The nature of evil
One of the issues raised in Ron Rosenbaum's compelling 1998 book, "Explaining Hitler,'' could be stated in the form of this question: "Did Hitler know that he was evil or was he convinced of his rectitude?''
Whatever side historians tended to come down on, the bottom line was this: "What difference does it make?'' In the face of the Holocaust, those distinctions become mere parlor games.
There are bloggers who claim that the massacre at Virginia Tech shows us that evil exists. Well, nobody with even one eye open in this world needs to be shown that evil exists. It's there and it's real.
As details about the shooter, Cho Sueng-Hui, come to light, though, a question parallel to Rosenbaum's emerges:
Were the murders a result of an evil heart or a diseased mind?
The guy seems to have been a few bubbles off-plumb for a long time. He was sunk into some kind of dark world where a smile, a look and a kind word from a stranger were all translated into a malevolent plot against him. And the more people who shied away from his vacant stares, the more he evidently became convinced that they stood against him.
He was crazy, if not legally insane. There seems to be no doubt there.
But the question of "evil/mentally ill'' does not have to be either/or.
One can be both at the same time.
And in the end, does it matter one whit?
Whatever side historians tended to come down on, the bottom line was this: "What difference does it make?'' In the face of the Holocaust, those distinctions become mere parlor games.
There are bloggers who claim that the massacre at Virginia Tech shows us that evil exists. Well, nobody with even one eye open in this world needs to be shown that evil exists. It's there and it's real.
As details about the shooter, Cho Sueng-Hui, come to light, though, a question parallel to Rosenbaum's emerges:
Were the murders a result of an evil heart or a diseased mind?
The guy seems to have been a few bubbles off-plumb for a long time. He was sunk into some kind of dark world where a smile, a look and a kind word from a stranger were all translated into a malevolent plot against him. And the more people who shied away from his vacant stares, the more he evidently became convinced that they stood against him.
He was crazy, if not legally insane. There seems to be no doubt there.
But the question of "evil/mentally ill'' does not have to be either/or.
One can be both at the same time.
And in the end, does it matter one whit?
posted by Michael Riley at 9:32 AM
2 Comments:
you are correct, it does not matter because , "evil is as evil does"..especially if you or a loved one are its victim..it often does not matter who did it, or why - but it is enough that it did happen..
Thank God we don't have to wonder what a jury would decide, had he lived. I believe that is a cold statement. Can't help it.
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