Green Light

The question posed at the end of class today was whether or not evil could be used as a way to describe or diagnose a person.  While a person’s actions can be looked upon as evil, the person themselves may be a kind person in other situations.  For example, some murderers committed vicious crimes, yet people who knew and loved them before could not ever believe that they did such a thing.  If they are normal people, then a turning point must have occurred for them to commit such a horrible act.  But what if there was no obivious turning point?  Could we then assume that a person has just become evil?  However, evil is most likely just a safe term for people.  If an event is so horrid, that no one can explain what caused it, then they would turn to the supernatural.  Humans never like to be unsureof things, because it scares them.  So, maybe it was a sudden change of the mind, a terrible life, or maybe it really was the supernatural that caused this evil to happen.  But only the person who committed the evil could tell us for sure.  But if people are so afraid of evil, then why would they ever listen to this “evil” person?  This just goes to show that we must come to terms with evil before we can ever truly get a grasp of its true meaning. 

Bringing harm unto others is looked upon as evil by most people, but what if it’s someone’s job to do this?  The modern tobacco industry knows just how deadly their product is, yet continue to sell it for the imense amount of money it brings them.  Cigarettes not only harm people, but they are extremely addictive.  When someone becomes addicted, it makes it much harder for them to escape the harm they are bringing upon themselves.  So why won’t anyone stop it?

The answer to this is money.  People knowingly harm others just for profit.  Money has corrupted the way of the world so that almost everyone partakes in an act of evil.  Its ironic that the president can criticize terrorists and dictators as being evil, yet millions of dollars that were spent on his campaign where donated by the tobacco idustry.  If even the government uses money obtained by evil ways, then what boundaries are they setting for the rest of us?

Today in class, someone  mentioned that people must sometimes do “evil things” to survive.  In a way, I agree with this statement.  The idea of evil is used as a boundary in a peaceful society in order to keep people in line.  However, in a society that lacks peace, are doing things that are considered evil the only way to survive?  One example I can think of that pertains to this situation is the condition of New Orleans before and after Hurricane Katrina.  Before the hurricane, New Orleans was like most common cities, with the laws and peace kept.  But after the hurricane, the city was a wreck and people with no place to go were stuck in the city.  Just to stay alive, they had to pilfer food from stores and other people.  Some also committed more heinous crimes such as murder in order to get food and fresh water.  Although there were other means of survival, such as help from the government and getting out of the city, most of the people there had no such way of escaping.  The smaller “evils” such as stealing could easily be forgiven and looked upon as a survival method, but the larger ones such as murder should be deemed unacceptable at all times.  The way that someone is raised and taught about evil is what really determines how they would act in a situation like this.  And although there are some that say there is no medium between good and evil, I believe that the situation you are placed in is what really determines the confines if evil.