an evil person is simply one who does evil actions, then yes, Hitler was evil. I define "evil person" differently, however.
I agree with you in part, all people essencially want to do good and are corrupted by their environment.
I believe, however, that there comes a point when evil has totally corrupted someones mind and soul and it becomes their first and essencial motivation in life (do evil, avoid good). At this point the person is truely evil. Hitler was beyond this point.
John Dibble:
Quote from: supersoulty on October 25, 2004, 11:51:18 AM
Quote from: Gabu on October 24, 2004, 10:42:32 PM
Quote from: John Dibble on October 24, 2004, 10:24:02 PM
Quote from: Gabu on October 24, 2004, 08:08:37 PM
Everyone does both good and evil actions, but I don't consider anyone evil as a person.
Not even Hitler?
I'm probably going to get a lot of flak for this, but no. An evil person would be one who simply naturally does evil things for no reason whatsoever. I don't believe that people are born evil; I believe that people are tilted to doing evil actions through negative events that occurred as they were growing up. If Hitler had been loved and cared for by, say, Jews as he grew up, had been born today rather than when he was, and had had a positive upbringing, would he still have been who we remember him as? I doubt it. He would have been a completely different person. I have heard that one's personality is dictated by roughly 10% genetics and 90% environment. Remember, the other profession he enjoyed was art, which was a rather different tune for him.
Does this mean that I don't think people who do evil things shouldn't be dealt with? No, of course not. I think Hitler was insane and did more evil things than he could ever make up for if given a million years. The move to defeat Hitler was a very morally just move.
However, do I think Hitler was evil as a person? No. He was a person whose environment turned him into a very hate-filled person and which led him to do innumerable evil actions.
I suppose it depends on what you define "evil person" as. If an evil person is simply one who does evil actions, then yes, Hitler was evil. I define "evil person" differently, however.
I agree with you in part, all people essencially want to do good and are corrupted by their environment.
I believe, however, that there comes a point when evil has totally corrupted someones mind and soul and it becomes their first and essencial motivation in life (do evil, avoid good). At this point the person is truely evil. Hitler was beyond this point.
I agree that people aren't born evil, but they aren't born good either. They become to some degree one or the other. Yes, environment affects this, but the ultimate choice of whether to perform an action or not is up to the individual - to say that the environment around a person is the sole reason for his or her evil actions is to say that the human race has no free will! I refuse to believe such folly. If you can not choose to go beyond what your environment has given you, you are merely an animal. We are biologically animals, but we are so much more - we are human, sentient, thinking, reasoning. We can go beyond the conditioning of our environment and do so much more.
A person's thoughts and actions define who they are. Doing evil once makes doing evil again easier, and the choice to give in to evil is exactly that - a choice. You can not choose what environment you are born in, but you can choose how you deal with it. When you do evil it influences your very being, who you are.
Good an evil are not always clearly defined of course, often they mix together, which makes things difficult, but most people can tell the subtle differences when the line is blurred.
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