Are some people born evil?

Daily Mail ^ | 7 Feb 2007 | Brian Masters

[Tijeras_Slim]

After achieveing power, Stalin asked his mother why she beat him as a child. She assured him that's why he turned out so well.

[theDentist]

On the day I was born,
the nurses all gathered 'round
And they gazed in wide wonder,
at the joy they had found
The head nurse spoke up,
and she said leave this one alone
She could tell right away,
that I was bad to the bone!

[cripplecreek]

I don't think anyone is born evil. I think it's the result of a long process that often begins at an early age.

[DugwayDuke]

If, as the author says: struggle can overcome the influence of genetics. If vice is the easy option and virtue requires sweat to overcome difficulty, then one can only wonder if the author would support stuggle and sweat to over come the 'homosexual gene'?

[Gay State Conservative]

I firmly believe that some people are "born bad".Not many...in fact,a very small percentage.

[going hot]

Just as a side: People constantly refer to hitler as THE evil of WW2. Yeah, he was an evil SOB. But there was a whole train load of others as well, that actually did the deeds, in a very evil fasion. The whole lot of em had no concerns for life.

[Mr. Jeeves]

After achieveing power, Stalin asked his mother why she beat him as a child. She assured him that's why he turned out so well.

Many a retail Assistant Manager across America could tell an identical story. ;)

The notion that people are born evil is nonsense. Evil behavior stems from fear - and the only fears we are born with are the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. Everything else is learned.

Like many poor Europeans at the time (and - as "Borat" showed us - like many backward societies in Europe and Asia still believe) Hitler learned early on to fear Jews and their "sorcerous powers" and acted dramatically to rid himself of that phobia once he got the power to do so.

[Let's Roll]

I agree with the small percentage ... it's to give the rest of us something to fight "against".

[Red Badger]

Psalm 58:3
The wicked are estranged from the womb: they go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies.

[from occupied ga]

Are some people born evil?

Obviously; look at Pelosi, Clinton (both), Carter, Feinstein, Schumer, Rangel, McCain, Edwards, Kennedy, Gore, McCarthy (D, NY), Boxer, Mikulski, McKinney (former D, GA), Reno, etc. A more evil bunch it would be hard to find outside of the inner Nazi party and Stalin's close associates. Most of these people went directly into government jobs, never working a day in their lives. Born evil indeed.

[ctdonath2]

Interestingly, he likely would have been a long-forgotten painter if he had just passed his college art class (got an 'F', went on to destroy Europe).

[N. Theknow]

Are some people born evil?

Yep.

Then they move to New York and get elected to the Senate.

[goldstategop]

Some people are wired to be evil. We've had psychopaths around ever since the dawn of Man. You know the type: smooth, charming and very likeable on the outside. Its inside that they're different. They have no conscience and no regard for the rules of civilization. Evil people are egotists to the core. They take what they want without regard for others and they leave behind human wreckage in their wake. The bright dividing line between the Right and the Left is the former acknowledges the existence of evil; the latter denies it. Evil is still the knottiest problem facing mankind and its hard to completely eradicate it because its tied into the question of human free will. No one knows what is truly in the human heart save Our Creator, God.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[fishtank]

This thread deserves a GRPL ping.

"T" = Total Depravity.

"TULIP".

[tiki]

I've often wondered at the evil that took place, Hitler didn't do it all alone. He had a lot of help and seemingly "normal" people went along.

[cripplecreek]

I think forcing the German people to look at what they allowed to happen was the right thing to do.

[absolootezer0]

"there is no such thing as a bad boy"

-Rev E J Flanagan.

[snarks_when_bored]

Norman Mailer's got a pretty bad track record when it comes to sniffing out evil. Does the name Jack Henry Abbott ring a bell? If not, read Theodore Dalrymple's Of Mailer and Murder. Chilling.

[The_Reader_David]

Of course, Stalin's mother was a little dotty.

She didn't really understand what he did: there is a lovely story about her asking him what it was that he did. After a long fruitless explanation, he finally retreated to the explanation, "It's sort of like being the Tsar."

That sank in, and his mother replied, "Too bad, it would have been better if you'd been a priest."