It's hard to argue with the "evil" card...

I'm currently reading Why do People Hate America? by Ziauddin Sardar and Merryl Wyn Davies.  The book was born out of the discussion about the question  'Why do people hate America?' which was asked often after the 9-11 attacks in 2001.  I'm about a quarter of the way into the book, and it has been thought-provoking so far.  A favorite quotation of mine is: "The trouble is, thought without information does not advance understanding.  It is the quality and accuracy of information, coupled with original thought, that produces understanding, unlocks meaning and provides potential answers to difficult problems."  I enjoyed this quote because I think that it gives light to a great deal of what is wrong in our political system right now, and it also describes the sheep-like mentality that many people follow when they make up their minds about things.  To pick on my own religion, I think that many people use the cop-out 'I believe it because it says so in the Bible,' and they will have a verse or two to back their beliefs up.  However, people might not take the time to consider context, perception, author's intention and style, definitions of words, translation of words, how the verse fits in with the rest of the book, etc., and without this type of open consideration of the meaning of scriptures, it is easy to reach an easy but perhaps irrational (and harmful) conclusion.  As interesting as this is to me, this is not what I want to discuss today, but I just wanted to mention it since it stood out strongly in my mind.  Let's continue to our main attraction.

Here is a passage from the book:

"The question 'Why do people hate America?' itself turns on the nature of evil.  Pure evil has no solution.  It can only be eradicated, and attempts to eradicate evil generate as many problems as they solve, if not more.  All religions teach that the history of human existence is the struggle with evil.  Describing people in terms of pure evil is seductive because it requires no self-reflection, no assessment of any context and contributory circumstances.  The transition to evil as an explanation resolves all of the ambiguities that attach to hatred, and much more.  As British journalist Barbara Gunnell noted in the New Statesman, it becomes an invitation to 'identify an enemy'.  Both the American administration and the Taliban leadership describe each other in the terminology of evil.  While President Bush declared that 'our war is war against terrorism and evil', Mullah Mohammad Omar, the leader of the Taliban regime, reacted by saying that he would never accept the government that the US, with UN support, put together in Afghanistan because it was made up of 'evil doers'.  Mullah Omar also declared that 'America has created the evil that is attacking it'.  Such summary judgements are not very enlightening.  'The "axis of evil" tells us nothing about, for example, the actions of the citizens of Iraq or Iran or North Korea(far less their relations with each other', writes Gunnell. 'It is merely an invitation to identify our enemies.  By talking of them as "evil", we do not need to ask why they act as they do, feel outraged or oppressed, opt for suicidal terror rather than protest or political engagement.  The questions to which we all need answers since 11 September fall off the agenda in the face of the description "evil".  Evil simply demands opposition rather than analysis or understanding.'"

 There is a lot in there!  I posted all of it because I think the whole paragraph is worth thinking about.  However, I just want to focus on the last sentence, 'Evil simply demands opposition rather than analysis or understanding.'  In regards to war, it seems dangerous to justify a war by saying that we are fighting "evil."  The people on both sides of the war might be justifying their actions in the same way which should in and of itself make us wary.  History often shows that those who consider themselves righteous often turn out to be viewed as fairly evil themselves in retrospect.  (Think about the Salem Witch Trials, slave owners, etc.)  As such, I think that the reasons given for war must be more extensive and should include an impartial analysis of why there is tension in the first place.  We also certainly should spend time considering other methods to relieve the tension realizing that our own policies might be part of the cause.  While there is no excuse for something like the 9-11 attacks, we certainly should rationally consider our best options to prevent further attacks and to react in a way that moves us in a positive direction.  For example, perhaps hunting down bin Ladin made sense but invading Iraq did not.  Perhaps invading Iraq continued to harm our relationships with the middle east.  Perhaps part of what led up to the 9-11 attacks was our history of intrusion in the middle east.  I am no expert, but these things should have been a large part of our public conversation, but I don't think that they were.  It was far easier to just fight "terrorism" and "evil".  As a related note, I'd like to encourage people to consider our oil dependency and how that affects our relationship with the middle east.  How should that change our individual actions?  Political actions?  Political policies?

Beyond the connection between "evil" and war, the connection between "evil" and religion came to mind.  In particular, since this is the area I feel I know most about, I think that Christians often forget that people are not inherently evil.  In particular, people that disagree with us are not inherently evil.  I mean, we are certainly all imperfect and prone to screw up, but I think that if we believe that we are made in the image of God and that God loves every human being that should mean something to us.  One time where I see failure in this area is when I hear people talking about certain groups of people.  For some reason, when talking about homosexuals, there is this sense of disgust and it is made clear that this is "evil."  While if you believe that homosexuality is wrong, that is of course your prerogative; however, if you let yourself get carried away it can make it challenging to view a homosexual person as a 'person' rather than as a 'homosexual'.   Again, the focus on evil demands opposition instead of analysis and understanding.

Another connection that came to me was the connection between "evil" and politics.  Since our political system is so polarized, and since there is a fair amount of ridiculousness and unfairness that occurs in our system, I think it makes it easy to label those of opposing views as evil.  I struggle with this one too because I feel like a lot of horrible things are happening that can be prevented, and I tend to want someone to blame.  Additionally, if I allow myself to call the people evil, I can continue to justify a little hatred.  After all, we should hate evil!  However, while this may be emotionally satisfying in the short term (because I've figured out who to hate for our problems!), it certainly doesn't help anything.  It also doesn't focus on the real problems that we need to understand to fix our system.

As I wrote these three paragraphs, I realized that not only is it just plain wrong  (at least in my eyes...) to throw the label "evil" wherever it is convenient, it is also very counterproductive because it turns attention from dealing with things to allowing negative emotion to fester and grow.  In the case of war, it allows us to continue to destroy without considering causes and ways we can change to peacefully prevent fighting.  In the case of the Christian religion, it allows us to puff ourselves up and feel like we are fighting God's fight without ever actually bothering to do all we are asked to do... love.  (It is a lot easier to hate evil than to love some people!!)  In the case of politics, it allows us to blame others and feel justified in what we are doing without ever working to create a better political system through our own actions and interactions with people.  Perhaps the next time I feel the emotions of frustration, anger, and hate as something that is probably "evil" in my mind is occurring, I will remember to step back and approach the situation more complexly.  Perhaps.