Shadowman wrote:
Wow, okay. So your whole idea is that humanity can never be better, and to even TRY to be better is foolish?
Nope. Sorry. I'm not that pessimistic. I still think humanity can be better and there's nothing you can do to convince me otherwise.
Agreed, but that presupposes that everyone in humanity *wants* to be better. Psychiatrists run around trying to find excuses for this act of violence and that--oh, he had a bad childhood, or geez, his mommy didn't love him enough--as if that justifies rape, school shootings, gang violence, etc.
Some people choose to be evil. I didn't believe it myself for a long time. I was right there with Will Smith when he said (and got in trouble for saying) that Hitler didn't believe he was evil. But I look around and see people deliberately making bad choices--with eyes open. Years and years of movies featuring anti-heroes have shown the general unthinking public (baaaaaa!) that Evil = Cool. How do we deal with them?
And society is judged based on it's worst? By that logic, the Twelve Apostles were pure evil because Judas sold out Jesus.
Actually, later Medieval christian thought has an answer for this. I think it's Aquinas, but I may be wrong. It all runs together after a while and it's been many many years. Strap yourself in, because it's kind of a bumpy ride. The story goes that for God's divine plan to unfold (Jesus's sacrifice) someone *had* to betray him. So that Judas Iscariot was merely acting in accordance to God's will when he betrayed him. Therefore, Judas was obeying God. Therefore, Judas = not evil. Judas is, I believe, one of those guys who will be redeemed in the Last Judgment.
Rugged individualist that I am, I don't think we should be judged as a society. We should assess people as individuals. Elsewise, Paris Hilton and I would exist on the same moral spectrum. Yuck.
HK, I love how I can kill a thread.
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