What is evil?

[PlutonianEmpire]

I was reading the discussion on "evil" and "pure evil" in the execution thread, and it reminded me of something I found on another forum, and I don't remember a discussion about this on CFC:

http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/lo...cle_9e62f858-cb2f-11de-aa54-001cc4c03286.html

Spoiler article contents :

A 14-year-old girl who allegedly told police she tortures animals and is "fascinated by death" was charged Friday with attempted murder after police said she tried to kill another teenager living at her Fitchburg foster home.

Noa M. Jensen was charged as an adult with attempted first-degree intentional homicide for trying to stab a 16-year-old girl Wednesday afternoon at the home. Jensen is a Rock County resident who was placed in the foster home as a Child in Need of Protective Services, Assistant District Attorney Vanny Lu said in court Friday.

According to a criminal complaint, nobody was injured in the attack, which ended when a Fitchburg police officer arrived and twice threatened to use his Taser on Jensen if she did not put down a knife she was holding.

When the incident was over, the complaint states, Jensen told a police detective, "When I'm (angry), I don't think. All I think about is murder."

Jensen is being held on $10,000 bail at the Dane County Juvenile Reception Center, though an official from Rock County Human Services asked Court Commissioner Dan Floeter if it was possible to send her back to Rock County.

According to the complaint:

The 16-year-old girl told police that she confronted Jensen for telling others about a personal matter. Jensen denied it and they began to argue. Jensen said to her foster mother, "I should get a knife and kill (the girl)."

Jensen went to the kitchen and grabbed a knife. She lunged at the girl over a coffee table and tried to stab her. The girl kicked Jensen in the stomach, causing her to fall and drop the knife. Jensen grabbed a second knife from the kitchen and threw it at the girl. It hit her but did not cause any injuries.

The girl ran upstairs, locked herself in a bathroom and called 911. Jensen continued to yell that she was going to kill the girl in her sleep. She tried to follow the girl upstairs with a knife but struggled with her foster mother.

Speaking later with Detective Kenneth Folkers, Jensen said she still wanted to kill the girl.

"I swear to God, if I don't calm down, I will kill her tonight in her sleep," she said. And if her foster mother hadn't intervened, she said, "I would have killed her."

Jensen said that in the past, she had drugged the coffee of a former foster mother and had once walked up to her with a knife and thought about stabbing her to death.

She also talked about catching birds and killing them with a bat, strangling squirrels, pulling apart frogs and trying to hang a family dog because it was it was "babied" by family members.

I know it's an old article, but I just wanted to ask, what, if anything, should be classified as "evil", or "pure evil"?

 

[warpus]

Give me a list of events and I'll categorize them into "not evil" "partially evil" "evil" and "pure evil"

It is an objective scale after all.

 

[Perfection]

Give me a list of events and I'll categorize them into "not evil" "partially evil" "evil" and "pure evil"

It is an objective scale after all.

I'm not sure if events can be evil. I'd say "evilness" is reserved for acts or actors (people).

 

[Lord Baal]

I'm not sure if events can be evil. I'd say "evilness" is reserved for acts or actors (people).

This. I once read that a landslide cannot be evil, as it is an act of nature, but if a person causes that landslide, then that is an act of evil.

 

[azzaman333]

In before Linkin Park

 

[Akka]

Basically, the degree evil is how much you're going to disregard the rights of others, adjusted with the why are you doing it.

 

[snakeseare]

Better to ask, "What is good?"

'To crush your enemies, see them driven before you, and hear the lamentations of their women'

Evil, well, that is a relative term. My good is your evil. Same deal with freedom. My freedom to swing my fist ends at the tip of your nose. So, evil, therefore, is when I wilfully damage you, or when the spellchecker insists that the word is spelt "willfully." I take exception to that and have been damaged, therefore the spellchecker is evil.

Hey, it's late. What do you want? Rubber biscuits?

wilfully

Stupid spellchecker. Evil, evil spellchecker

 

[Tee Kay]

It's a feeling.

 

[Julian Delphiki]

Religion, the Republican party & reality TV. Not sure of the order.

 

[El_Machinae]

I define 'evil' as willfully causing the suffering of another for your own pleasure. There are scales of evilness. In some cases, your 'pleasure' borders on a need, and the victim is many times removed (i.e., eating meat). In other cases, it's direct (sadistic torture).

 

[Shekwan]

The hand of pure evil.

 

[Rashiminos]

Nazi sonuvas..

 

[Cutlass]

Evil is a level of greed and selfishness that is utterly unconcerned with the results to others so long as the evil person gets what they want.

 

[Joecoolyo]

What is love?



Though seriously, you can't really define evil, evil's just what you consider evil to be. There is no "one" definition.

 

[Anonilate]

Let us dip into some basic philosophy then, shall we? The first question that should be asked rather than "What is evil?" is "Is there a such thing as "Evil"? Now I'd venture so far as to claim that there is almost no "Evil" but rather just different opinions on the same matter. Yes I'll even extend that onto murder and rape. "Evil" is a purely human construct to describe what we feel hurts, punishes, or harms us in a way be it physical, emotional, or mental, etc. I believe in moral relativism so again, murder and rape would be completely based upon the instances of the matter, but so far as to say every case is "evil" no. I say this because most that commit murder are not conscious in the sense of "consciousness of cognition" as they can not judge their own actions to be right or wrong or are so severely deluded that they have an entirely not conscious reality.

 

[Tani Coyote]

The root of all good is an unconditional presence of compassion, for people, good and bad. This manifests in charity, forgiveness, and kindness-in-general. As well, a willingness to protect those who cannot protect themselves and to stand up to those who would do evil. Unconditional pacifism isn't a virtue, it's cowardice.

The root of all evil, therefore, is an unconditional lack of compassion, for people, good and bad. This manifests itself in destructive behavior, greed, selfishness, etc.

Logically, as most of us have both hatred and compassion, we are all somewhere inbetween the two. Not SatAM Robotnik, yet not Sonic either, to use two particular religious figures. (Religious for me, anyway. )

 

[Lord Gay]

If you help me, or try to help me, that is good.
If you hurt me, or try to hurt me, that is evil.

 

[Angst]

I usually use the fantasy interpretation of good vs. evil.

Good - the sacrifice of oneself or oneself's possessions to provide the better of the many
Evil - the sacrifice of the many to provide the better of oneself or oneself's possessions.

I use this terminology since A) It fits the world, and B) It promotes objectivism; good and evil exist and most are necessary; and most importantly, they do not depend on the PoV.

 

[Phlegmak]

Good men do good. Evil men do evil. But for good men to do evil, that takes religion.

Well, there are many other evil things in the world. And "evil" is entirely subjective.

 

[Anonilate]

I usually use the fantasy interpretation of good vs. evil.

Good - the sacrifice of oneself or oneself's possessions to provide the better of the many
Evil - the sacrifice of the many to provide the better of oneself or oneself's possessions.

I use this terminology since A) It fits the world, and B) It promotes objectivism; good and evil exist and most are necessary; and most importantly, they do not depend on the PoV.

So what if someone were shooting idk... "Hitler" and I took a bullet for him, and I perceived it to be the best for the many? That's good, right?