--- Elisabeth Carvalho wrote: > Your disdain for fellow posters knows no bounds. > Mario clarifies: > Actually, I have no disdain for you or most fellow posters, though I will make an exception for those who deliberately twist the truth. In this thread I'm simply trying to understand how the world can be turned on it's head by verbal gymnastics. > Elisabeth writes: > > First off is your assertion, that evil has nothing > to do with God. Actually incorrect. The concept of > evil as a separate entity came into common ideology > with the Abrahamic religions, > Mario writes: > So, let me see. There is no such thing as good and bad (evil) among non-Abrahamic peoples? Isn't this either incredibly patronising or self serving? Didn't the Hindus believe in good and evil way before Abraham? > But, to the point, did you or didn't you say in effect that you atheists and agnostics could not be evil because you had never agreed to be good in the first place? > Elisabeth writes: > > Secondly, enough with the compound sentences that > manage to obscure the meaning of every post. My > premise is simply that all that we define as evil, > is redefined when more information comes to light. > Mario observes: > I just call 'em as I see 'em. I wouldn't know a compound sentence from a straight one:-)) Perhaps compound for some is simple for others. But, this is precisely what I have been saying about your ilk. You can turn everything upside down by just redefining it. It all falls under Cornel's Law, which holds that all truth is like silly-putty. > Elisabeth writes: > > My father once told me only "immoral girls smoked > cigarettes". Growing up, I was a terrible asthmatic. > He should have told me the truth. That smoking would > kill me. Luckily, I found that out for myself. In > the world he grew up in, his version WAS the truth. > Mario responds: > I don't know what a bad and harmful habit has to do with "evil". REAL evil is when you deliberately set out to harm others, not yourself. > Elisabeth writes: > > At one time homosexuality was considered "evil". > Then psychologists labeled homosexuality as a sexual > aberration. Much money and time was spent in > "cleansing" this evil from oneself. Fortunately, we > know more about homosexuality to be accepting of it > without labeling it. > Mario responds: > Based on my belief that REAL evil is when you deliberately set out to harm others, not yourself, I don't know what homosexuality has to do with "evil". At worst there are people who believe it goes against nature. I don't think anyone believes that the people themselves are "evil", unless they project their private behavior on others in some way. > Elisabeth writes: > > Many "thought disorders" such as paranoia, > schizophrenia, bi-polar, were considered to be > manifestations of the "devil" in people, and they > were said to be possessed. Today, we rightfully > treat this dysfunction. > Mario responds: > In my opinion, this example is far too obsolete to be used today. > Elisabeth writes: > > Other dysfunctions such as kleptomania are now > treated by therapy rather than punishment. As our > knowledge grows even pedophilia is being treated as > a disease and addressed through measures such as > chemical castration. > Mario responds: > I wouldn't test your kleptomania theory if I were you. Shoplifters usually find themselves in jail not in psychiatry at taxpayer expense. I haven't heard of any pedophiles being chemically castrated, at least in the US. One or two rapists, perhaps, who asked for this to be done to them. > Elisabeth writes: > > Far from absolving people of their "evil", I place > the entire onus of their dysfunction on themselves. > They are either the victims of mental dysfunction or > cultural conditioning (such as bigotry) that leads > to mental dysfunction of sorts. > Mario responds: > How can you place the onus on them, i.e. blame them, if they are mentally dysfunctional? If the onus is on them, this suggests they are fully aware of and in control of their actions and are therefore morally reprehensible, which evil essentially is. Mentally dysfunctional suggests psychological forces beyond one's control, and so the person cannot be innately evil, like all those I listed before. > Elisabeth writes: > > The original purpose of prisons is lost on our > modern societies. It was to remove the > dysfunctional person from society, hence offering > society protection from him, and secondly to > provide the person an opportunity to meditate on his > crime. > Mario observes: > Didn't the original function of a prison get lost because of political liberals, who seem to have more sympathy for the perpetrator than the victim, and think they can rehabilitate all such people? >
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