When I think about good, I immediately think of its counterpart, evil. Does evil exist? There is no doubt whatsoever that evil exists. Wherever there is hatred, bigotry, violence, racism, apathy, corruption, deceit, etc..., there is evil. No one can deny that bad things don't happen all the time, and while the caliber of those bad things might vary, be it petty theft or murder or genocide, they are inherently bad.
Sometimes it is easier to define bad things over good things because the bad seem to be easier to identify and harder to challenge. Hitler was evil. End of discussion. You never hear people say, "Well maybe he was justified because all he was trying to do was better the situation of his people". Correction, you never hear sane people saying that. While quite often, in some of the other blogs in this project, you hear (see) people talking about charity and volunteer work as a selfish act; that charity is done to make yourself feel good or get a tax break. While good can sometimes seem relative, questionable because of differing motives, evil is not so. Evil is evil.
The main interaction between these two ideas is "the battle between good and evil". Captain James T. Kirk versus KHAN!!!; G.I. Joe versus Cobra; Beowulf versus Grendel, capitalism versus communism (which one is the evil one there?); Batman versus The Joker; Ash versus Team Rocket, Roosevelt versus Hitler ; the list is endless. And although most of those examples are fictitious, the idea is real. It has to be real. Evil is real and yet we do not live in total anarchy, with violence and chaos everywhere. Something has to work against evil, what is a more logical choice than good?
If good did not exist, then all that would be left is evil.
Good has to exist.
I think like Hitler being a example of evil you can find examples of good too. For instance, Mother Teresa or Ghandi. As far as I know theres no arguement about them being good, its a pretty accepted fact. I deffinitly agree it's easier to talk about evil then good... oh and nice pokemon reference!
ReplyDeletei agree with you when you say that good must exists because otherwise the only thing left would be evil. but what about good things that are done with evil intentions? hitler was an evil man but he did do some good things for the german people. he did them with evil intentions but does that mean that they are no longer good?
ReplyDeleteYou have every right to say that there is evil in the world and there is. But as long as there is evil, there is good to counteract the acts of evil. This is the ying-yang effect, the battle between good and evil will forever coexist until the end of the universe probably.
ReplyDeleteSam there is always going to be good and evil and it is also true that without sadness there would be no happiness. We need to focus on the good that is going on around us.
ReplyDeleteinsanity is fun :]. and point taken. i read in someone's blog about the root cause of good being "empathy," and i would argue that the reason why i see hitler's side of the story is that i empathize with him, his situation, and his motives. i also empathize with the germans who committed supposedly "evil" acts under his regime, because i think the burden of self-sacrifice they'd need to meet in order to "do the right thing" was far too great. who am i to judge those in another situation that i cannot fully understand?
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