PratchettFan
Gold Member
- Jun 20, 2012
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good and evil do not exist it is a human construct to describe stuff happening
I would take that a step further. It is used to establish that the stuff we cause is ok and the stuff they cause is not ok. During WWII, the cowardly nazis showed their true colors by butchering innocent civilians by bombing cities. Our brave airmen, risking their lives in a glorious effort, struck deep into enemy territory to take the war to the Germans. We were good, they were evil, we were doing exactly the same thing.
That's it, both are good posts, IMO.
All this ancient Manicheism! That there is a Devil versus a God, or at least a Devil responsible for all the tempting and evil while God watches who gives into it and deserves Hell for their free will -----
This is all nonsense.
We just do what we do for sociobiological, evolved reasons that further our genes and those of people like us and attempt to destroy other breeding groups of humans and take their resources. This has been going on forever; it's a main way humans evolve, by fighting each other, at least the males do. There are lots of species in which the males fight and kill each other for evolution; and some other species (ants, other primates) which fight wars to eliminate other gene pools and take resources. Justifying it all by saying the Redskins or Japs or Krauts are "evil" and dehumanizing them by using names like that are all to make it easier to kill a different genetic group, that's all. That's not evil: it's the human condition.
I could not agree more. I think it is possible to control that aspect of our behavior, but only when we finally come to grips with the fact that it is our behavior and stop trying to blame it on mythical creatures - like religion and government. Ideas don't kill people. People kill people.