Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

On Evil
http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm?frm=5150&sec_id=5150 ^ | Theodore Dalrymple

Posted on 01/01/2007 9:10:09 AM PST by ventanax5

I have long been preoccupied by the problem of evil. Not being a philosopher, I have no satisfactory explanation of evil to offer, nor even, indeed, a satisfactory definition of it. For me, evil is rather like poetry was for Doctor Johnson: easier to say what it isn’t than what it is. All I know for certain is that there’s a lot of it about - evil, I mean, not poetry.

Why? Is the heart of man irredeemably evil, or at any rate inclined to evil? What are the conditions in which evil may flourish?

My medical practice, admittedly of a peculiar kind, in a slum and in a prison, convinced me of the prevalence of evil. I was surprised. I had spent a number of years in countries wracked by civil wars and thereby deprived of even minimal social order, precisely the conditions in which one might expect evil to be widely committed, if only because in such situations the worst come to the fore. But nothing prepared me for the sheer malignity, the joy in doing wrong, of so many of my compatriots, when finally I returned home. Every day in my office I would hear of men who tortured women - torture is not too strong a word - or commit the basest acts of intimidation, oppression and violence, with every appearance of satisfaction and enjoyment. I would once have taken the opening sentence of Adam Smith’s Theory of Moral Sentiments for a truism:

(Excerpt) Read more at newenglishreview.org ...


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: dalrymple; evil; theodoredalrymple
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-114 last
To: tomcorn
Since the moral non-believer does not adhere to notions of gods, heaven or hell,the moral non-believer's moral code is internally derived, based upon his percieved notion of right action alone.

Illogical...

Morality and all of its associated ideals are rooted entirely in the presupposition some higher power defines what is correct for human behavior.

Returning to Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates advanced the argument that piety to the gods is impossible if the gods all want different things.

Morality is impossible, because all humans have different morals... Claims of morality is sophistry without some singular higher power defining what it is...

But, since we are all properly obeying the * modern interpretation * of the First Amendment, good & evil isn't the question... Good & bad, right & wrong, etc., etc., ad nausea; are all inherently religious ideals.

The modern interpretation of the First Amendment (according to the liberal-tarians) says government must exorcise all traces of religion and theism from itself. Therefore, government must never consider issues of morality and right and wrong.

So, it becomes a question of benefits versus costs. Fetus killing has its benefits to society, especially if you like to sleep late on Saturdays. But it also has its costs as well. Society (by which I mean, whoever manages to seize power) needs to evaluate these costs and decide accordingly.

The mythical rights of men and women are also meaningless. The very concept of rights is also founded in religion. Since the enlightened person is freed from any superstitions about some "God," they are free from having to worry about "rights."

Only raw power counts and humans are just meat puppets for the powerful...

101 posted on 01/01/2007 7:00:55 PM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 10 | View Replies]

To: Popocatapetl
Morality and all of its associated ideals are rooted entirely in the presupposition some higher power defines what is correct for human behavior.

Returning to Plato's Euthyphro, Socrates advanced the argument that piety to the gods is impossible if the gods all want different things.

Morality is impossible, because all humans have different morals... Claims of morality is sophistry without some singular higher power defining what it is...

But, since we are all properly obeying the * modern interpretation * of the First Amendment, good & evil isn't the question... Good & bad, right & wrong, etc., etc., ad nausea; are all inherently religious ideals.

The modern interpretation of the First Amendment (according to the liberal-tarians) says government must exorcise all traces of religion and theism from itself. Therefore, government must never consider issues of morality and right and wrong.

So, it becomes a question of benefits versus costs. Fetus killing has its benefits to society, especially if you like to sleep late on Saturdays. But it also has its costs as well. Society (by which I mean, whoever manages to seize power) needs to evaluate these costs and decide accordingly.

The mythical rights of men and women are also meaningless. The very concept of rights is also founded in religion. Since the enlightened person is freed from any superstitions about some "God," they are free from having to worry about "rights."

Only raw power counts and humans are just meat puppets for the powerful...

102 posted on 01/01/2007 7:03:32 PM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 18 | View Replies]

To: tomcorn

Contemplate the religious fervor associated with the pro-abortion advocacy. The societal practice of abortion is ritual mass murder upon the altars of conceit dedicated to idolatrous vanities, a collective human sacrifice before pagan idols.

