The beautiful face of evil and the ugly side of the truth
67I believe that the only way we can make decisions that we will be happy to be held accountable for is if we are informed on every aspect of both sides of issues in our lives especially when it comes to rewards and consequences. I also feel that there are many who are quick to tell us just how wrong evil is, but they neglect to mention just how beautiful it can be. Now when I mention good and evil in this article, I'm not talking about the halo and wings or fire and brimstone variety that Christians believe in, but I'm talking about the simple right vs. wrong and black and white.
Honestly, there is a certain sweetness to evil, and a certain good feeling in doing the wrong thing. For those who would deny this fact, look at lying for example. We lie on the occasions where we feel that telling the cold, hard truth would be too ugly an experience for the person we're going to lie to so we'd rather tell a "sweeter" lie to spare feelings. We lie when we don't want to be honest about where we really were because we feel the truth would hurt us rather than set us free. This is the point that we embrace the pretty side of wrong.
We call ourselves telling "little white" lies and we find all sorts of excuses to justify our desire to seek the pleasure in doing the wrong thing. There have been many different forms of cheaters who have tried to justify their wrongdoing by blaming their current situation, by blaming their spouses or significant others, or by blaming anyone or anything else except themselves. Even when we take what isn't ours in the noble attempt to help someone else, are our actions any less wrong because of our "selfless" act. It really doesn't take any extra effort on our part to do wrong, but doing the right thing is a lot of work. A lie is always easier to tell than the truth and cheating and stealing is always the faster way to get what we want. This is the simplistic beauty in evil since we don't have to work for the wrong thing. Telling the truth in spite of the consequences, or working to honestly achieve what we desire takes courage and determination.
Now that hopefully the beauty and the ugliness of good and evil are evident, the time is right to learn about the consequences of both. Instant gratification is the first thing we experience by doing wrong, but we also have to face what happens when the truth is revealed from a lie that we've told. We run the risk of being alienated by friends and family who are hurt from our wrongdoing. When we cheat or steal from someone to get ahead, we run the risk of getting cheated or stolen from ourselves and we also run the risk of facing their wrath if they find out. When we tell the truth no matter how bad it may sound, we are set free from having to worry about what version of a story we told someone since we have told the same story to everyone. When we work for what we want instead of stealing for what we want, we are left with the satisfaction that we had the drive to get what we desired making our possession that much more enjoyable. The bottom line is that with either path we take, the good or the evil, we alone are left to live with the consequences of our actions. The fruit of wrongdoing tastes so sweet and feels so good in the beginning, but are we willing to stomach the aftertaste in the long run?
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The Beautiful Side of Evil
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Ah, such a convoluted and subjective subject. It's a slippery slope we're stepping on here. The good of bad of telling a lie is a hard thing to pin down in a few cases.
I'm a citizen in nazi germany. I have a well concealed root cellar in my basement with 4 jews hidden in it. The S.S. comes knocking at my door and I convince them there is no one here but me. To lie is wrong. Am I therefore evil for deceiving the henchmen of arguably one of the most evil people in history?
I'm a white farmer in mississippi on the route of the underground railroad. I have 3 escaped slaves hidden in my hay loft. I lie so convincingly to the men tracking them that they don't even search my property. Once again I have committed the sin of the lie. Who will condemn me for it?
If only the world were in fact black and white. I am truly weary of the gray void it is in actuality.
to Shalini Kagal - Deception does leave us tangled in a hideous web of our own design.
to ColdWarBaby - You make interesting points, but is there ever any exception to black and white? The holocaust and slavery are two of mankind's worst moments in history, but a lie to protect is still a lie. Those who hid Jewish people or helped slaves on the underground railroad may or may not have been evil, but the lie they told was still wrong even in the face of the evil they were trying to stop. I'm grateful that there were people who were willing to die to help others survive injustice because death would surely have been the consequence if their lie had been found out. The bottom line is that every truth and every lie always has a consequence that we have to live with. Thanks for keeping me on my toes.
This is an interesting discussion, but I must disagree with the example you've used to constitute "evil"--as ColdWarBaby pointed out, the white lie told to save the lives of innocent people could hardly be regarded as "evil" and the positive feeling one would experience from telling a lie that ultimately caused more good than harm is not the result of having committed an evil act.
Also, you say "a lie is always easier to tell than the truth" and again, I must disagree. The truth sets you free and allows you to lead a life of authenticity and integrity. Those who are truthful are able to trust others and form meaningful relationships, while liars must struggle to keep up with their lies and are incapable of trusting anyone because they don't trust themselves.
I agree with your concluding thoughts, I just question the route you took to get there. Still, it's interesting fodder for thought so thanks for presenting your perspective.
There are more shades of gray than all the colors in the rainbow.
