Posted by Vangelo
(here)
Thanks for sharing this message Whitefeather. Apologies are indeed a measure of a good man.
I do not want to derail your message so please feel free to move this response if it does so.
The vast majority of Little Grandma's messages resonate with me however, I have difficulty accepting the notion that all human beings are good. At a very basic level, I believe there is right and wrong - good and evil. For me, these two dichotomies are sourced from life - human life and can be expressed as - anything that results in the destruction of human life is bad. A person who destroys human life or the life force is evil. People who kill, torture, rape ... for pleasure or for ego are evil - as are people who destroy other people's will to live.
Please note that I am labeling those individuals as bad and evil. I am indeed being judgmental but I want to be clear that I limit this to those things that destroy human life and I reject any and all other forms of judgement.
Whenever I offer this point of view to those folks who reject any kind of judgement, they will inevitably argue that allowing for one form of judgement will lead to all things being judged or nothing being judged. This line of reasoning (which has a formal name that escapes me) is faulty. The argument often flows like this... They will say that the soldiers of the Crusade were clearly evil and if you accept that they were indeed evil then all soldiers are evil. If you agree to that they will say, your grandfather, the WWII vet is evil. If you then reject that argument and say that your grandfather is absolutely not evil, they will then reverse the logic back and say that all soldiers are good and the Crusade was not evil. This is the fallacy of the incremental argument and it can be exemplified like this:
Does one hair make a beard?
Answer: no.
Do 100 hairs make a beard? Answer: no.
How about 1000 hairs? Answer: Yes.
Ok, then 999 must also make a beard right? Answer: Yes
At what point do we no longer have a beard, how many hairs?
It is true that a beard is made-up of individual hairs, however the belief that a single hair is the characteristic that makes something a beard is not true. A beard is a beard independent of the
exact number of hairs. We often get caught in this way of thinking. It is a dangerous to do so because it leads to erroneous conclusions. 1000 hairs do not make a beard, but a clump of hair on one's face does, it depends upon the context - and context is key.
Going back to the idea that anything that destroys human life or the life force is evil and the question of whether or not the WWII vet is evil I would argue it depends upon context. From the point of view of the nazi, they are not evil, the allies are. From the point of view of the allies, the nazi's are. What about the rank and file German soldier? Are they evil? I would argue, no. They were in a war situation with horrible choices. Was Hitler and all of his zealots evil? Yes they were evil.
In summary, judgement of others is not something I endorse except when human life or the life force is destroyed. When that happens then judgement of good/evil is required and the answer is dependent upon the direction from which you evaluate the situation. Although it would be wonderful for all of mankind to have a singular belief of what evil is, it will unfortunately, never happen.
I recently read "
People of the Lie.". It has a similar point of view. I recommend it to those of you that know people who destroy the life force of others and are trying to come to grips with its impact on you and your loved ones. Although the author tries to keep religion out of his analysis, he is not completely successful - just keep this in mind as you read.
Regards,
Vangelo
I'm Sorry
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