And, if so, why?
"There is nothing that makes us feel so good as the idea that someone else is an evildoer." – Robert Lynd (1879-1949)
Do You Agree With This Quote?
by Confession 15 Replies latest social current
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Confession
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Watkins
I don't, quite the opposite. It makes me feel helplessly bad to know there are evildoers loose in the world. They mess everything up!
~Watkins~
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Nowman
Ummm....I wonder if there was a context...but based on the one sentence, no. I did not feel good when the guy from Virgina Tech killed all those people...I did not think to myself, "I feel so good because I did not do that".
You know? Is it that simple? (by the way Confession, your revived post from yesterday, your story, I enjoyed immensely).
Nikki
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Warlock
To me, it looks like the context would be in the area of judgementalism.
"That person is bad, and I'm good" kind of thing.
Warlock
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Tyrone van leyen
I think that is true for people who do evil themselves and wish to feel justified or virtuous. I'm not a saint but it doesn't make me feel good. Religions need this feeling of virtuousness and need a scapegoat to unify against. I have a quote too from memory. Never has man felt better about himself in doing evil than in the name of religion. I think that was a French philospher but I can't remember his name.
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theinfamousone
I VERY WHOLE HEARTEDLY DISAGREE.... i hate the fact that there are people out there willing to do what they do... it makes me feel sick not better.... those people suck
the infamous one
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SacrificialLoon
Lots of people like to watch Jerry Springer, and similar shows. I think there's some truth to it.
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AK - Jeff
Interesting question.
In view of all those who disagree, I must ask the corollary inquiry; Why does the news have such a great viewership then?
On a personal note, I want to disagree vehemontly. But on a practical note, I don't know that I can.
Jeff
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Confession
Love your comments. Isn't it funny how I right away agreed with the quote myself? Let me try to explain what (I think) it means...
Imagine a six year old child who has not yet come to understand the common policy against ratting out ones friends. His mother has heard that some neighborhood kids have been found throwing little stones at passing cars, and she tells her son how bad this is and how he'll be disciplined if he takes part. He sees a neighbor friend doing it--and runs to his mother to let her know about it. He explains that he himself was invited to do it--but he staunchly refused. Furthermore, he tells his mother, he tried to prevent the other boy from this badness, but he just wouldn't listen. Tsk, tsk, tsk... The mother praises her son for his goodness and commends him for telling her about this boy. He basks in the glow of his "righteousness."
(The next one is a slight exaggeration of me when I was much younger...)
Imagine a white, young man who despises racism. Imagine also that, in his zeal to decry racism, he leaps at the opportunity to accuse others of it. In virtually any situation he sees that involves the interaction of races, he will loudly accuse people of being racists--although often this can be pure speculation and opportunism on his part. The truth is, he does hate racism. But, even more, he loves being seen as anti-racist. He feels this "proves" he is not a racist, since he, after all, is the one pointing out others as racists. This gives him warm satisfaction.
Imagine a pious, church-going, bible-reading woman. Around every corner she sees wickedness. The young neighbor girl who wears short skirts. The morning disc jockey who occasionally uses words like "crap" or expressions like, "Gosh darn it." The local grocer whose holiday signage spells "Christmas" as "Xmas." She speaks disdainfully of these ones, she writes letters to the editor, and she tries to get her friends to boycott the grocery store. She sees herself as a defender of "the Lord," steadfastly ferreting out the things she asserts to be sacrilegious. She derives a delicious gratification from this.
I don't believe the original quote posted is suggesting that we secretly like all evildoers. I believe it just identifies an interesting quirk often found in the human character. Sometimes we mark our own value by comparing ourselves to others. (Think of a husband who feels guilty for going to a strip club. His friend, however, actually has sex outside of marriage. The first man may then feel his behavior is okay, because at least he's not really cheating on his wife--like the other guy.)
Perhaps not all, but many people feel better about themselves when they are accusing others of something. In the moment that they point the finger of accusation at others, they feel virtuous. They themselves cannot be evil, since they are the ones uncovering evil.
Don't you see this?
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darth frosty
I kinda agree with you confession, just on a much simpler term. I think the statement rings true because of basic ego or superiority complex. By having someone else who in our opinon is evil or lets say doing something we are not doing, we allow ourselves to justify our own actions. Kinda like ro. 2:15 talking about the law in our hearts either accusing us or excussing us.
Imagine you are driving down the street and you run thru the yellow light. You could have stopped, but you wanted to go through. Now I dont know about the rest of you but I'll wager you all do the same thing I do in such a situation...you look to see if someone else came thru with you. You dont look for a cop who might have seen you, you want that other car thats behind you to have followed thru the light. Now that person is more wrong than you and you are off the hook.