It has a similitude to the Teutonic paganism of Adolph Hitler (whose idolatry was the idea of a "master race," among other things). In effect, these genocides are a mass human sacrifice to those pagan idols. The abortionists, like the National Socialists, incinerate the remains of their victims.

Aleister Crowley, who openly supported the National Socialists, was affiliated with Ordo Templi Orientis,Golden Dawn, A.A. (Order of the Silver Star) and other such occult lodges all across Germany. Crowley engaged in all manner of deviancy, homoeroticism, sadomasochism and murder.

Much of the occultism in National Socialism is derived directly from there.

Crowley envisioned himself as the Great Beast (To Mega Therion), just as der Fuhrer made himself in that image. Hitler's life as a struggling, inept artist was where that association blossomed.

Crowley's creed, "Do what thou wilt, shall be the whole of the Law," (which is actually from Francois Rabelais) and used by Neo-Pagan nutcases without attribution for obvious politically correct reasons, is with certainty no different than the National Socialist "will to power," or their ubermensch mentality.

It is also no accident Nietzsche's "over-man" and nihilist philosophy and resulting insanity from venereal disease closely mirrors the insanity of der Fuhrer.

These occult orders, sex and drug cults still survive today, as do the Neo-pagan, Neo-Nazi groups, black supremacist Rastafarian potheads, prison gangs and other related filth.

Crowley occultism is also from where L. Ron Hubbard emerges with Scientology.


103 posted on 01/01/2007 7:12:28 PM PST by Sir Francis Dashwood (LET'S ROLL!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 48 | View Replies]

To: ventanax5

I really believe that some are born evil. Think of all the children who've had to be taught not to strangle the puppy, not to pull the wings off butterflies.

Sad to say but it appears that some are born evil.


104 posted on 01/01/2007 8:52:41 PM PST by Shadowstrike (Be polite, Be professional, but have a plan to kill everyone you meet.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: ventanax5

Darwinism in action.

Might makes right.

Survival of the fittest.


105 posted on 01/01/2007 9:00:47 PM PST by TASMANIANRED (All I want for Christmas is a new tag line.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Sir Francis Dashwood

Morality asserts itself in biology.

To use what might be a more (o.t.) biblical description of sin, sin does not offend or injure God, sin is its own punishment. God's warnings against sin are not a threat, but an advisory a warning. "Don't touch that or you'll burn your fingers."

For example, humans naturally abort a large number of fetuses and potential fetuses, which for whatever reason are discarded. Therefore, any that make it through the process have already passed a large number of "life tests."

When people artificially abort, however, not only are they often severely injured physically, emotionally, and psychologically, but they have eliminated a chance to spread their lineage. To put that in biblical terms, they are terribly punished for their sin, by their sin.

It is far harder to see much of the damage inflicted by what we call evil. But that is a good indicator of evil in the first place: evil hurts those who inflict it as well as those who are its intended victims.

But you cannot look at evil in a vacuum. For example, one could say that the Nazis were terribly evil, but they weren't punished. And yet, where are the Nazis today?

Other examples of evil are far less certain, because in the final analysis, they really weren't evil, they were just called evil by those who didn't approve of them, or who didn't see them in the larger context.

This is not moral relativism; instead it insists on real world punishment to the evildoer based on his own evil--in its absence, we have to question whether what was done was truly evil.

But seemingly random bad things also happen to good people. Yes, they are bad, but they are not punishment. It is an error to assume that all bad things are punishment, or to assign them a label of evil because they are bad.


106 posted on 01/02/2007 6:51:19 AM PST by Popocatapetl
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 102 | View Replies]

To: ARridgerunner

Thanks for the ping.
I always enjoy Dalrymple's writing.


