Presence of evil

[beachcitygirl]

Aibu to ask if you've ever felt yourself in the presence of evil. Following on from
The intuitiion thread.

I once met a friend of my ex in a coffee shop. The man was nothing but civil & friendly. Soft spoken & was an ex police officer. My then husband was there also.
I went to the loo & spent ages as something about him made me feel afraid. I stress it was just a feeling. Zero untoward behaviour.
Many years later he was arrested & found guilty of violent rape.

Has anyone else ever sensed evil? (For want of a better word)

Yeah, like The Omen and Damien...

Well, yes, they can read those I suppose

I was thinking more along the lines of THE BIBLE

[joking]

Revelations has some scary shit, right enough. 😎

No. Yes. Genuflects, thrice.

@TatianaBis

The MAIN point of my post was, just because 'evil' is an adjective doesn't mean that makes it necessarily valid to use in a human sense. The poster was saying something like, well it's an adjective and we use other adjectives to describe people/humans therefore we can use that one. I was just saying that we use lots of adjectives for other things that aren't human, so it doesn't necessarily follow... IMO

You can’t just make up definitions of words. If you arbitrarily decide that to you, evil is not a human trait, that a human cannot carry out evil act/s, that evil only refers to a supernatural force, then a. That is a fairly idiosyncratic interpretation unsupported by the dictionary and b. You need to define that upfront

Not sure if you missed the point of my post? Do you know an existential human?

However, on your points: I absolutely can decide that 'evil' as a noun does not exist in reality - that is my opinion, equally you are entitled to yours. I actually do believe (as I have said previously on this thread) that evil IS a very human trait and humans can, have and do, carry out evil acts. I don't see evil as some supernatural force, other than in fiction. I am not trying to redefine the dictionary, just state my belief, which will obviously differ to many other, equally valid, beliefs. . And again all this is IMO

@Staffy1

Because I don't see evil as a human trait which was what the poster I was replying to was saying and was the point of my post

I badly worded this in the context of the post. Evil is a human trait as obviously many evil acts have been carried out. But evil as an adjective relating to people or as an entity/noun that lurks inside people I personally don't believe in. Humans are much more complicated than that IMO. And this is a complicated subject which is why I'm tying myself up in knots trying to (badly) make my point!

@buffyajp

The MAIN point of my post was, just because 'evil' is an adjective doesn't mean that makes it necessarily valid to use in a human sense. The poster was saying something like, well it's an adjective and we use other adjectives to describe people/humans therefore we can use that one. I was just saying that we use lots of adjectives for other things that aren't human, so it doesn't necessarily follow... IMO

Equally just because you personally don’t see it as a human trait it doesn’t mean it’s not valid for other people to use it as such. I disagree with you and will describe acts such as the Holocaust as evil acts. It is not an inaccurate statement just because you don’t like the word. Evil does not mean supernatural even if you think it should

I do see evil as a human trait - I badly worded one of my replies. I absolutely believe that there are and have been evil acts (obvs). Personally don't believe in evil people, things are much more complicated than that and (I believe) everyone is capable of an evil act. I don't dislike the word 'evil', just how it gets used sometimes. I also don't see evil as something supernatural outside of fiction. Of course it is perfectly valid for people to use it however they want. It's also perfectly valid for others to express their opinions.

I still stand by my point that you cannot apply any adjective to humans and it make sense IMO

Evil certainly does exist.

men are likely to have a linear numeric scale of dark triad traits.

I think acts can be evil

I think calling people evil (therefore different to you) is a dangerous game.

Most people, even some serious fucking wrong uns from the past didn't wake up every morning and think "what evil can I visit on the world today"

Most people think what they're doing is right, and if you think that uncritically then you're in danger of doing some evil of your own

@Mothership4two Of course I didn’t miss the point of your post. The problem is not with that, it’s that first you said “I don't see evil as a human trait” and now you say you do.

@TatianaBis

Yeah I explained that problem? Got my words mixed up trying to explain something grammatically and actually quite complicated. It may be a human trait to ACT evil but I don't think humans just ARE evil as in an evil person IMO

It wasn't a dig to say you missed the point of the post, but that you didn't respond to it and went somewhere else. If you think any adjective can be applied to human beings, then that is your prerogative

@OneTC

I think acts can be evil

I think calling people evil (therefore different to you) is a dangerous game

Most people, even some serious fucking wrong uns from the past didn't wake up every morning and think "what evil can I visit on the world today"

Most people think what they're doing is right, and if you think that uncritically then you're in danger of doing some evil of your own

100% this ^^

What makes some people think evil doesn't exist? It surely does.

Of course I didn’t miss the point of your post. The problem is not with that, it’s that first you said “I don't see evil as a human trait” and now you say you do

I first said I did see it as a human trait and have now said this five times on this thread and a variation in other posts. I mixed up my words and have explained why more than once. Not sure why that's a problem?

I studied Judaism and the Holocaust for many years, so when I visited Auschwitz/Birkenau I expected the place to radiate evil.

It was a beautiful, sunny and balmy day and despite many reports - you can hear the birds chirping. It was this that freaked me out - how somewhere that is literally lined with evil could bathe in the sun and at the right angles, look relatively normal.

That being said, the undercurrent of the place is so unnerving and unsettling - it's like it's vibrating. The black wall of death is something else altogether.

And yet, after all of the study I'd done, I still couldn't wrap my mind around what had happened there - I couldn't fathom it because it's just so far from the humanity I know.

The gas chamber in Auschwitz that has been mentioned here is a reconstruction as the nazis managed to knock them down to rubble before the liberation - the originals are basically rocks and bricks. I'm not detracting from what people have reported though by saying it's a reconstruction so can't generate those feelings - I think the energy of somewhere like that lives in every last grain of dust, so I'm not surprised that people felt the evil in the reconstruction.

Reading this makes me think of a woman I recently worked for..she gave me a horrible feeling when I first met her but I ignored it. 3 months into the job I was reduced to a sobbing wreck and had to quit

Yes.

I was in a local shop when this man in there was wandering around; he just seemed a bit odd. I noticed him, put it that way.

He followed one of the store workers after her shift (who served me) about an hour later and murdered her.