we should re-name this thread.
Society's going to hell
Moderator: Fist and Faith
And Av says we can't stay on topic.... 
-B
-B
"Fortunate circumstances do not equate to high ideals."
"Mostly muffins sir."- My answer in response to the question posed by the officer, "Son, do you have anything on you I should know about?"
His response: "Holy $&!^. He's not kidding! Look at all these muffins!"
"Mostly muffins sir."- My answer in response to the question posed by the officer, "Son, do you have anything on you I should know about?"
His response: "Holy $&!^. He's not kidding! Look at all these muffins!"
This could be fun.
I do believe there is evil, and that there is a war of good and evil going on bigtime right now. I see it personified now as one radical faction against the rest of the entire world. But as I can't argue this much better than George W. can speak, I'll just leave it at that. I think we get into trouble when we close our eyes to evil or think it doesn't exist.
(Talking about Texas was fun, though... awwww...
)
I do believe there is evil, and that there is a war of good and evil going on bigtime right now. I see it personified now as one radical faction against the rest of the entire world. But as I can't argue this much better than George W. can speak, I'll just leave it at that. I think we get into trouble when we close our eyes to evil or think it doesn't exist.
(Talking about Texas was fun, though... awwww...
)"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his personal safety; is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. "
- John Stuart Mill, English philosopher
- John Stuart Mill, English philosopher
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SoulQuest1970
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Guys... I am furniture. I'm a chair in the corner saying, "Hello, I am a chair, don't mind me."
If women were in charge, the military would have to do bake sales in order to buy more weapons.
"You can always procrastinate later."
-me
"I'm not fat. I'm FLUFFY!"
- Garfield
"We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love"
-"We Live"
by Superchick
"You can always procrastinate later."
-me
"I'm not fat. I'm FLUFFY!"
- Garfield
"We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love"
-"We Live"
by Superchick
Everyone knows chairs can't speak, you silly couch.SoulQuest1970 wrote:Guys... I am furniture. I'm a chair in the corner saying, "Hello, I am a chair, don't mind me."
"War is an ugly thing but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feeling which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. A man who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing he cares about more than his personal safety; is a miserable creature who has no chance of being free, unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself. "
- John Stuart Mill, English philosopher
- John Stuart Mill, English philosopher
-
A Gunslinger
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I agree. But let's play The Cheney's advocate here. Can an ACT be evil and be performed by someone sick, but not evil?sgtnull wrote:I knew guy named james Couch and he could speak.
oh, evil? a child molester is a good start.
Remeber Evil spelled backwards is LIVE...and we all want to do that. 10 Trivia points for you if you can come up with the source of that quote!
"I use my gun whenever kindness fails"
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Saying "a child molester is evil" doesn't work. Not in as far as defining evil anyway.
There must be certain shared criteria, possesing all of which will make something evil, and lacking any of which will make something not evil.
Now, don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that terrible things aren't done by very unpleasant people. But "evil" is such a broad, sweeping term. It implies so many things, but explains none of them.
And of course, Gunslinger suggests even further division...can certain acts be evil? (If so, what are the shared criteria of those acts?) And is it possible to commit those acts without being evil? And of course, the issue of motivation...were the intentions evil?
It's an interesting question folks. It's a word we use all the time...but even the people who use it most usually can't say what exactly they mean by it.
Is evil a "thing"? Is it something that is always the same? An absolute? Or is evil a matter of perspective?
--A
There must be certain shared criteria, possesing all of which will make something evil, and lacking any of which will make something not evil.
Now, don't get me wrong...I'm not saying that terrible things aren't done by very unpleasant people. But "evil" is such a broad, sweeping term. It implies so many things, but explains none of them.
And of course, Gunslinger suggests even further division...can certain acts be evil? (If so, what are the shared criteria of those acts?) And is it possible to commit those acts without being evil? And of course, the issue of motivation...were the intentions evil?
It's an interesting question folks. It's a word we use all the time...but even the people who use it most usually can't say what exactly they mean by it.
Is evil a "thing"? Is it something that is always the same? An absolute? Or is evil a matter of perspective?
--A
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SoulQuest1970
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I have only met one person I think is truely evil. It was not my abuser. That man is sick, depraved, but not "evil."
Evil is this...
A man leaves his 13 month old daughter alone in the tub for "2 minutes" (coroner said 2 hours and the apartment was flooded). Then tries to blame the death on his 2 year old daughter saying she must have turned the tap on. THEN puts the guilt on his wife about the statistics of divorce following such a tragedy. THEN he gets rid of all traces of the dead child. THEN puts framed signs all over the house saying, "Thou shalt put thy spouse above thy children." THEN not having a couch in the house, but one arm chair that is his and his only. His wife sits on the floor. The older daughter grows up not being able to mention her sister to her mom unless it is in secret.
That dead child is my neice. And if I believe the dreams and Alex when she was 2 and a half, Calli is that child reborn. That mother is my ex husband's sister who feels she deserves to be punished for existing. That evil man is her husband that I mentioned elsewhere. This is the man that claims "christianity", but is a freakin demon. He hates everyone and is mean to everyone except to his kids. Oh yeah, they have a son now... Josh Jr.
This is the ONLY person I come close to feeling hate for. He is evil incarnate.
