--- In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, Duveyoung <no_re...@...> wrote: > > Once again, define evil for us...
"Evil" is a word that people who want to do something nasty or despicable hurl at the person or entity they want to do it to, to make themselves look better. That's what it was when hurling the epi- thet at the "Axis Of Evil," and that's what it is when someone hurls it at Dick Cheney. They're trying to make themselves and the inordinate amount of hatred they are aiming at him and the bad things they want to happen to him look "less evil." I think that throwing around the word "evil" is as stupid when done by supposedly smart people as it is when hurled around by stupid, fanatical Christians and aimed at gays or people who have sex or who interpret the Bible differently. In short, I do not believe that any human being on the planet knows what "evil" is EXCEPT as an excuse for their own actions. And since I don't believe in a God, I don't believe that *any* entity in creation knows what "evil" is, either. Killing? Then Krishna and Arjuna are evil. Lying? Then Maharishi was evil, many times over. "Predation?" Then all those Old Test- ament prophets who told their followers to take the people they conquered and turn them into slaves and concubines were evil. When I hear someone use the word "evil," the only thing I usually think is, "Avoid that person...they're about to make an excuse for something bad that they plan to do or want to do or hope to do." And I think that my take on hearing the word "evil" is as good as anyone else's "definition" of it. Go ahead. TRY to define "evil" in concrete terms. No matter what example you use, I or others here will be able to find an instance of someone from religious scrip- ture doing that exact thing, and being praised and called holy for it. The word "evil" is a thought-stopper. Those who use it show that their ability to think probably stopped long ago. And those are my thoughts about "evil," because I can still have them, even after you hurled the epithet. :-) Now riff on them all you want. I promise not to call you "evil" if you do.
