Are you comfortable calling people evil?

[Smellincoffee]

I would apply 'evil' to very, very, few. This has to be so, otherwise it loses its meaning (like profanity).

 

[bhsup]

You'd likely think nothing of it if it was the skin of another species though, so the subjectivity of the judgement is clear.

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13331146&postcount=34

 

[Global Skeptic]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13331146&postcount=34

It is still subjective though

 

[Gori the Grey]

Let's see . . .

"People are evil."

Yeah, that felt pretty comfortable.

 

[Phrossack]

Let's see . . .

"People are evil."

Yeah, that felt pretty comfortable.

Eh. Not enough guttural consonants to be physically satisfying to say.

 

[Gori the Grey]

Comfortable =/= satisfying. The long e sounds, the liquid rs and ls. V is fricative but not a stop. Falling rhythm.

 

[brennan]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showpost.php?p=13331146&postcount=34

Pure assertion. Nothing worth responding to.

 

[Kozmos]

I have a hard time calling anyone evil, considering how a person doesn't choose their genetics, how their brain ends up wiring (and some people get strange desires), their upbringing or their environment. Sure a person might be free to chose (not sure where I stand on the philosophical free will argument) but the odds are severely stacked against them either way. I have trouble even calling deeds evil despite my Buddhist inclinations, causing suffering is bad but suffering is a part of life no matter which way you look. And even our enemies are only our relative enemies because our values keep changing. This troubled me greatly in life, this moral relativism, this lack of authority and certainty until I decided to look at the Universe and its make-up as giant number crunching machine and have decided that life is really one big game.

I have trouble taking things seriously now. (Belgium/Hungary/Norway is evil though, and no I have no rational argument for it)

 

[Kyriakos]

In the context of actions, 'dangerous' is a more poignant parameter than 'evil'. I don't regard wolves as 'evil', but i would not really waste much time trying to figure out if one nearing me was hell-bent on attacking before i attempted to kill it (provided i had some weapon; i am not Herakles)

Likewise i would not try to help a person i had reason to regard as potentially dangerous to my physical health. I would not even go near him/her.

 

[Kaitzilla]

If they enjoy hurting other people for fun, no reason not to call them evil.

 

[cav scout]

I'm comfortable calling all people evil

 

[Zkribbler]

I'm comfortable calling all people evil

I have a somewhat opposite view: All people are born good; evilness must be taught.

 

[BirraImperial]

I think no human being is inherently evil. All humans are born pure, but it's their upbringing that determines wherever a person becomes evil or not. You don't know the kind of <snip> someone might have gone through to be labeled as evil.

Moderator Action: Inappropriate language removed.
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[Antilogic]

Seems like we have some reverse-Catholics in this thread.

 

[Global Skeptic]

I'm comfortable calling all people evil

You are aware that calling someone something doesn't make it so? So how do you know that people can be evil?

 

[Antilogic]

You are aware that calling someone something doesn't make it so? So how do you know that people can be evil?

Why did you pick out this comment instead of the guys saying all humans are born innately good or pure or something like that?

 

[Global Skeptic]

Why did you pick out this comment instead of the guys saying all humans are born innately good or pure or something like that?

Yes, you got a point

So to all of you who know that people can be good or evil, how do you know this?

 

[Kyriakos]

It does seem more likely that the 'more natural' human state is one more akin to joy than to will to destroy. For a number of reasons (assuring one's own longevity being one).
We all know that children can be very cruel, and even brutal (and also children soldiers are said to be/develop to by far the most phychopathic soldiers). But in the long run it is far easier to co-exist than to try to dominate or force others to not attack you, and it has to be assumed that primarily (regardless of how conscious that may or may not be to each individual) the main cause of hostility is a sense that you are yourself in dangers from those you try to pre-emptively attack.

I was born so as to love, rather than to hate.

 

[Farm Boy]

I dunno. Watching toddlers with toys will make you think about kids come out fluffy and happy in their natural state. I would suggest a counterpoint. Being a decent person is instead rather what often must be taught.