On the Nature of Evil
I recently saw an article which talked about the first case ever of a street gang being charged with acts of terrorism. Basically under the new legislation passes after 9/11, the law allows for much harsher penalties and more agressive takedown tactics. Search and seizures for example, are completly legal under the Act, as long as there is evidence of possible terrorist activity. For the first time, a law designed to inhibit the actions of outside influence has been brought to bear on denizens of its own native homeand. I think thats extremely funny. More so because there is so much division on whether it was right or wrong.
"Its an abuse of power!"
"Hey, they killed a girl, you dont think its right to kill a girl do you?"
"Burn them!"
I like how people always think that fascism or totalitarianism or even just plain evil is going to come up and say, "Hey dude, Im evil. Im here to smack your bitch up."
The evil you see is there to distract you; to lull you into a sense of security that you can spot it with few problems. The real evil is the stuff you dont see, like a government willing to put forth extreme reactionary legislation, and then enforce it once the initial crisis is all but forgotten. America just made a comparativly small comprimise to it's civil liberties, and the authorities now have more power. It was done right, without a fuss- they made the people hunger for it, beg for it, demand it. And now its done.
Evil is not one thing, it is a host of things. It begins with reasonable comprimise. One by one offensive and hostile radicals (such as gangs) are pointed out, and denied thier freedoms to do as they want. The population backs the denial of freedom for these people, of course they do, its clearly wrong. But the law is absolute and applies to everyone. Eventually ensuring everyone is chained so that no-one causes trouble.
Evil will never be a rock that falls from the sky, but rather a host of snowflakes, each seemingly innocent and gentle, that eventually caves in the roof. It just amuses me that as a whole people are more concerned with making sure thier doors are deadbolted against an unknown and highly unlikely evil, rather than checking to see if its snowing outside.
"Its an abuse of power!"
"Hey, they killed a girl, you dont think its right to kill a girl do you?"
"Burn them!"
I like how people always think that fascism or totalitarianism or even just plain evil is going to come up and say, "Hey dude, Im evil. Im here to smack your bitch up."
The evil you see is there to distract you; to lull you into a sense of security that you can spot it with few problems. The real evil is the stuff you dont see, like a government willing to put forth extreme reactionary legislation, and then enforce it once the initial crisis is all but forgotten. America just made a comparativly small comprimise to it's civil liberties, and the authorities now have more power. It was done right, without a fuss- they made the people hunger for it, beg for it, demand it. And now its done.
Evil is not one thing, it is a host of things. It begins with reasonable comprimise. One by one offensive and hostile radicals (such as gangs) are pointed out, and denied thier freedoms to do as they want. The population backs the denial of freedom for these people, of course they do, its clearly wrong. But the law is absolute and applies to everyone. Eventually ensuring everyone is chained so that no-one causes trouble.
Evil will never be a rock that falls from the sky, but rather a host of snowflakes, each seemingly innocent and gentle, that eventually caves in the roof. It just amuses me that as a whole people are more concerned with making sure thier doors are deadbolted against an unknown and highly unlikely evil, rather than checking to see if its snowing outside.
posted by The Messenger | Wednesday, May 26, 2004
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