Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 40 total)
  • Evil?
  • CharlieMungus
    Free Member

    Following a few threads on here, where terrible things have been done and others where the God thing has been debated . I was wondering what folks thought about Evilness. Within many religions, Evil has a source. In non religious thinking God is not required for good. But is evil a ‘thing’ or is it a lack of good? Does any of this make sense?

    maccruiskeen
    Full Member

    I don’t see it as anything other than a description of actions – To me evil isn’t a ‘thing’ in the same way that ‘funny’ isn’t a thing

    mikewsmith
    Free Member

    Do you mean the difference between bad & evil?
    To me people have the capacity to make mistakes or do the wrong thing, evil is when you run at it and jump in with both feet.

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middling Edition

    Fresh Goods Friday 696: The Middlin...
    Latest Singletrack Videos
    Cougar
    Full Member

    Is black a colour, or an absence of colour?

    (And if the latter, why is printer ink so expensive?)

    Drac
    Full Member

    What Maccruiskeen and Mike said, it’s a description of actions. Someone being evil is not through a mistake they intended to do the action, planned it thought it through and ignored the morals then went ahead and did it.

    Pigface
    Free Member

    Cougar that is deep man 😀

    RealMan
    Free Member

    Cougar black is a shade surely? White is an absence of colour.

    dannybgoode
    Full Member

    @RealMan – I thought white was the combination of all visible light in the spectrum and black the absence thereof (true black – as in a cave deep deep below the ground, not printed black.

    As to the OP I think for me ‘bad’ can be premeditated – steeling from a shop is bad, drinking and driving is very bad but neither I would consider evil.

    I think evil needs malicious intent to really cause the utmost distress to a being (think some of the nastier murderers you see from time to time in the news), those that torture for mere pleasure etc.

    Stoner
    Free Member

    We’re talking about 96ers here aren’t we?

    saxabar
    Free Member

    rogerthecat
    Free Member

    Cougar – Moderator
    Is black a colour, or an absence of colour?
    (And if the latter, why is printer ink so expensive?)

    According to the Viking delivery chap, it costs a fortune to remove all the other colours from the white ink, which should mean colour cartridges should be cheaper as they are just a by-product of making black ink.

    Trimix
    Free Member

    Any discussion on this sort of thing is pretty pointless. Like most things, its very subjective.

    You probably think its evil to stone a woman for being raped, however in some places that gods law.

    A lot of people are messed up, most of the others mixed up. Very few are well balanced. What I find dissapointing is the infinetly small number of people who actually attempt to stop “bad” things happening by their actions, or try to educate and change things for the better.

    A social media / petition campain does not count as action.

    Trimix
    Free Member

    Having said all that, new standards for mtb’s every flipping year is pure evil, as are 29’ers.

    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    [video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EX6SWmOwJCo[/video]

    piemonster
    Full Member

    Cougar black is a shade surely? White is an absence of colour.

    *wonders what the hell I painted the wall with

    piemonster
    Full Member
    AlexSimon
    Full Member

    On a serious note, I think ‘Evil’ is a word that gets used to dismiss someone’s actions as ‘inhuman’, ‘unthinkable’, etc and dismiss them as being something that doesn’t need to be understood, just eradicated.

    samuri
    Free Member

    Black is every colour.

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    In nature, for instance amongst lions, a female with existing cubs who mates with a new partner will often have her cubs killed by the male.

    This is a tactic that ensures the entry of the new gene mix into the gene pool at the expense of the previous version.

    It may be that when humans maltreat and kill children for instance (as we see from time to time in the news), they are expressing this old impulse which is still in place.

    Having a set of human ethics however, we see it as wrong and attach a word to it – evil – to distinguish it from acts of, say, “kindness”.

    thomthumb
    Free Member

    my OHs dad – a long time social worker – says that evil is a way society labels people to distance them from ourselves. It’s much easier to think that pedophiles, child killers and rapists are completely inhuman, ie evil, not just people like us with a different set of morals.

    Keva
    Free Member

    what’s the point of a light without a dark place to shine it in?

    DezB
    Free Member

    It’s just live backwards.

    mogrim
    Full Member

    Someone being evil is not through a mistake they intended to do the action, planned it thought it through and ignored the morals then went ahead and did it.

    So the Holocaust wasn’t evil? It was morally justified – at least to its perpetrators.

    And orange is the new black, apparently. Another colour that’s missing.

    molgrips
    Free Member

    You have to define evil first.

