No One is (really) Evil

Posted on podcast

NSQ episode about evil led me to thinking about this.

Takeaways from the episode

  • Evil is attributed only to humans.
    • If an animal attacks and kills human(s) we do not label the animal as Evil.
  • Intentionality matters.
    • Accidental killing/death does not mean Evil
  • People do bad things because their brain is not “well”
    • Amigdala is the part of the brain that is responsible for fear and morality.
    • Should bad people be locked away longer (cause they may be threat to the society)
  • Phil zimbardo prison experiment
  • Bad barrel (Vs Bad Apple)
  • People become evil due to surrounding 1
  • Stanley Milgram Experiment
    • People are OK doing bad things if
      • They are in position of power and
      • Are told by their superiors to “punish” others
      • 2 out of 3 volunteers shocked the (the actors playing) students upon giving wrong answers, because they were “instructed” to do so 2

My thoughts

  • Only movies/TV has pure evil person
    • In good movie/TV, they have some explanation about why the person become “evil”
  • When people do bad things to you, do not hate them
  • Consider some of the points above.
  • What made them behave the way they did
  • (Most of the times) it is not personal [^3]

  1. One can choose to become Oskar Schindler in Nazy Germany. Do the right thing even if the surroundings are wrong. (But takes courage) ↩︎

  2. No one was actually harmed, but people giving electrocal shocks didn’t know. Actors shouted, mentioned heart attack, begged to stop, but “shocks” continued. [^3] That does not make it better, but helps avoid hatred ↩︎