Tuesday, August 19, 2008

The use of the word "evil"

A recent column on Al jazeera hammered both Obama, McCain, the Christian right and the U.S. in general on its misguided use of the word "evil."  

What's misguided about it?  

Neither of the candidates or most of the Bush Administration's rhetoric ever defines what specific "evil" we are battling. Or clarifies that this "evil" is only "evil" from our own perspective.  By calling something "evil," we are assuming that we ourselves are the "good." Why does it need be so black and white?  Are we incapable to think complexly about the conflicts we are engaged in throughout the world?

Not that there isn't evil in the world (poverty, hunger, and genocide are all good examples of evils that the world faces) but I think it's more important that the US moves beyond such a narrow and naive perspective that there is only "good" and "evil" in the world.

It's an interesting article and I think the author hits the issue right on.

Here's a link to it:  Evil in the US elections

2 comments:

Scott said...

I did something evil in our bathroom the other day.

Matt K 'The Bear' said...

you're evil - like terrorism and islam