: Evil is difficult to define however, those that are
: viewed as evil often are not. Since this is a myth
: forum I might as well say that the clearest defenition
: I can think of is "Not to conquer but to
: destroy". Purposeless wrongdoing, even Hitler had
: a reason for his actions. I don;t believe that there
: are evil people. Evil is to describe actions not
: things, rape, murder etc. are evil actions. A person
: can be very very bad becuase they do evil things, but
: I don;t think anyone is truly evil, Hitler
: re-enlivened the German Economy, was a person who
: worked tirelessly for his people, except he was a
: psycho, started a war, killed millions of people and
: in the end commited suicide.
Very interesting, old friend... Though, the Relativism is definitely not something I personally agree with.
As for Hitler, he is very comparably like the Devil, tempting his people with the promise of a robust economy and a powerful country again...and all they had to do for it was kill all the Jews, and millions of others. That kind of thing can sound pretty alluring when there's barely enough money to buy bread and not die of starvation. Of course, they also didn't read the fine print of how it would come to a terrible and dreadful end for Germany.
It's not the first time evil acts have been committed for money, which I'm sure you'll agree upon.
And as for different levels of evil behavior, which is what you describe, let's take Iago from Shakespeare's Othello. He did many wickθd things of great caliber for horrible little reasons, and showed himself most evil when the true motive for all the actions becomes apparent: he has no motive at all. This is a pure evil, a satanic incarnation, rather than someone tainted by satan, to personify it, where the wrong-doer is totally aware of his destruction for destruction's sake.
: As I said I suppose Evil is a adverb rather than a
: adjective, and all real people have some flicker of
: good within them, a reason why they do evil things,
: though many are misguided and the reason they do it is
Tell me, Zeth, where is the good in Iago? for this character is not unique in the world; I know people just like him, one who in fact destroyed my clan in Myth, a few years ago, and who thank heaven seems to have fallen off the face of the Earth. Perhaps what you lack is experience with this type of personage firsthand.
: not a good reason.
Ahh.... Reason. In fact, reason is often defined by Western Philosophy as the highest good, for one who is completely rational will always do good, as this person is completely conscious of logic and employs it well. Iago is also completely conscious and aware of his total villainry, and is also completely reasonless, senselessly hurting others, for it gives his twisted spirit pleasure.