My Tori died July 5, 1996. Alex had an invisible playmate by 18mos named "Ori." I had dreams for a year before she died that a baby would die involving water and something involving my husbands family would happen on July 5th. I was sure it was Alex. It felt like my child. I didn't see it coming until she had already died. I had dreams for the next 2 years of Tori asking me to be her mother. My husband had dreams too of his sister chasing a white rabbit, finally catching it and asking him to care for like his own. He promised he would. As he told me his dream, Alex woke screaming like we had never heard before, then she couldn't breathe. She finally took a deep breath and said she was in the water swimming, but she couldn't swim. Then she got excited and smiled real big and said, "She's coming, mama. Tori's coming!" She was 2 and a half. Calli arrived 7 months later. We lived next door to his sister and the evil man. Calli stared at her and never smiled. She stopped everything she was doing to stare at her with an intent expression. One time her aunt was there when she woke and she began screaming. This was not usual for Calli. Calli didn't settle down until we moved 2 mos later. After my husband left us, Calli treats him coldly. He is not "daddy." He is Sias (his name). He betrayed her. Her middle name is Anastasia because it means "she will rise again."
Evil is this...
A man leaves his 13 month old daughter alone in the tub for "2 minutes" (coroner said 2 hours and the apartment was flooded). Then tries to blame the death on his 2 year old daughter saying she must have turned the tap on. THEN puts the guilt on his wife about the statistics of divorce following such a tragedy. THEN he gets rid of all traces of the dead child. THEN puts framed signs all over the house saying, "Thou shalt put thy spouse above thy children." THEN not having a couch in the house, but one arm chair that is his and his only. His wife sits on the floor. The older daughter grows up not being able to mention her sister to her mom unless it is in secret.
That dead child is my neice. And if I believe the dreams and Alex when she was 2 and a half, Calli is that child reborn. That mother is my ex husband's sister who feels she deserves to be punished for existing. That evil man is her husband that I mentioned elsewhere. This is the man that claims "christianity", but is a freakin demon. He hates everyone and is mean to everyone except to his kids. Oh yeah, they have a son now... Josh Jr.
This is the ONLY person I come close to feeling hate for. He is evil incarnate.
My Tori died July 5, 1996. Alex had an invisible playmate by 18mos named "Ori." I had dreams for a year before she died that a baby would die involving water and something involving my husbands family would happen on July 5th. I was sure it was Alex. It felt like my child. I didn't see it coming until she had already died. I had dreams for the next 2 years of Tori asking me to be her mother. My husband had dreams too of his sister chasing a white rabbit, finally catching it and asking him to care for like his own. He promised he would. As he told me his dream, Alex woke screaming like we had never heard before, then she couldn't breathe. She finally took a deep breath and said she was in the water swimming, but she couldn't swim. Then she got excited and smiled real big and said, "She's coming, mama. Tori's coming!" She was 2 and a half. Calli arrived 7 months later. We lived next door to his sister and the evil man. Calli stared at her and never smiled. She stopped everything she was doing to stare at her with an intent expression. One time her aunt was there when she woke and she began screaming. This was not usual for Calli. Calli didn't settle down until we moved 2 mos later. After my husband left us, Calli treats him coldly. He is not "daddy." He is Sias (his name). He betrayed her. Her middle name is Anastasia because it means "she will rise again."
If women were in charge, the military would have to do bake sales in order to buy more weapons.
"You can always procrastinate later."
-me
"I'm not fat. I'm FLUFFY!"
- Garfield
"We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love"
-"We Live"
by Superchick
"You can always procrastinate later."
-me
"I'm not fat. I'm FLUFFY!"
- Garfield
"We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love"
-"We Live"
by Superchick
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Oh SoulQuest. Whenever I think we can no longer be surprised by man's casual inhumanity, I learn otherwise.
Much as I want to agree with you that this is evil, (in fact, much as I do agree with you), it still doesn't help us to define it for everyone?
Even if we use it, we're still left with evil as an adjective. We can compile a long list of actions that can be described as evil...sadly a very long list.
But I still can't see evil as something seperate from actions. As a force of some sort.
--A
Much as I want to agree with you that this is evil, (in fact, much as I do agree with you), it still doesn't help us to define it for everyone?
Even if we use it, we're still left with evil as an adjective. We can compile a long list of actions that can be described as evil...sadly a very long list.
But I still can't see evil as something seperate from actions. As a force of some sort.
--A
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SoulQuest1970
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If you had the displeasure of meeting him, I think you might find he radiates what I call "the heebie geebies." You know how you sometimes get this feeling in your stomach that makes you want to run? I have not yet met one person who did not feel this way around him. Without meeting him, you could not know for yourself. Evil is something you feel from an evil person. I've known many disturbed people, people who make some really bad choices and those who've done terrible things, but that do not FEEL evil. When you meet an evil person, you can feel it.
If women were in charge, the military would have to do bake sales in order to buy more weapons.
"You can always procrastinate later."
-me
"I'm not fat. I'm FLUFFY!"
- Garfield
"We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love"
-"We Live"
by Superchick
"You can always procrastinate later."
-me
"I'm not fat. I'm FLUFFY!"
- Garfield
"We live we love
We forgive and never give up
Cuz the days we are given are gifts from above
Today we remember to live and to love"
-"We Live"
by Superchick
-
Avatar
- Immanentizing The Eschaton
- Posts: 62038
- Joined: Mon Aug 02, 2004 9:17 am
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- Has thanked: 25 times
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I certainly agree that people sometimes give off "vibes" that are unpleasant or not to some degree.
This is still not what I'm talking about though. I'm sorta heading towards "if everybody who does this sort of thing is evil, then nobody who doesn't can be."
Which is obviously not true. So we have to push the definition out a little further...
--A
This is still not what I'm talking about though. I'm sorta heading towards "if everybody who does this sort of thing is evil, then nobody who doesn't can be."
Which is obviously not true. So we have to push the definition out a little further...
--A