Comments on: Just How Evil Are We?

By: Insipid

Insipid — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 00:54:22 +0000

Good and Evil... what an excellent philosophical question. My first reaction is to throw my hat in with David G. on this one.

But, does that not sell short, those that prefer to think sanely? Of course, those people seem to be so few and far between these days... sheeple are so easily led to the slaughterhouse.

And what of true education? Something missing in most US schools I admit, but there are pockets of real education in every country. And isn't education, real and truthful education, the answer to self control?

For that matter, can't "good" and "evil" be considered to be two extremes, both of which are the subsequent loss of self control?

One by an overwhelming sense of greed, avarice, sick sexual fantasies, etc., the other by a sense of wanting humans to live forever perhaps(?), or helpfulness or caring.

The enlightened ones who've walked this earth, have always spread a message of self responsibility, self education, self awareness, self sacrifice; one of believing you are god, as is your neighbor and all of the living things in this vast universe and so treat them as such. These few individuals make such an impact that the elite need to manipulate the message to one of control of the masses through the loss of control of our fears.

My point? Perhaps it's best to walk that fence line. You will, as human beings, stray one way or another, but as long as you practice self control and always keep educating yourself, you will never be lost to the mind closing, thought ending, numbing effects of allowing our innate, base instincts to pull you one way or the other.

By: Adina

Adina — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 06:08:56 +0000

Why not be a giraffe or a stalk of celery? Love this comment.
Compliments on your work Bruce.
It s amazing.

I also love this comment: We made nukes to protect ourselves and now we have enough to blow up a whole universe.
How true this is

I wish we could selectively blast the selfish arrogant power hungry corrupted …….individuals .. wanted to use an ugly word and call them something else, but refrained as a respect for this blog.

By: swan

swan — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:24:35 +0000

Oh, crush, and how the Jews in occupied Palestine fail to care about their persecution of the Arabs of Palestine.

By: David G

David G — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:03:53 +0000

It's funny that the survival instinct is the very thing that threatens our survival, Bruce.

We made nukes to protect ourselves and now we have enough to blow up a whole universe.

We are caught in negative evolution!

Cheers.

By: Bruce

Bruce — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 13:38:19 +0000

I so whole heartedly agree that human nature only changes through evolution and the process of natural selection. All evil things we know, power hunger, evil, theft of material and spiritual, stem from the instinct to survive. As a species with language and logic we make a judgment that declares one thing evil and another good. Our most basic instinct, that of surviving to replicate our DNA is still on the same level as the herding animals of the African Savannah. Cybernetics tells of the ‘fight or flight’ mechanisms needed to survive. Notice that the choices are fight or flight, not love or stay. This is at this time, the natural order of things. If we don’t destroy ourselves or the planet first, we might stay around long enough to evolve and find a better model (better than fight and flight – from which spring evil). Think Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs – a) physiological – food water shelter warmth, b) safety – security stability freedom from fear, c) love and belonging d) self esteem – achievement respect, d) self actualization.

Evolution though, works on magnitudes of 100’s of millions of years we have difficulty feeling attached to this process. Most of are just frustrated that it’s taking us so long to raise our collective consciousness because we can’t see change like that in the span of a human lifetime. I think we might ‘choose to believe’ that we can participate in some way to our own evolution. We have these big brains that we don’t seem to be fully utilizing. If we use it to consciously shift our awareness to look for ‘signs’ of evolutionary change and support those observations, we might feel attached to the process, motivated to resist fear and anger, and find other survival strategies more friendly to the growth of character and our own survival. Otherwise, why not be a giraffe or a stalk of celery?

By: David G

David G — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 22:41:12 +0000

Some interesting thoughts are being expressed. A couple of observations.

Zhann, I feel very strongly that humans have an evil streak which, if the circumstances allow, will blossom. Some of the deliberate cruelty that humans engage in is not the result of greed or the profit motive!

Crushed, I'm going from memory here but I thought that Hitler hushed up the gas oven issue!

