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I honestly believe that a lot of the problems in the world are caused by this "good -vs- evil", "us -vs- them" mentality.

Think about it. If you think someone is completely evil, it's much easier to "deal with them" because you would be getting rid of "evil", but people are not entirely evil. People are very complex beings with various feelings, moods, interests, needs, and so on. No one is an evil leech just prowling around the planet just to suck out all of the love and hope out of this world. Even if someone is generally a jerk, there's more to them than rudeness and terrible choices.

That's why war is so frustrating. People like to think that it's "the good side" verses "the evil side", but which is which? Surely, your side is the "good" one, right? Do you honestly believe the other side is going "Whoo! Go evil side! Yeah! Let's destroy this world and do every evil thing we can think of!" Um, no. To them, they are the "good" side. So they're going to try to take down your side, because you're "evil". Thus creating a very vicious cycle...

Here, let's take a rather special example, but hopefully you'll see what I mean. So, you're driving down a parking lot, looking for a space to park your car until you finally find one, but just as you go to pull into the space, someone you don't know quickly pulls up and snatches it from you. Now, based on that experience alone, would you say that person is a good or an evil person? Based on the idea that people are either good or evil, that person would have to be one of those things, correct? Would a good person do that?

But the thing is, we don't know why the person did that. The person may have had really bad experiences with trying to get a parking space in the past. The person might be having an emergency. The person might not even realized that you wanted the spot. Or perhaps the person was being rude in that situation.

But even if it was just them being rather rude, does that really reflect who the person is as a whole? Based on that experience alone, do you think the person kicks puppies for no reason at all? How about abuses people who are close to them? Steals, not for the sake of survival or course, but to satisfy their greed? But...what if the person gives to charity? What if the person adopted children who get sick easily, but still loves and cares for them everyday? What if the person's career revolves around rescuing people?

Can someone who is good or evil really mix and match those sort of things? How do you judge whether they are a good or bad person? Do you add them up? Are some things worth more than others? Are there exceptions? In the end, do you round it either up to 100 or down to 0, so the person is considered completely one or the other?

My point is, there's really no such thing as absolute good or absolute evil. They are not strictly inherent and trying to label individual or groups of people as "good" or "evil" does more damage than anything else. If there is an issue, we should get to know the people involved and discuss the situation to figure out the best course of action, not dehumanize them and try to blow them off the face of the planet...

Comments are turned off on this account. The submissions are simply here for you to enjoy. You do not need to ask me if you may use this stamp. Feel free to display this image in journal/shoutboard/etc, if you would like to.

Stamp Template by $zilla774
Stamp by The Phantom Panther ( ~tppgraphics / ~phantompanther )

Description
I honestly believe that a lot of the problems in the world are caused by this "good -vs- evil", "us -vs- them" mentality.

Think about it. If you think someone is completely evil, it's much easier to "deal with them" because you would be getting rid of "evil", but people are not entirely evil. People are very complex beings with various feelings, moods, interests, needs, and so on. No one is an evil leech just prowling around the planet just to suck out all of the love and hope out of this world. Even if someone is generally a jerk, there's more to them than rudeness and terrible choices.

That's why war is so frustrating. People like to think that it's "the good side" verses "the evil side", but which is which? Surely, your side is the "good" one, right? Do you honestly believe the other side is going "Whoo! Go evil side! Yeah! Let's destroy this world and do every evil thing we can think of!" Um, no. To them, they are the "good" side. So they're going to try to take down your side, because you're "evil". Thus creating a very vicious cycle...

Here, let's take a rather special example, but hopefully you'll see what I mean. So, you're driving down a parking lot, looking for a space to park your car until you finally find one, but just as you go to pull into the space, someone you don't know quickly pulls up and snatches it from you. Now, based on that experience alone, would you say that person is a good or an evil person? Based on the idea that people are either good or evil, that person would have to be one of those things, correct? Would a good person do that?

But the thing is, we don't know why the person did that. The person may have had really bad experiences with trying to get a parking space in the past. The person might be having an emergency. The person might not even realized that you wanted the spot. Or perhaps the person was being rude in that situation.

But even if it was just them being rather rude, does that really reflect who the person is as a whole? Based on that experience alone, do you think the person kicks puppies for no reason at all? How about abuses people who are close to them? Steals, not for the sake of survival or course, but to satisfy their greed? But...what if the person gives to charity? What if the person adopted children who get sick easily, but still loves and cares for them everyday? What if the person's career revolves around rescuing people?

Can someone who is good or evil really mix and match those sort of things? How do you judge whether they are a good or bad person? Do you add them up? Are some things worth more than others? Are there exceptions? In the end, do you round it either up to 100 or down to 0, so the person is considered completely one or the other?

My point is, there's really no such thing as absolute good or absolute evil. They are not strictly inherent and trying to label individual or groups of people as "good" or "evil" does more damage than anything else. If there is an issue, we should get to know the people involved and discuss the situation to figure out the best course of action, not dehumanize them and try to blow them off the face of the planet...

Comments are turned off on this account. The submissions are simply here for you to enjoy. You do not need to ask me if you may use this stamp. Feel free to display this image in journal/shoutboard/etc, if you would like to.

Stamp Template by $zilla774
Stamp by The Phantom Panther ( ~tppgraphics / ~phantompanther )