Is it health or unhealthy to consider some people evil?

Do you think it is healthy or unhealthy for one to consciously (or unconcsciously) tag people or acts as 'evil'?


for me, i think it is unhealthy as it leads to the boosting of one's ego, and in turn the disconnect from society. it also cancels out explanations to why another person may perceive something, which is a vital ingredient in having a healthy, inclusive and agreeable society.

opinions?

 

I think it's both healthy and unhealthy.

I for one, think that selfishness is pretty evil; and someone who is always looking out for themselves and is completely reckless with others may be regarded as evil by me.

But I am not a very fundamentalist person, in general; and wouldn't necessarily hold it against them in daily life. I think we are all (or most all) good and evil in our own ways; and the acts of both good and evil can benefit humanity/the world.

I don't think this is a very polar issue (heh) but a lot depends on a person's core philosophy and how they respond to their own biases.

 

I agree with boguskyle. It is unhealthy to the extent that it distorts our perception and makes situational awareness suffer.

We all share the same motive in life, without exception, to have our good.

 

It is healthy to know whom you may wish to avoid or otherwise to depart from ,sooner rather than later. Just takes a good sense of being aware. As far as evil acts go-those should be evident to most. (but not all). Altho,existentually,none of it may matter at all.

 

I think it can be okay if you understand what the word evil means in the real world and how that is different from fantasy evil, where evil has the goal of enveloping the world in darkness while cackling maniacally.

If you understand that in real life an evil person is still human, usually someone who believes they are doing the right thing and harming others is for the greater good. Or perhaps most importantly if they have labeled the people they are harming as evil and lose their human compassion based on that label. This part is especially important because we need to remember not to do that ourselves to the people we label as evil so we don't become like them.

 

To label people as evil --- yes--unhealthy
To label acts as evil ---no--healthy

Noticing acts of evil shows you're more morally aware and can lead to positive change.

 

I guess by your reasoning,if I say Ted Bundy was evil--that's unhealthy?

 

If it is something you wouldn't do to yourself or someone you love, but you do it to others, THAT is evil.

Those who do it, are evil.

Those who ignore it when it happens around them, while not evil in itself, it certainly isn't a 'good' thing.

As for healthy/unhealthy... it is unhealthy to deny any feelings you may have.

You examine them for validity (or not) and then deal with them as you see fit, THAT is healthy.

 

In my area, a town in germany, more than 90% of the people are zombies but in peaceful areas of Switzerland i know, more than 90% of the people still are healthy...depends of where you are.

 

I see you're point, but where do you draw the line? In general I don't think it's healthy to go around labeling people as evil. I'd rather focus on my own actions.

 

its so simple: if you manage to live on this planet leaving more better working nature, less waste and less bad thougths than before you are healthy but if you leave this place more polluted or with egoist dreams then you are evil.
When you see positive, creative energy rayonning he is good but if you see a person who kills the positive attitude, he is evil.

 

MB,I agree with your last sentence. I guess we have to draw the line at commonly accepted reasonable behaviour as opposed to commonly accepted unreasonable behaviour. That ,of course would be on a sliding scale or continuum, as fits ones experiences and attitudes.

 

some people can see the "BAD" in people that much easier, but its all subjective anyways, because the differenct opinions of what "bad" is. But i clicked healthy, because everyone should have an idea of morals and have a direction in that.

 

Your or not, in parenthesis, makes me wonder if you regard examining feelings for validity is the same as not, as far as acknowledging the feelings that you have?

I think it wise to examine feelings for validity as we can be led to all sorts of emotional contortions based on false assumptions. This seems important to me both individually and as a social issue. Nobody should be asked to deal with my emotional states, or no one outside myself is responsible for my emotional states.

Further I think it helpful to realize that always in the first case, that it is the way we regard the world that dictates our emotional tone in regards to it. In other words our emotional state gives us guidance as to the efficacy or veracity of our assessments. If we find ourselves in an uncomfortable fashion, it is because we had not beheld a true relationship or misidentified true cause, that something about our narrative assumptions is false.

 

It is this arbitrary element that makes the concept of evil an unreliable metric.

All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful and helpful, is a matter of timing.

 

The problem with that is all you have to do is look through history to see where it has failed.

It was commonly accepted reasonable behavior to sail to africa, steal people from their homes and sell them.

That does not mean it wasn't evil.

 

That's what I meant. It depends on ones outlook. The slave trade was reasonable behaviour to some while unreasonable to others. It is still the same as it goes on today. It is COMMONLY unacceptable and unreasonable behaviour.

 

I think we are missing a connection here somewhere...

Regardless of how the slave trade is or was viewed, it is evil.

Would you like to be stolen away and sold into slavery? Of course not, therefore it is an evil act.

Nothing to do with the way people view it... people are fucking idiots...

 

Some are idiots indeed. That's what I meant in my first post--it is healthy to judge evil. Altho slavery hadn't come into the conversation until later. Although (pre?)judging people in social contexts goes on all the time--rightly or wrongly,if one can't tell evil from benign--I would suspect bad brain wiring.

 

I think bad brain training would be more accurate. Wiring, to me anyway, gives me the impression of something permanent or unchangeable... As in, you are hardwired to be that way...

With training, anyone can be made to think anything is evil or good.