Evil or Human Nature

[muchahookah]

Hey, I'm kind of new to the forums but I wanted your opinion on this topic I've been debating with some of my friends. Do you believe evil is an uncontrollable force that consumes people or is it a natural part of human existence that balances life.

Personally I think that a certain force drives people to do horrific things but in a sensible world there must be an opposite to goodness therefore evil has to exist as a natural thing.

Thanks in advance for you opinions!

[buttsplatuken]

I'm not an expert on psychology, but it seems to me that people just do crazy things, which turn out to look either "good" or "evil"... Was Hitler evil?, or was he just overly medicated, schizophrenic, and altogether wacky?

A friend once picked up a frog on a drunken hike and threw it down on the ground as hard as he could, vanquishing it's life. Does that make him evil? It doesn't seem so to me...an asshole? Emphatically, yes.

[muchahookah]

Originally Posted by buttsplatuken

I'm not an expert on psychology, but it seems to me that people just do crazy things, which turn out to look either "good" or "evil"... Was Hitler evil?, or was he just overly medicated, schizophrenic, and altogether wacky?

A friend once picked up a frog on a drunken hike and threw it down on the ground as hard as he could, vanquishing it's life. Does that make him evil? It doesn't seem so to me...an asshole? Emphatically, yes.

That's true people do crazy things but do you believe that there is an unnatural force that drives them or a natural feeling of evil rooted in everyone?

[MelT]

Troll.


"Do you believe evil is an uncontrollable force that consumes people or is it a natural part of human existence that balances life. "


I would say that it's neither. Evil is not. If we here agree and in some way define all bad things in general as 'evil' as a corporate entity, then we're also saying that there has to be its opposite, 'good', defined as god.

The very nature of good and evil, once defined as 'things', belies the existence of an active force working behind them. I personally don't believe in evil as a force, or that there is a devil working one way and a god the other. I think that's archaic, dangerous thinking. Nobody can classify bad events in the world as evidence of evil incarnate and say that they were anything more than the acts of men.

Your Honours, I would beg to plead that the poster here is a troll, hoping to start a thread on the need for god for all our protection; thus causing a war here and another long and tedious thread to sit at the top of the GC threads in the name of christianity. Whilst I have no axe to grind against christians - and if they want to talk about this subject then cool, it's a good subject - but the rest of us must remember that this IS a troll to get us all going again.



MelT

[buttsplatuken]

This seems like it would be a more interesting topic from a purely psychological standpoint. I'm pretty good at removing myself from discussions that appear to get out of hand, so I'm not worried about any god-talk lol. Are there any psychologists here to respond to this question?

[Rasta_Man]

hey MelT,

I bet you a joint that this is weedypowerpuff.

Every time his new account is deleted, another troll with similar intentions shows up.

[MelT]

Originally Posted by Rasta_Man

hey MelT,

I bet you a joint that this is weedypowerpuff.

Every time his new account is deleted, another troll with similar intentions shows up.

I think you'd win


MelT

[DirtyPete]

Good and evil are only subjective judgements based on the condition our society is in at the time, or based on the mindstate of the individual.

I don't believe in Good vs. Evil, I believe in Creation vs. Destruction.

[muchahookah]

Originally Posted by Rasta_Man

hey MelT,

I bet you a joint that this is weedypowerpuff.

Every time his new account is deleted, another troll with similar intentions shows up.

This isnt weedypowerpuff. I saw that guy's post and he was a douchebag. Im kind of offended to be thought of like that when I was just asking a question for people's opinions. And im sorry if this question seemed out of hand or pointless. Also, I'm not Christian and have no intention to spark this into a Pro-Christian speech of why Jesus is important in lives. Seriously, I just wanted to know what people thought.

[TheGreenPot]

Originally Posted by muchahookah

This isnt weedypowerpuff. I saw that guy's post and he was a douchebag. Im kind of offended to be thought of like that when I was just asking a question for people's opinions. And im sorry if this question seemed out of hand or pointless. And whats a troll!

Nah man, don't listen to them. Your post is just fine

[muchahookah]

Originally Posted by TheGreenPot

Nah man, don't listen to them. Your post is just fine

Thanks. I would really like to see this question evolve into a good discusion.

[thegreenfairy]

i don't think evil really exists in "nature" so to speak. and although a person may do things even to be intentionally evil - i think it is because they are part of a society which has defined evil as a certain thing - offering them the ultimate avenue for rebellion.

evil as a concept of that wich is opposite of good exists - but i'd say it's really just an adjective. most things one would chalk up to evil are either rebellion - or part of the natural cycle.

if a man kills his a dog and feeds it to his children it is evil because our society finds dogs to be an unacceptable source of food. most ppl (not a relatively small vegatarian minority) would have no problem with him feedig his children the body of a chicken. (i'm not saying we should eat dogs)

to put a finer head on it: a man is walking through a forest - a limb falls out of an acorn tree and kills him. a couple months later the trees acorns take root in the body wich has now become fertiliser. same situation really.

ppl would see the guy killing the dog as evil - prob not see the guy killing the chicken as evil - and definately not see the tree as a killer, even though humans are our most unaccepted source of food.

they are really just examples of the food chain, the cycle of life.

and the friend who destroyed the frog was just exerting a primal instinct to take control of his environment and show his dominance. the frog very well may have gotten drunk and thrown ur friend on the ground had the situation been reversed. assholes are very natuaral. a gorilla in the wild - ecspecially the alpha male - the leader - is likely to shred you into bits for crossing his territory - just to prove his point. a nature show host may call him majestic - i say he's an asshole. while it was a dick move, for sure - he was just being a classic primate, trying to assert himself as alpha male. unnessary, and brutal - but i don't think one needs a compellling outside force to explain it.

[runner's high]

Like the others said, "good" and "evil" subjective.

I think it's better to look at people through the lenses of compassion and wisdom. Most people that do evil do so because they are either unaware they are doing it (lacking wisdom) or they simply don't care (lacking compassion). The inverse is true for good.

Even if someone is born ignorant, angry, and selfish, I don't think they can be called evil. Ideas of absolute evil and good went out the window with DC comic books. Reality is not monochromatic.

[Maitereya]

since we evolved from monkeys i think its natural to be violent, like the alpha male thing thegreenfairy said. but since then we have evolved brains to overcome the need to be violent. is violence evil? i guess its subjective.

if this was a nature vs nurture debate i would say nurture

Troll.

where did the word troll come from?

[Budder81]

Well said Greenfairy.

Physical violence will probally go down, and mental violence will take place. It's not about being able to kick someone's ass anymore, you have to own them now, mental not physical.

Evil is just a word to describe something that makes us uncomfortable.