PoliticalChic
Diamond Member
1. What could be an example of 'evil'?
Atomic Bombs on two of Japan's cities has often been cited as 'evil'…and who can question that conclusion….
"Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, and their effects are still being felt today."
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings | ICAN
I know all of the justifications, and, I believe it was the correct action given the times, the situation, and the context.
But….judging by the results, with many innocents horrible killed, it fits any definition of 'evil.'
Perhaps, then, evil has a role to play in combating evil.
2. It would be a mistake to try to cover up the results of the atomic bombings behind 'justice,' as the concept 'justice' is even more subjective than 'evil.'
"…justice is not an absolute term, but a malleable idea, protean, flexible, changeable. Justice is at best a very distant ideal toward which different tribes aspire, moving by various, circuitous, and culturally determined routes."
Lance Morrow, "Evil: An Investigation," p. 196-197
And, before one gets too attached to the concept, recall the famous statement by J. Edgar Hoover: Justice is incidental to law and order.
We see that in the Mueller Investigation.
This axiom is even closer to the truth:
The only places one finds justice is the cemetery or the dictionary.
But 'evil,' well, to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter, we know it when we see it.
Sooo once recognized....and assuming honorable folks agree that evil is to be combated…..how to go about that?
3. The stated aim of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the creation of secularism, was to replace religion and morality with science and reason. If we judge by the millions who have died as a result of that new direction for society, it should be judged a huge mistake.
Use evil to fight evil?
…..it does seem to be way to respond to evil, e.g., the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
History seems to prove this axiom:
"Violence never solved anything. Except slavery, genocide, communism, fascism and nazism."
Thom Shea
Fight evil with evil?
Seems to fit with using 'reason'....
Agree?
Atomic Bombs on two of Japan's cities has often been cited as 'evil'…and who can question that conclusion….
"Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings. The two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945 killed and maimed hundreds of thousands of people, and their effects are still being felt today."
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings | ICAN
I know all of the justifications, and, I believe it was the correct action given the times, the situation, and the context.
But….judging by the results, with many innocents horrible killed, it fits any definition of 'evil.'
Perhaps, then, evil has a role to play in combating evil.
2. It would be a mistake to try to cover up the results of the atomic bombings behind 'justice,' as the concept 'justice' is even more subjective than 'evil.'
"…justice is not an absolute term, but a malleable idea, protean, flexible, changeable. Justice is at best a very distant ideal toward which different tribes aspire, moving by various, circuitous, and culturally determined routes."
Lance Morrow, "Evil: An Investigation," p. 196-197
And, before one gets too attached to the concept, recall the famous statement by J. Edgar Hoover: Justice is incidental to law and order.
We see that in the Mueller Investigation.
This axiom is even closer to the truth:
The only places one finds justice is the cemetery or the dictionary.
But 'evil,' well, to paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter, we know it when we see it.
Sooo once recognized....and assuming honorable folks agree that evil is to be combated…..how to go about that?
3. The stated aim of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, the creation of secularism, was to replace religion and morality with science and reason. If we judge by the millions who have died as a result of that new direction for society, it should be judged a huge mistake.
Use evil to fight evil?
…..it does seem to be way to respond to evil, e.g., the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.
History seems to prove this axiom:
"Violence never solved anything. Except slavery, genocide, communism, fascism and nazism."
Thom Shea
Fight evil with evil?
Seems to fit with using 'reason'....
Agree?