    I don’t think it’s possible to define it without also defining an explicit framework for good, which I think would require a religion.

    Or to put it another way, I think ‘evil’ is a religious concept, but good is not.

    badnewz
    Free Member

    But is evil a ‘thing’ or is it a lack of good?

    Good question. Perhaps it is both!

    A theologian once told me there is evil in this world to facilitate character formation. A purely good world wouldn’t have this possibility, that is we wouldn’t have the opportunity to stand up against evil and alleviate suffering as they wouldn’t exist.

    Northwind
    Full Member

    AlexSimon – Member

    On a serious note, I think ‘Evil’ is a word that gets used to dismiss someone’s actions as ‘inhuman’, ‘unthinkable’, etc and dismiss them as being something that doesn’t need to be understood, just eradicated.

    Yup.

    rogerthecat
    Free Member

    If black is the absence of colour does that mean MrsCat is naked when she wears her little black number? This is beginning to trouble me now.

    Evil seems to be a convenient word to lump actions under that could, and should, be stopped by others. (29″ is a perfect example)

    molgrips
    Free Member

    But is evil a ‘thing’ or is it a lack of good?

    The wiki page has some interesting background on this, as it does for most philosophical and theological topics. Some religions define evil as lack of good, some as an actual force in itself.

    bigyinn
    Free Member

    molgrips – Member

    You have to define evil first.

    I don’t think it’s possible to define it without also defining an explicit framework for good, which I think would require a religion.
    Why would religion be required to describe a behavior?

    I rescued a bumble be from certain death by a spider yesterday. How does that fit into a a religious context?

    Good is usually for doing things for the betterment of yourself and others, evil the opposite, in my eyes at least.
    No religious context there as far as I can see.

    honeybadgerx
    Full Member

    samuri – Member
    Black is every colour.

    But white is every colour.

    *head explodes*

    honeybadgerx
    Full Member

    Some religions define evil as lack of good, some as an actual force in itself.

    See this is what always gets me with the general devil/satan type presence in most religions, he’s described as being evil/source of all that is bad/etc. yet he’s the one that punishes evil people for all of eternity – surely that’s a good thing? If he was evil surely he’d tell them ‘good job’ and post them back up into the world of the living?

    colournoise
    Full Member

    Good or Evil, it’s all just people and the shit they choose to do.

    Black or white, it depends whether you’re a scientist or an artist. For me, black and white are definitely distinct colours.

    Drac
    Full Member

    I rescued a bumble be from certain death by a spider yesterday. How does that fit into a a religious context?

    Poor spider’s family has now starved to death.

    vinnyeh
    Full Member

    Good is usually for doing things for the betterment of yourself and others, evil the opposite, in my eyes at least.
    No religious context there as far as I can see.

    But that’s such a simplistic approach. It’s not too often that the betterment of yourself comes without doing some small harm to others. It’s just that you choose to overlook that harm as insignificant.

    Is the drowning of female babies evil? Or is it only evil within certain contexts?
    Because your moral code dictates an action as evil, but mine doesn’t, if I perform the action, does it make me evil?
    Is the definition of evil reached by group consensus, or individual?

    And, what does it matter, really, if there’s no god?

    MrWoppit
    Free Member

    And, what does it matter, really, if there’s no god?

    Because it hurts other people and makes life less worthwhile not just for the victim(s) but also for the perpetrator.

    Simples.

    wordnumb
    Free Member

    Evil – don’t they make bike frames?

    Trimix
    Free Member

    Its all subjective and related to context – thats why these discussions go round in circles.

    richmtb
    Full Member

    There is no such thing as good or evil – these are just social constructs they don’t exist in any meaningful way.

    Human beings are merely a convenient vector for replicating genes that have existed for millions of years.

    The Earth is about 80% of the way through its lifespan as a habitable planet anyway so all of this is moot.

    Best just go out and ride your bikes instead

    bigyinn
    Free Member

    Drac – Moderator

    I rescued a bumble be from certain death by a spider yesterday. How does that fit into a a religious context?

    Poor spider’s family has now starved to death.
    S’OK he had another bumble bee put aside already.

    TuckerUK
    Free Member

    And, what does it matter, really, if there’s no god?

    Because it hurts other people and makes life less worthwhile not just for the victim(s) but also for the perpetrator.

    Simples.

    It also takes away their justification for being homophobic, subjugating women, and mutilating children’s genitals.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 40 total)

The topic ‘Evil?’ is closed to new replies.