Do you believe evil exists?

[MariaAngustias]

So, I am not a religious person, I am a sceptical agnostic. I never really thought about good and evil until I had the experience of meeting someone who emanated... well evil. It seems a bit embarrassing to say it but that is the only way I can describe it.

I was working for the NHS in a very run down area, a lot of patients came from a local Bail hostel and some had done some hideous things - I treated a murder and got on with him fine, felt sorry for him actually cos of the circumstances around what happened and his utter genuine remorse, had a few paedophile patients who, whilst I knew what they did was vile, did not give me the creeps at all. I had also worked in the drug service and come across people who had done some shocking things but nothing really phased me and I saw these people as human beings who had taken a bad path in life . Then.

We had a patient come to us from the hostel and he had an appointment with me. He was an old man with a stick and looked quite pathetic and harmless but he made the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end and filled me with such dread and horror. He looked at me as though he was trying to read my mind and said really creepy stuff like 'I showed children how to kill animals' and seemed to be playing with me. In the end I asked another person to come in the room with me and she said she felt it too and we both could not wait to get him out of the room. We were both so shaken and I just said 'I have met pure evil'. I still believe I did and it is the only time that has ever happened in my life.

WTF was it?

Pyewhacket. Surely you can see that there's nothing intrinsically evil about the people you've mentioned?

I mean 'The Nazis'... You're not even talking about a single person there. And chucking Shipman in alongside genocide is a bit odd.

People are the products of their experiences, the decisions they make aren't made in isolation.

Evil is a construct. People can be cruel, vindictive, selfish. But their motivations and influences are usually clear enough.

Strictly speaking, evil is a human invention as are the concepts of ‘right’ and ‘wrong’.

For as long as religion exists, evil exists.

Evil does exist. I have recently come across it. All the signs where there, I should have backed out sooner.

*were

I was on a jury for a murder trial, and the two men accused had done something so heinous and evil that it really shook me, I didn't sleep much during the (long) trial because the evidence kept me awake nights, and even now I'm still struggling with insomnia. I don't think that one of them was evil, I think he was in thrall to the other and possibly too weak to stop things from happening. The other one had a history of creepy behaviour, and the trial also found him guilty of rape, anal rape and threats to kill from a victim who came forward after his arrest for murder. In many ways he was a shambolic, sad figure, but the things he did were so extreme and calculated that I am glad he is in prison for life and will be an old man by the time he is eligible for parole.

People who do not realise evil exists must be very naive. Lucky too. Ignorance is bliss.

Yes it exists in some people manifested from many things, jealousy, rage, social rejection, seeing assaults regularly, being treated evil in early years, born a psychopath.
Manifesto of Mother monster.
The birth of evil
And as she herself split into two
Rotating in agony between two ultimate forces
The pendulum of choice began its dance
It seems easy, you imagine
To gravitate instantly and unwaveringly towards good
But she wondered
"How can I protect something so perfect without evil?"

@CrimsonFlags

People who do not realise evil exists must be very naive. Lucky too. Ignorance is bliss.

But it ‘doesn’t’ exist strictly speaking. One human being may do something to another human being, but ‘evil’ is a concept we created which didn’t exist before modern humans did.

I tend to think of evil as being twisted animal instincts.
We all now that carnivorous animals will rip a human apart and have no remorse. We're just food.
All animals have two main survival strategies, - compete or co-operate.
Humans being developed a moral code as part of our survival strategy, it generally maintains a balance between co-operation and competition that is advantageous for the race. But not always advantageous for the individual. Weaker individuals will do better with more co-operation. Stronger ones will do better with competition. Some will cheat by pretending to co-operate but using their competitive nature furtively, to take what they want or eliminate competition.
I believe that in some people, these natures are twisted further and further from the general moral code by a combination of their makeup and upbringing. The very moral codes we have developed are what give rise to labels good and evil, but also act upon the mind so that once people become damaged beyond a certain point, they may believe themselves to be evil and embrace it, pushing themselves even further towards that behaviour, since they are already at war with society, genuinely co-operative interaction is no longer an option.

Doh, didn’t mean to put apostrophes around ‘doesn’t’, meant to italicise.

@lughnasadh

Pyewhacket. Surely you can see that there's nothing intrinsically evil about the people you've mentioned?

I mean 'The Nazis'... You're not even talking about a single person there. And chucking Shipman in alongside genocide is a bit odd.

