Practically everyone believes that they are good people. But, we often give ourselves more credit than we deserve. We can enter a class and think we know everything about that subject and think, “I don’t need to attend the lectures. I don’t need to study. I know it all.” But, what determines what you know …
Exhibit 8: Dehumanization The start of much evil is when we dehumanize another person. When we believe another is less of a person than another, or not even a person, then we start the path towards mistreatment. Dehumanization or an act thereof can describe as the denial of full humanness to others, and the cruelty …
Exhibit 7: Sonderkommando In the Nazi concentration camps, we wonder what evil people can lead the Jews to the gas chambers, force them to undress publicly, lie to them that they are going into the showers, pull out the gold in their teeth after they are dead, cut their hair to be sold, carry the …
Danmark wrote: How do you define “normal, ordinary people?” Most of the people that you see in the airport, in the mall, at the workplace, in your neighborhood, in church, in sports arenas, in concert halls, etc. They are the everyday people that we encounter and interact with. Evil is not limited to a subgroup …
Read more “Evil are committed by people from all strata of society”
Mithrae wrote: And those burning witches and torturing heretics were regular, normal Christians. Completely agree. I do not discount Christians from being able to commit evil. They can even use the Bible to justify their actions. So, what is the correct way to interpret the Bible? This is quite complicated, but I’ll just suffice it …
Exhibit 6: Child sex abuse Related to sex trafficking is child sex abuse. This ranks among the vilest of sins committed by society. Even in prison, the inmates consider child molesters worthy of death and often take the matter into their own hands. Though prison officials in some Northeastern states question the idea of an …
Exhibit 5: Sex trafficking “Sex trafficking is human trafficking for the purpose of sexual exploitation, including sexual slavery. A victim is forced, in one of a variety of ways, into a situation of dependency on their trafficker(s) and then used by said trafficker(s) to give sexual services to customers.” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_trafficking “Sex trafficking is a modern-day …
Zzyzx wrote: Would arrogance also apply to those who think or claim that they are more moral than normal, regular people because they worship in certain ways –and who claim to follow a superior ethical code (even when their actions indicate non-compliance)? I believe we are all equally depraved. Nobody is more moral than another …
Elijah John wrote: Or their internal sense of right and wrong. People do this all the time. Yes, most people can pass the easy tests. But, under harder tests, it becomes difficult, if not impossible, to trust only on one’s abilities and innate sense of morality. Civil disobedience. Internal sense of right and wrong. Passive …
Divine Insight wrote: otseng wrote: My argument is not whether people can do good or bad things. Of course everyone can do good and bad things. My argument is, if sufficiently tested, anyone can do the most evil and vile things. I would disagree that this shows that these people are themselves evil or bad …