BLP, each human is at risk from the moment of conception. We cannot avoid risk for ourselves or our children - we can only lessen it. If we seek to advance noble causes or spread truth then our risk increases for ourselves and our children!

Adina, the hunt for cheap is by the capitalists who then import it and sell it with a 1000% mark up!

Cheers.

By: Adina

Adina — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 20:04:12 +0000

Crushed. I subscribe to your view. It is years that I consciously make my choice and read the label before buying. My family and friends couldn t care less, they only chose cheap. Luckily, already melamine story, children toy loaded with lead, animal food killing the pets show how far poor unscrupulous business (combine ruthless capitalism with amoral society and disaster is the outcome).. can cause death.Obvious death. Environmental death. and people lives.
There is a saying: i m too poor to buy something cheap.
Too bad this is a society where the hunt for cheap is perpetrated to the point that our mentality becomes cheap as well. To all of us..
Don t buy foreign.
Buy local.
Don t think global.
Think smart.
Don t buy cheap.
Be selective.
Don t be cheap.
that s all I can say..

By: zhann

zhann — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 13:56:19 +0000

Let me play Devil's Advocate for a minute. Good and Evil are relative terms. They are usually defined in a tome of sorts, and there are very few rules that all can agree on. Killing may be evil, but is killing in self defense evil too? Lying is generally considered evil, but Muslims believe that lying to your enemy is ok. There are many contradictions between different cultures of where to draw the line between good and evil.

The argument here doesn't seem to be about evil, however. The fact is that items mentioned above are primarily profit driven. The problems around the world aren't necessarily good verses evil, but more often than not driven by greed. If we want to minimize 'evil' we must set our sights on the cause.

I don’t feel that people are inherently evil. We simply live in a society of moral ineptitude where people are driven by pleasure, or, more accurately, driven ‘towards’ pleasure. Greed is the primary cause, but, as David mentioned, if people weren’t visiting the brothels …

Unfortunately, there is little hope for this generation. It will take centuries for society to move towards a moral way of life. It is our job to ensure that subsequent generations are at least aware of their flaws.

By: BLP

BLP — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:39:03 +0000

I forgot to bring up a point about putting children, especially our own children at risk.
One of the major Muslim holidays is to celebrate the story in the bible of when I believe it was Abraham was going to sacrifice his own child for God. I have always found this story very barbaric. It is one of the reasons that I have never become a Muslim. For one if such a thing could happen it would be an unfair test. Abraham could have just as easily said the request that my child be sacrificed could only come from a demon, get lost you pretender to the throne. Also important is the fact that it was the father of the child and not the mother of the child that was asked to sacrifice the child.
But what if we do not think of God as some old jealous deviant white guy in the sky but as truth or justice. Who would be willing to sacrifice their child for truth or justice? Still no takers I imagine? But would anybody be willing to place your child at some level of risk for truth or justice?
Over the years in Mafia plagued southern Italy some state prosecutors and police officials have been blown up with their families in car bombings.
If no one is willing to place their own children at risk who would take such important assignments.
A less dramatic consideration is every time you give money to a charity or spend time on social or political activism you are taking away resources from your children that could be used by them in their struggle for survival in the very unfair environment you have brought them in to.
If making sure our own children get ahead in the world becomes the dominant principle of a society it seems to me that such a society is on the road to becoming a typical 3rd world dictatorship.
Since some people, such as the state prosecutors in southern Italy, or the leadership of the Iraqi resistance, have been willing to place their children at great risk in order to fight against forces of chaos is there some level of risk that the rest of us who are opposed to the forces of chaos should be able to place our children at to support those who are fighting for our well being? Some would say that it is only a fanatic that would place his child at any risk. I would say that your children are always at risk 24-7. Parents just can not understand all the risks that threaten their children's future therefore to place our children at some level risk to serve justice or honor the truth seems to me to be a reasonable decision.

By: Crushed

Crushed — Wed, 19 Nov 2008 08:33:22 +0000

I often think that about the huge number of people perfectly happy to buy goods made in China.

And not ask questions.

Of course, we shouldn't be surprised.

The German people managed not to notice the death camps.