Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Are We Inherently Evil?
I have sat here for a little while contemplating this question about inherent evil... the only answer that I can reasonably come up with is - of course not! What a sad realization for one to come to... Its funny actually, I am doing a mock unit in my education class on the book Lord of the Flies. I share the same opinion that the author, William Golding has - we are born in original sin. We have the capability of being either good or bad, but I would not choose the word evil. Evil to me conjures up images of demons and monsters. How we choose to live and behave in this world is just that - a choice. Our parents can teach us right from wrong, but in the end it is all up to us an individuals to decide which path to take. Take Jeffrey Dahmar for instance... I am quite certain his parents did not instill in him that mutilating young men and eating their body parts was proper behavior. He chose to be a monster. The boys responsible for the Columbine shootings... was it in them from birth to be murderers? I don't think so. As one of the girls said in class - we are all born with the ability to be good... it is all a matter of the choices we make.
I have also been thinking of the question that Kevin brought up about abortion. There are far more women that choose to give birth to their babies than choose to abort them. I suppose I am going on my own experiences when I say that women are more selfless than men. I found myself pregnant at a very inopportune time - I was a senior in high school and abortion was not the choice I made. But I stand by my argument that women are the more selfless sex. For example - it is said that we all, as humans, have the selfish need to procreate... well then tell me why so many men are disappointed each time their women give birth to girls. They are the ones that are convinced you are a "real man" if your produce a make offspring. Why? So their name can be carried on... I may be generalizing here, but it seems to me, in my experience, that women are deliriously happy either way - they just want a healthy baby - regardless of the gender. So maybe it IS all about the MEN'S selfish need to procreate. And lets not forget all the deadbeat dads out there. My father was about the most selfish man alive... perhaps I am a bit jaded when it comes to the subject of fathers, and men in general. My experiences have not all been so great. My children's father is extremely selfish and puts his needs before his children's every time. I, on the other hand, would give my life for my children and my mother would have done the same for me or my brother.
Evil? No. Capable of evil? I give that question a resounding yes.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Pertaining to the abortion topic, I think that many people overlook why some women do choose to have abortions. I personally believe that if someone wasn't using their common sense and happen to get pregnant, then they should take responsibility. But with cases like rape, I think it is the woman's right to get to choose what she wants to do.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the fact that people aren't born evil. I do however think that people choose to be evil. People can be so greedy it drives to do unheard things. No people aren't born murderers, but people do choose to murder people. Murdering people is an "evil" act. Yes it is a choose, but yes people are very capable of being extremely evil. I also agree with Danielle that in some situations women have the right to choose to have an abortion.
ReplyDeleteWhile I am definetly not giving men a pat on the shoulder, a question occurs to me. What if a man's drive to get above others is purely genetic for survival purposes? As stated, they want their genes to be carried on. Perhaps the man is selfish to protect his genes so he can procreate and have offspring. Mothers obviously have to bear and give birth to the child, while it's the man's nature job to feed and protect. They must preserve themselves to do this. Obviously in this day and age, that role has changed. I am only speaking at a fundamental natural level.
ReplyDeleteI agree that humans have the capability to be both good and evil. I think that societal norms teach us to, “do unto others as you would have done unto you,” but a person may choose to do evil for his or her own selfish gain. I think that a lot of different components go into a person committing a horrendous crime. I think parents are definitely one of those components!!
ReplyDeleteIt is interesting to me that you use the book Lord of the Flies to argue against mankind being evil. This novel is one of the first things I thought of during this discussion in class. To me, the whole message of that book is that humans ARE innately evil. It even has a Christ-figure who is sacrificed for his goodness.
ReplyDeleteI, like you, believe in original sin, but I do think that means that we are all innately evil. I don't necessarily like connotations of the word "evil", but the meaning is the same. I believe that there was only One who was good, and without Him, we are indeed evil.
I agree that evil is a bad choice of a word. I think sinful makes more sense. When you think of sinful it means that we are all born with the desire to sin, yet in the end we have the power to fight that urge. Those who can't fight the urge and live a sinful life usually end up being the perfect definition of the word evil.
ReplyDeleteI agree with you that we all have choices that we make to be good or evil. I am not convinced that we are all born evil or even bad. But what about people who's brains are just messed up and we don't really know why? I wonder if some people (like Jeffrey Dahmar) are just born socio-paths? I'm not making excuses for them because I don't know much about it, but I wouldn't think they chose to come out of the womb with chemically imbalanced, violence prone brains.
ReplyDeletePertaining to your comment about males versus females, I dislike the word selfless like you dislike the word evil. I think it is too broad. There are too many exceptions. You seem like a wonderful mother, but there are men out there who raise their kids by themselves. I do believe (and I think research shows) that women are more nurturing, and that is where the selfless behavior comes from.