Evil's Advantage Over Conscience. Why the West gives Yasser Arafat endless second chances.

Jewish World Reveiw ^ | April 10, 2002 | Norman Doidge

[RobbyS]

it is in "Richard III" that one can learn most from characters who see evil, yet freeze at the key moment. The principal characters are fully aware of Richard's undeniable evil, yet they let him have his way despite themselves. Richard is the most systematically evil character in all of Shakespeare's plays. "I can smile, and murder while I smile," he says, swearing that he will outdo all the villains of history "and set the murderous Machiavel to school."

A deep insight.

The most important thing Richard knows is that while conscience allows us to understand ordinary crimes, it actually blinds us before the most extraordinary ones. The idea that conscience blinds us, making us less able to oppose evil's most brazen forms, is deeply disturbing, for conscience is the sine qua non of civil society. Conscience is supposed to be the faculty that helps us become aware of our effects on others and our motives towards them, notably our baser motives. In Elizabethan English, "conscience" is an equivocal word that can mean either that faculty that allows us to feel guilt or "awareness," as in "consciousness." When Hamlet says, "Conscience does make cowards of us all," he means consciousness, by making us aware of the possibility of death, makes us cowardly.

[Digger]

Good read, like those last two paragraphs.

[Ancesthntr]

The problem so eloquently described in this article can be summed up very simply - the failure to confront and destroy evil is the result of moral cowardice.

This is a problem far older than Shakepeare, having shown up in the Bible. Israel's first King, Saul, is eventually deposed by G-d because he failed to destroy Amalek completely. King David, Saul's successor, even had the same problem - though in the end he acted to obey G-d's command. Both were afraid of what we would call "public opinion," as are so many modern politicians. One would hope that a man who claims such moral clarity as Bush would act deceisively to crush evil on more than a selective basis.

[gridlock]

OK FRreepers, tonight's homework assignement is to read Richard III. And no Cliff Notes, either.

It always struck me as the height of stupidity that anybody would read Cliff Notes on Shakespere. As if one could further distill the truth.

[TopQuark]

A great article.

[weikel]

Dude I have Electrical Engineering homework your not giving me any more LOL.

[dennisw]

Good insight and Bible references by you.

[gridlock]

If you EE friends find out you've been reading Shakespeare, and for fun, they will definitely think you're off your rocker.

BTW, I was doing OK in EE until I ran into nonlinear transient circuit analysis. I clearly remember sitting through a one hour lecture, and not understanding a single thing that was said. Sometimes you just gotta know when to fold 'em.

You get special dispensation. Pick up Richard III over the weekend.

[weikel]

Discrete Time Signals is when it gets bad.

[sheik yerbouty]

It is written: "tear out the evil within yout midst.."

[gridlock]

I guess this is a generational thing. I'm analog, you're digital.

[alexandria]

I especially thought this sentence was enlightning.

To talk to Arafat, which is what all pundits say must be done to bring peace to the Middle East, is precisely the wrong move, for there is no dialogue with a man without a conscience.

In other words no more excuses and no more "political negotiations." Just go in, take him out, and God help us do it quickly.

[backhoe]

Arafat has discovered, as Shakespeare understood, that the more brazen and relentless one's acts of brutality, the more likely it is that one will be allowed a second chance

I am loathe to draw the parallel, but this is a clintonian game plan.

However, I think Arafat's run has just about played out. Time will tell the tale...

[knighthawk]

Yes, I wondered myself too why he gets all that confidence after decades of terror.

[timestax]

bump

[knighthawk]

Bump back

[cake_crumb]

Thanks for the ping. Sorry I missed it earlier. We were at the hospital. This is, IMO, the dreaded "HEY, I'M A NICE GUY AND I CAN PROVE IT" syndrome. George Bush Senior did fall prey to it, and it's up to us, the American voter, to help ensure the George W Bush does NOT fall prey to it.

[timestax]

bttt

[timestax]

bttt