I was talking to my sister about this topic and she made me see the issue of protecting someone on the underground railroad in an unique way. If a person doesn't believe that another person should be considered a slave and meant for the misuse of a cruel human being, then that person who aids the "slave" isn't lying when they say there are no slaves in their house because they don't believe in the concept of it.
to Melissa G - I agree that the truth sets us free, but I say it's easier to tell a lie than the truth because many times through our selfishness, we trap ourselves in a lie that we created. I know we won't always agree, but like ColdWarBaby and I do, I can always agree to disagree with anyone.
to ColdWarBaby - This is one of those moments for us because I know I have spent time on both sides of the spectrum(right and wrong), but I just don't see the concept of not quite wrong, or mostly right.
Ther is no black and white--nor really and shades of grey--only the many colors of the rainbow--not just ROYGBIV--the many colors that all those colors mixed in one way or another can be.
Most times it isn't easier to tell a lie--at least by my experience. There really isn't a right and wrong either--just choices and What If's. Then by those choices you dictate what the outcome MIGHT be, because by others choices you too may experience a different outcome. The Ripple Effect is something like that and so is the Domino Effect and so forth...
Who is the dictator of what is right from what is wrong--man is........
No Guinevere, the human spirit is. All of us know, in our deepest being, what is right and what is wrong.
talented_ink, is your sister a lawyer? That's apposite thinking of the first order! Extenuating circumstances talented_ink. There are no absolutes.
to Lady Guinevere - One point I think ColdWarBaby is touching on is relative and absolute truth. If I believe in my heart that something is right when the majority would all say it's wrong, does that mean that I'm relatively doing right because I believe it to be so? I think that makes for interesting debate, but even between relativity and absoluteness, I still believe that the wrong thing is the easier and most hedonistic decision, but the moral,high ground of right has the best long term rewards.
to ColdWarBaby - No, she's not a lawyer, but she does have a good head on her shoulders. Extenuating circumstances are two words that are like fine wine in an attorney's mouth, but I do believe that there are still absolutes in this world. We'd all like to see the grayish area, but I feel that we are held accountable for either white or black, one or the other, and not the in between.
Man, this hub is giving me a headache. The whole concept of Lying, it seems to me, is rather arbitrary and abstact. Something invented by humans to control others. Sure, we can say to kids you should not lie to their parents. But this assumes that the parents are looking out for the kids welfare instead of being mean, spiteful, hateful creatures let's suppose(my parents were great, by the way, so don't go there.) Anyway, plenty of similar examples have been adaquately illustrated above. So who is the higher authority that determined that lying was 100%, without exception, evil? God? Did he tell you personally or is that just what people told you God believes? I don't want turn this into THAT conversation either.
Back to the kid who lies to his abusive parents. He will be punished for this lie IF his parents find out. If they do, they beat the living daylights out of him. They shall be punished for this, no? If not by the law, by God? So the kid is punished by the parents because they want to punish him. Lying is just their excuse. In the scope of things, they have no authority to decide right from wrong. They will be punished by the law (if they get caught - maybe) or by God (if that's what you believe) but they are being punished for being evil. The kid's punishment was arbitrary. Lying didn't have anything to do with it. Same with the lynchers and the Nazis. They will say the punishment is for lying to them, but the broader reason is they want control and god forbid you should stand in their way.
Even now, you can be punished for lying in court. Really? You're trying to put me in Jail and I'm not supposed to lie to you? Maybe I'm trying to save my butt here. You will be punished more harshly if you are caught lying. It's not really because you lied though. It's because they want control and this will discourage others from also trying to free themselves. Not really because they lied.
You are (or this book) is taking a complicated black or white theory and trying to force it into this abstact thing we call lying. It's like putting a square peg in a round hole. It doesn't fit.
Common sense tells us the kid was right, and the people who went against the lynchers were right, ditto the nazi story. Common sense doesn't need a theory. Quite simply, this common sense tells us right from wrong. No theories need apply.
Thanks for letting me spout off. Not sure if I made any sense.
This is such an excellent hub, and the approach you take to it is really fascinating. A famous holocaust survivor (whose name I can't recall--was it Elie Weisel?) talks about "the banality of evil." In other words, we have this idea that evil wears a black cape and an ugly face and announces itself as evil, but in actual fact, pedophiles are often beloved community figures who do volunteer work with children, the man who abuses his spouse could be your preacher. Life is complex, and if evil didn't have a sweet face it wouldn't tempt us.
I agree with some of the comments about lying--it's way too complicated to be drawn in simple black and white. Too many people are cruel under the guise of being honest. I don't admire that. In philosophy class in college I always hated the "lifeboat ethics" problems, because we don't live in a lifeboat, we live in the complicated big real world. A major philosophical question is, "Is truth absolute or is it relative?" Volumes have been written on this. So we probably won't pin it down in this discussion, but it's provocative, the way you put it.