107 posted on 01/02/2007 11:31:23 AM PST by Allan (*-O)):~{>)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Tolsti

The evil of islam means there is no god. Sorry, without the destruction of islam, god simply is useless.
___________________

Your reply has been on my mind for a few days now. It is so terribly sad. Tolsti, there has been evil from the beginning and will be until this age ends. It/he was in the Garden where he seduced Adam and Eve (and I don't mean with an apple). The first prophecy in the Bible is about him, Gen.1:15, "And I will put enmity between thy seed and her Seed; It shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel". His heel was nailed to the cross but we will bruise/crush his head.
That evil seed is out there. It's not just radical Islam but much of it is in our wonderful country. I don't mean just the terrible gangs and thugs but those that work behind the scenes and push a vile agenda. Satan works from 4 hidden dynasties; Finance, Education, Politics and perhaps his strongest one, Religion.
The evil seed are referred to in the Parable of the Sower, (Matthew 13:24-40). Jesus tells us in verse 38 that
"The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one;
39.The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.

They're here and will be until then. Please don't let that evil keep you from believing in God. He told us they were here, told us what they would do and gave us power over them, in the name of Jesus. There is a purpose to everything. Please become part of His army.



108 posted on 01/05/2007 12:22:37 PM PST by Ping-Pong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 59 | View Replies]

To: Ping-Pong

I'm sorry, but the the of islam is just too much to really realize with scripture. It needs to be totally defeated. So did communism, and in a sense at least it was. However, islam makes communism look like a joke when it comes to evilness.

I wish I could see some light.. However, it doesn't work that way with me. I had dreams of 9/11 before it happened, and so on. There's not much of any good on the way, I'm afraid that I can see.


109 posted on 01/05/2007 3:48:24 PM PST by Tolsti
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 108 | View Replies]

To: Tolsti

What do you see ahead? Is there a way for us to defeat it?
I also see it as a great evil but when I try to talk to others (family, friends,etc) and warn them, show them some of the articles from Free Republic, the photographs that are difficult to look at, I get very little response. It is as if they can't see, or don't want to see what tomorrow holds. My brother, a liberal, just will not understand what we face. In spite of all of this I really believe it is part of God's plan in this end of times. The things He warned us of are happening now. Perhaps that is why I have thought about the sad tone you have. Others, like my brother, aren't going to change and will have to be taught in the millennium.
You don't sound like the kind of person that will enjoy going through 1,000 years with a bunch of liberals so think about it hard and often. Nothing will be of such importance to your soul.


110 posted on 01/05/2007 4:12:54 PM PST by Ping-Pong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]

To: Tolsti

I won't bother you again, I promise but I realized I forgot to tell you the most important thing for all of us to know.

Tolsti, if the "end of days" is in our lifetime, as I believe it will be, you will see what most humans will believe is Christ. He comes in peacefully and prosperously pretending to be Jesus coming to rapture us away. He/Satan is coming to deceive Christians as he already has the others in his pocket. Many will follow him. Even if you do not believe in Jesus now, you will when you see him. Just know that the first one is not him. When Jesus comes it is all over and all of us are in a spirit body.

I know all of this sounds crazy if you aren't a believer but it will happen and when it does please remember what I said. Your friend, Ping-pong


111 posted on 01/07/2007 8:00:10 AM PST by Ping-Pong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]

To: Tolsti

I won't bother you again, I promise but I realized I forgot to tell you the most important thing for all of us to know.

Tolsti, if the "end of days" is in our lifetime, as I believe it will be, you will see what most humans will believe is Christ. He comes in peacefully and prosperously pretending to be Jesus coming to rapture us away. He/Satan is coming to deceive Christians as he already has the others in his pocket. Many will follow him. Even if you do not believe in Jesus now, you will when you see him. Just know that the first one is not him. When Jesus comes it is all over and all of us are in a spirit body.

I know all of this sounds crazy if you aren't a believer but it will happen and when it does please remember what I said. Your friend, Ping-pong


112 posted on 01/07/2007 9:11:30 AM PST by Ping-Pong
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 109 | View Replies]

To: ventanax5
Theodore Dalrymple

I've heard him a couple of times on The Dennis Prager Show.
He's a great radio guest, with plenty of brains and substance to
back up his points.
And plenty of wit to go along with his delivery.
113 posted on 01/07/2007 9:19:50 AM PST by VOA
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Ping-Pong

Thanks, but everyone has figured the end times is within their lives, all the back to the apostles.


114 posted on 01/07/2007 11:06:10 AM PST by Tolsti
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 112 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-20 ... 41-6061-8081-100101-114 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson