WHAT CONSTITUTES HUMAN EVIL (let's explore "moral values")?

[Just Me]

- Intentionally deceiving others in order to take advantage of them?
- Profiteering off the weak?
- Pretending to care about others' "agendas" in order to advance your own?
- Greed?
- A willingness to kill/murder/exterminate for anything other than self-defense (and gravitating towards self-advantage)?
- Taking advantage of others' ignorance or fear or compassion?
- Holding out "God" in order to empower oneself?


What constitutes human evil to you?

[NMDemDist2]

1. reading Scott Peck's "The People of the Lie" changed how I look at

evil

it's not the lies people tell others, it's the lies they tell themselves so as not to shatter their "worldview" that do the most harm... excellent read if you are so inclined

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0684848597/qid=1105148669/sr=2-2/ref=pd_ka_b_2_2/002-6768788-2144022

[Just Me]

6. I read "People of the Lie" about 7 or 8 years ago,...

,...and, it was impactful. It's very painful, apparently, for some to read,...and quite inspiring for others.

While I was inspired, those who were pained,...still stay stuck.

Not that my life is as manic or structurally optimistic as theirs, mind you. *LOL* I seem to have to work much harder at maintaining my fervour for humanity than they.

[gater]

2. Lack of remorse.

We all screw up, and we've all done rotten things. The "evil ones" among us never feel regret or sorrow for those actions.

[classof56]

5. Welcome to DU.

I once heard that it (never acknowledging wrongdoing or feeling remorse) comes from an inner framework of self-justification. If people couldn't justify the evil they do and the pain they cause, they'd go insane. I think maybe they're already there but others--trying to give them the benefit of the doubt--don't recognize it. Maybe because some inner framework of empathy and/or compassion keeps us from acknowledging that there are those in our midst who are that cold and empty and psychotic when they might otherwise seem so "normal".

Been a long, long time since I took Psych 101, so there's probably a lot of new ideas floating around that I should explore. Meanwhile, I am old, tired and very cynical. DU helps keep me centered, though. I'm grateful for that!

Class of 56

[Just Me]

8. But, if we fail to acknowledge our own wrong-doing,...

,...will we EVER stop destroying ourselves?

Moreover, the only reason humanity would feel compelled to justify its own evil,...is due to a framework created by humanity.

In other words,...what a fucked-up framework we have created for ourselves,...notwithstanding our potential to create whatever we jointly need/want/wish.

[nankerphelge]

3. Participating in the writing of memos...

that conclude there are acceptable forms of torture.

[orpupilofnature57]

4. Exploiting the weakness, in every area of mankind, MISANTHROPY

[Just Me]

7. We're supposed to be more "evolved" than "animals",...

,...yet, our life-form has done more damage to both this earth and ourselves than any other living creature.

MISANTHROPY?

All I know is that we have a choice of either extending and contributing to life or consuming and destroying life.

Although I am generally not a black/white observer of human existence,...the foregoing is a razor that splits our potential, to "Just Me".

[leftofthedial]

9. those items are what constitutes republicanness

have we found a synonym?

[Cleita]

10. I get upset by conversations about this because I guess I don't

like the vocabulary, you know evil, morals, values, gods etc., etc., etc.,.
I do like your vocabulary though. I think we need to use new words and phrases to redefine the issue for what it is.

[hoi polloi]

11. Recondite

Abstruse, might define the layers of humanity. It is same old same old evil rapaciousness, hubris, hyperbole, and hell of haughtiness that has always before and always will plague humanity.
As far as I think, our species is destined, due to again rapaciousness, to extinction.