What is true Evil?

[balrog]

Is evil a learned or chosen response to the elements around us?

If being Evil is benefical to those acting the action....

is that wrong if it helps for success?

survival?

[BlackCaptain]

Umm... Evil is caring only about yourself, and not caring if other people are hurt... And you also have to be a big fat meanie

[MacAddict]

Originally posted by MorgulKing
Umm... Evil is caring only about yourself, and not caring if other people are hurt... And you also have to be a big fat meanie

Also Known as Bill Gates :D.


~MacAddict

[balrog]

Originally posted by MacAddict
Also Known as Bill Gates :D.


~MacAddict

priceless at that!

[Frolo Gabbins]

yes yes all of that is true, but to be pure evil you must be born in to an evil family.

[BlackCaptain]

Hmm... Melkor was 'born', and I use that term loosely, into the race of the Vala, and was the first regarded among Eru (until he turned bad).

He was 'born' into the greatest race of all time.

Look what he did;)

[greypilgrim]

True evil? Not sure really.

Well... someone's breath who is standing close to me right now is truly evil.:D They need a tic-tac!

[Morwen]

The only true "evil" is apathy.

[greypilgrim]

Terrorism.

[Celebthôl]

true evil...hmmm, ill hazard a guess and say the Devil ;)...but then if that fails...Bin Laden!

Or Meteors: they are vicious life sucking balls of rock, from which there is no escape! :D (courtasy of Armageddon (as in the film) for that quote :D)

Thôl

[arisen pheonix]

true evil? sadism yes apathy yes but true evil is merely part of the spectrum on which we define reality is a suicide bomber more or less evil than a beast who defiles children?

we must look at it one of two ways its black and white....
....in which case we are all evil


or in shades of gray......
.....but then how do you tell wrong from right?

[Thorin]

Being evil implies a paradigm shift in the morals and values that one sets up from themselves that not only deviate drastically from the norms of society, but also when one becomes self-serving to the point of carelessness for the rights of others. This develops a lack of empathy for mankind not just in what happens to one's fellow men, but what one does to them.

Many "good" people have done "evil" acts. Does that make them truly evil? I don't think so. Evil is an adoption and integration of a lifestyle that changes the thinking and function of the person. Kind of like a brainwashing.

I think that most sociopaths are evil or on the way to being evil. Their idea of right and wrong is skewed and their conscience is dead. I think at this point, when it becomes a way of life and thinking, and not just something one does, that evil truly manifests itself.

[Morwen]

One cannot properly characterize "evil" as a suicide bomber. It is not an all encompasing evil, and evil which every single being recognizes. For instance, Americans think that suicide bombers are "wrong" according to our system of values and morals. Yet, to another man whose view comes from a different background, a suicide bomber is a martyr. The black and white of a person is the grey of the world. There is no ultimate evil which every single human on this earth recognizes. So I say, to indulge people their need to differentiate between the both, that the only evil is apathy. I come to this conclusion by taking all that is good (i.e. love, compassion, empathy, etc.) and take the opposite of that. Now you make think that hate is the opposite of love, therefore that should characterize true evil. But hate is so closely linked to love that the two are hard to tell apart. Thus I group all those emotions/objects linked to our Tolkien's evil (i.e. hate, greed, lust, fear, darkness, etc.) with "good", and take the opposite of all: apathy. So according to my logic, my morals and imagination, apathy is the only true "evil". It may not be my greatest "wrong", however.

As for something being more "evil" than another thing depends entirely on the perspective of the person judging the fallacy. In reality, right and wrong belong only to the person. Once you start looking at more than one person, it becomes grey.

[Orclord1990]

Pure evil is someone who dosent care about anyone and slouters people for the fun of it and wicked things like that.