I personally feel like I commit "necessary evil" every day. The question arises, how necessary is it, really? Well, that's a question everyone would answer differently. For example, I work half time at a bank to get health insurance and have a steady income but I consider this work fairly evil--I can't find another steady job with health insurance. Which is more wrong--not paying my bills and risking losing my home in a medical emergency, or working for the evil, greedy, amoral bank? I'm clear on why what I'm doing is wrong, but the situation (finding work in Michigan right now) seems to demand it. It's still wrong. That's only one example--for more read Satori's hubs on taxes.
Anyway, thanks for a great read and food for thought! Well done!
Yes, I think that terms like "lie" and "evil" are the kinds of things that Derrida was after with Deconstruction (before the whack jobs ran with it everywhere). "So-and-so is evil!" Oh really, says who? And by what standard of righteousness is that declaration contrived? Who wrote that standard and how were they qualified to establish such a thing? The use of black and white, as so many have already said, doesn't work. It's a false binary (which I realize I bitch about a lot on HP these day, but, they do vex me so and they just pop up all over the place). I think the issue lies more within the realm of Free Will and relativity than in "evil." I think evil is done by the measure of what one feels in one's core (call it soul, conscience whatever term works). The common sense of decency that evolved (or with which we were imbued by a creator) that made us social creatures lies within everyone. Whether they choose to feel it when they speak or not, in it's moth-like delicacy or gut wrenching spasm depending on circumstance, determines whether the words spoken are "evil and a lie" or just "polite, tactful or discrete." Intent is where evil and good lie, and even those are subject to perspective and relativity at times. Anyway, I do go on.
Great hub, very thought provoking and the comments you've been getting are excellent.
to Christoph Reilly - Like ColdWarBaby brought up the fact that some people protected Jews and blacks during the times of the Holocaust and slavery, you have made a good point with good kids and bad parents. Now the parents can be disgusting creatures in terms of religious and even social beliefs, and like you said, can take pleasure in punishment, but their wrong still does nothing to justify a lie to me. My beliefs tell me that "Thou shalt not lie", but this just isn't a question of God and religion to me either. I do believe that evil happens to good people and that good people can do wrong and evil people can do good. Whether you believe in heaven and hell or karma, in one way or another we pay for the good or the bad that we do. I understand what you're getting at and I'm happy that you commented. In some cases, there comes a point where I can respectfully agree to disagree.
to prgrundy - Thank you and it is Elie Wiesel who talked about the "banality of evil." One reason I wanted to write this is because I was always taught what was right and what was wrong and I was taught to never do wrong. I regret that I wasn't taught enough about what made wrong so wrong and I wasn't taught that doing wrong feels good, but that doesn't make it right. "Cruel under the guise of being honest"? Are you referring to those who attempt to hurt others by being brutally honest instead of choosing to be honest and tactful at the same time? That's another piece of the puzzle I didn't mention, but I'm glad you did. Yes, I think they should avoid lying, but I also think they are accountable for the way they tell the truth. Thanks for reading and sharing your thoughts.
Primum non nocere - latin for "first do no harm." I've always respected that motto of physicians, but felt it should be applied to our lives every day.
I have to agree a bit with Shade about the "intent" part. Let's face it, any action can be warped depending on who is carrying out that action, that person's moral compass and their underlying motivation, or intent if you will. What one person perceives as the truth, might not be the truth to another.
As in CBW's fine examples, in the eyes of the Nazi's the Jews were an abomination upon the earth and needed to be wiped out. They sincerely believed this..it was the truth in their eyes. The citizen however sees it differently, his truth was that these were innocent people that deserved protection...even at the risk of his own life. Who was right?
Well, popular history contends that it was the citizen because the Nazi's truth was harmful...exterminating millions of people (and not just those of Jewish ancestry). How could any belief that causes harm to anybody be the truth?
So I tell a white lie every once in a while because my version of the truth would cause harm (albeit maybe just a wince at what I percieve only as candor). I have never lost sleep over these choices.
However, if upon examination of the lie, the only person that gains from the exchange is myself...than I might have to rethink it a bit. Am I doing it for personal gain...emotional, physical or material?...than no matter how uncomfortable the truth is, I tell it.
If it's a case of primum non nocere...and like a kid telling the truth to an abusive parent, it's to save myself from harm...then I'll lie until my nose has reached Pinocchio proportions. It's self-preservation and I definitely don't feel evil for lying in that regard.
Anyway...that's how I come to terms with my conscience in this regard.
just like happiness Dam Near Destorys you, breaks your faith to pices on the floor, so you tell yourself thats enough for now, cos happiness has a violent roawr!!!!
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Shalini Kagal says:
15 months ago
Oh, what a tengled web we weave....??? :)