People are the products of their experiences, the decisions they make aren't made in isolation.

Evil is a construct. People can be cruel, vindictive, selfish. But their motivations and influences are usually clear enough.

Total bollocks. What could possibly have happened to Hitler that would explain genocide. And the Moors Murders, what is their excuse then. And Shipman, they don’t actually know how many people he murdered and everybody said what a kind man he was : what part of his childhood excuses that ?. Some people are evil. They enjoy it. Trotting out some sort of halve arsed psychobabble is just crass navel gazing.

Your sixth sense set off alarm bells, we have learned to avoiding using our instincts in daily situations it is part of your job, this men must have had a very evil vibe his vile comments reinforced your defenses, some people shouldn't be roaming the streets they're like a high risk time bomb.
For as long as religion exists, evil exists
Change religion to human race and you'd be right on,

@AdultHumanFemale

Err... nope. Fucked up people exist, not "evil".

You make it sound stupid that someone could describe someone as evil. But how is that any different to saying someone is a fucked up person.

Like a pp I don't believe in 'evil' either. I think trauma loss and abuse of an extreme kind can damage some people irrevocably, the earlier in life it happens and the more severe it is.
I don't think it's helpful to label people as 'evil'. On a personal level yes I'm sure that instinctual fear and disgust is there, but on a societal level I'm uneasy about the label of evil, I don't believe any child is born bad.

Exactly, @GodOfPhwoar. It’s a human moral category, and not in my opinion a particularly useful one. People who commit horrific crimes generally look the same as the rest of us, and often do so for the most banal reasons.

@Userzzz

Yes I believe it. I just finished watching the Night Stalker on Netflix and that man was pure evil. Killed anyone he could get his hands on in every which way. There are a lot of evil people out there.

I came on to say this.

I watch a lot of serial killer documentary type programmes and it rarely affects me.

Night Stalker on Netflix was terrifying. Absolutely evil.

I think there is evil, but it is external to the person and so there is no such thing as 'born evil'.

Anyone of us could follow an evil path and some people are more vulnerable to evil based on their character.

For example, Hitler was not born evil but his character was egotistical, hateful and obsessive. These character traits allowed him to follow a path that led him to become evil. He could have chosen not to be but he didn't.

As a character trait, yes, in someone devoid of all kindness, empathy, compassion, mercy.

Not as a 'force' in the world, as some religions claim.

Yes.

I've worked in mental health units.

I've met. Two truly evil people.

" I think trauma loss and abuse of an extreme kind can damage some people irrevocably, the earlier in life it happens and the more severe it is."

This type of thinking is ignorant of history and only been indulged in recent modernity.

Most of history, literature and art shows us that childhood has always been fraught with these things (many women died in childbirth so many children experienced early loss of a mother etc) and yet those children went on to become productive adults, some great leaders. They didn't become evil because of their childhood 'traumas' why do we think that happens now?

For those that have met "evil people" (and I consider myself lucky that I haven't), is this based on the things they had done (eg crimes they had committed) or that they gave you the creeps/intimidated you?

I do agree that there are horrible crimes/cruelty committed which do make us all wonder how anyone could do such a thing to another being (but that goes back to my view of people being 'damaged', considering what is acceptable in our society).

Not as an external force no.

Evil people can exist, evil is a descriptor used to describe someone’s personality, their actions, etc. And for whatever reason, sometimes people are born with those traits. But it is a human condition not an external one.

If it was we would all be susceptible to it, because we would all be faced with the temptation to commit evil deeds, and most of us aren’t. That has nothing to do with any kind of force.

Psychopaths are evil. I don't believe in evil as a substance that is in someone I believe that some people do and enjoy doing horrific things to people or animals. This makes them evil but they are psychopaths. They have no care, understanding or emotion for others but enjoy watching pain and having control. They may not hurt physically either some use psychological strength or power to hurt and control. Evil.

Emeeno- where do you get the idea that early trauma or abuse in childhood didn't 'used' to cause people to be more likely to commit these kind of crimes?
They have always happened.
I'm not saying all people experiencing these things will go on to commit crimes/'evil' but if a child has been abused or neglected to a severe degree with no outside help that child has not learned how to show and accept love.
Those children grow up and can be damaged and dangerous. I'm not arguing for a minute we don't need protecting from these people but I do believe there are causes.