[Closed] Evil?

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

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.

Is black a colour, or an absence of colour?

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

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.

Cougar that is deep man 😀

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

@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.

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

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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.

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.

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

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

*wonders what the hell I painted the wall with

For true evil http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/midges-4

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.

Black is every colour.

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".

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.

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

It's just live backwards.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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)

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.

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.

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.

samuri - Member
Black is every colour.

But white is every colour.

*head explodes*

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?

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.

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.

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?

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.

Evil - don't they make bike frames?

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

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

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.

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.