Where does evil come from?

6. June 2009 by admin.

Throughout human existence, many have asked themselves where evil came from, and most end up more confused than before they asked.  Let’s look at some great examples of futile thinking about evil (the titles provided in bold for easy memorization), and then proceed to some truth.

1) Authority and Situation

Philip Zimbardo, elected the president of the American Psychological Association in 2002, would say that evil comes from a combination between authority and situation, citing the Milgram experiments, the incidence at Abu Ghraib, and the suicides at Jonestown as prime examples.  But if you look a little closer, all Zimbardo and his psychologist friends are saying is that circumstances give an ability to express the evil that already exists within the human mind.  And what’s so “intellectual” about that?  Of COURSE evil can present itself when given a chance: without the situational potential to commit physical evil, you can’t commit evil.  Just like when you don’t have a car, you can’t drive into a tree.

2) Culture and Tradition

Some would blame culture and tradition as the source of evil, claiming that our corrupted cultures–and religions!–are polluting our minds and making us incapable of reaching forward into an intangible utopia.  Unfortunately for them, they didn’t ask themselves where the cultural corruption came from.  Read the rest of this entry »

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