Are People Evil or just Dumb?

[MsNobody]

Ive been contemplating why people do what they do and got to the conclusion that many people who do really evil things actually think they are doing a favor to humanity, is this just because they are lazy to think and its easier to conform?

Does real evil exists? Are people aware of the evil they are creating? It's just so crazy cause it appears that the more evil they are the more blind they get, cause the further you go the more difficult it is to come back to your senses. 

I believe evil is just unconsciousness, a lack of God realization but would love to hear what you think 

[DocWatts]

Most kinds of evil are banal - the result of selfishness, bias, and diffusion of responsibility. 

If you want a really good book on this subject, I'd highly recommend 'They Thought They Were Free' by Milton Mayer. Mayer was a Jewish American who traveled to Germany after the end of World War 2, and befriended and interviewed a number of ordinary Germans who were members of the Nazi Party, and wrote a book about it.

The book is an excellent deep dive into the mental gymnastics that people will employ to avoid taking responsibility for their actions. It's also a chilling case study in how evil systems are almost always built and maintained by ordinary people. 

___
"The other nine, decent, hard-working, ordinarily intelligent and honest men, did not know before 1933 that Nazism was evil. They did not know between 1933 and 1945 that it was evil. And they do not know it now [in 1946]. None of them ever knew, or now knows, Nazism as we knew and know it; and they lived under it, served it, and, indeed, made it"

"But the one great shocking occasion, when tens or hundreds or thousands will join with you, never comes. That’s the difficulty. If the last and worst act of the whole regime had come immediately after the first and smallest, thousands, yes, millions would have been sufficiently shocked—if, let us say, the gassing of the Jews in ’43 had come immediately after the ‘German Firm’ stickers on the windows of non-Jewish shops in ’33. But of course this isn’t the way it happens. In between come all the hundreds of little steps, some of them imperceptible, each of them preparing you not to be shocked by the next. Step C is not so much worse than Step B, and, if you did not make a stand at Step B, why should you at Step C? And so on to Step D."

"On this new level you live, you have been living more comfortably every day, with new morals, new principles. You have accepted things you would not have accepted five years ago, a year ago, things that your father, even in Germany, could not have imagined.”

“The fact is, I think, that my friends really didn't know [about the Holocaust]. They didn't know because they didn't want to know; but they didn't know. They could have found out, at the time, only if they had wanted to very badly.”

Edited 14 hours ago by DocWatts

[Ishanga]

I think pure evil (evil actions that is), think of a sadist, someone who likes to inflict pain on another, this I would say is about as Evil as it gets..Compared to Putin, he is sort of Evil but he is doing for of a cause that in his perception is justified, the re creation of the USSR or something like that is what he wants right? So he will do Evil actions, destroy ppl's lives (Ukraine) to get what he wants, so there are Evil people (sadists) and then there are Evil Acts!

It all comes down to Unconsciousness to various degrees, as well as psychosis of sorts..  There are tons and tons of unconscious ppl in the world, the majority of the ppl of the world are unconscious, but they don't do Evil acts or are Evil themselves, so there is a sort of psychosis going on too, the evil ones are part narcissistic, lack any empathy, only see and experience themselves, and are psychopaths..   

If Good exists then Evil exists, but is Killing strictly Evil? Its the intention behind the person doing the act that determines that, sometimes You have to kill to protect others, if it is not for that, then I can say it is Evil on various levels, pure Evil is Killing for Pleasure!!

[Ramasta9]

Ultimately there is no such thing as evil or dumb, rather it is simply a "distortion" within consciousness.

[Hojo]

I think verbal evil is when someone purposefully says something to make someone feel bad.

Or hurt people to purposefully physically to make them feel bad.

You can hurt them verbally out of just speaking what you want that wouldnt be evil.

So its a mixture of both and you cant know unless they keep doing it over and over.

A evil would be just pure negative IMO. That would mean the person dosent derive pleasure from doing it and you dont from receiving it.

If the person keeps bringing up negative things about you over and over and you dont react but they keep doing it cause they dont get the reaction they want (for you to hurt) then they are being evil.

For instance you talk with someone they bring something up you just brush it off like you dont care. Then they talk about it again you brush it off like you dont care. You see them later they bring it up again and you brush it off again.

They arent getting pleasure about bringing it up and keep doing it cause they arent getting the reaction they want even tho you have made it clear you arent reacting. They will keep bringing it up till you react in the way they want. ( you feeling bad)

An unconscious would be you bring it up you brush it off like you dont care and they stop. There is 0 ulterior motive with unconscious its just an accident. They see you dont care and thats all that it has to be.

Edited 11 hours ago by Hojo

[Inliytened1]

5 hours ago, MsNobody said:

Ive been contemplating why people do what they do and got to the conclusion that many people who do really evil things actually think they are doing a favor to humanity, is this just because they are lazy to think and its easier to conform?

Does real evil exists? Are people aware of the evil they are creating? It's just so crazy cause it appears that the more evil they are the more blind they get, cause the further you go the more difficult it is to come back to your senses. 

I believe evil is just unconsciousness, a lack of God realization but would love to hear what you think 

If you really want to go meta - evil is completely subjective.   What you think is evil is based on survival.  But God isn't restricted to that so what would be evil to God? From a human perspective the same but when looked at as a collective human experience - evil does exist.. because from a survival perspective most of us can all agree that something is evil. Majority wins.  Also you feel it in your bones as a human.  But take Hitler as an example.  Who was he evil towards is the real question.... Not whether he  himself is evil. 

Edited 8 hours ago by Inliytened1

[Ajay0]

Strong desires in the form of cravings and aversions, are considered to be evil as per greek and eastern philosophy, and all vices like lust, greed, hatred can be sequenced to such strong cravings and aversions at their fundamental level.

All crimes or flaws in conduct thus can be traced back to these vices, and ultimately to strong desires in the form of cravings/aversions.

Rape can be sequenced to unconscious lust , cruelty and murder can be sequenced to hatred, dishonest theft and robbery can be sequenced to greed.

 The overwhelming emotional energy of such intense desires can override one's discretion and rationality forcing one to commit such acts even if one may know it is wrong, erroneous and likely to end in trouble.

Cravings/aversions make the mind unconscious, reactive, negative and emotive.

Being conscious or aware enables better mind management,  a better perception of the situation and a more rational and positive response to the same.

Edited 5 hours ago by Ajay0

[enchanted]

 

[enchanted]

People are neither evil nor dumb they just think different than you. 

[UnbornTao]

We tend to think we're the exception to "people."

No one ever includes themselves in "people."

I guess that's just what people do.

[Jannes]

If people cared about not being evil they would realize they need to be intelligent to not be evil.