The Triumph of Evil

One of the more interesting aspects of humans is our affinity for quotes.  Even more interesting is the fact that we often misquote the original, this is especially true for movie lines, or we attribute a quote to a famous person who never actually ever said the quote.  I recently was quite disappointed to find out that my favorite Winston Churchill quotes were never said by him.  I think there are a couple of factors at play here, but that is for a later discussion.  

I bring this all up because I have been thinking frequently about one of my favorite quotes:  "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."  It has erroneously been attributed to Edmund Burke, the famed 18th century conservative statesman and philosopher.  Although, he may have something to the same effect and in a round about fashion, he did not say this exactly as is. 

The cursory meaning and simple explanation of the saying is quite obvious.  Evil prevails when when no one does something to stop it.  Simple enough.  Ah, but not so fast.  Like many other famous quotes, incorrectly attributed to others, they often become cliches that occupy an emotional fondness in our brain.  Their utility is providing an acceptable answer, meaning, or rationalization to more complicated issues.  Their convenience makes it easier for them to become accepted truths, when in reality they are merely truthy. Doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results is stupid, not insane. Love is more than whether or not you have to apologize.  

The  "evil" quote has been on my mind lately as I see our culture rapidly in the process of imploding.  Much of what I see on the news and on Twitter regarding our "civil" society, our political institutions and norms, our leaders, both public and private, makes me think that evil is winning.  Which leads invariably to the next question, "What are we going to do about it?" Or, more personally, "What am I going to do about it?"  Thinking I am on the "good" side, it feels like if I don't do something, I will be aiding the enemy.

As I thought more about the quote, I realized that while it has some truth to it, it is not always true.  Evil can triumph for a number of reasons, not just one.  Sometimes evil triumphs because of overwhelming force.  Other times,  evil has triumphed when good people have done something, but maybe not the right thing.  People have certainly tried different strategies that have failed.  Neville Chamberlain tried to intervene with Hitler, but appeasement was clearly wrong.   Apathy, or "doing nothing" is certainly one of the reasons evil can succeed, but not the only reason.  

A better question would be, "Why good people do nothing?"  And this is where I started to think about this quote differently and reached another conclusion.

To this end, I developed a more appropriate and accurate quote, "Evil will triumph when people cannot distinguish good from evil."  And this is what is truly at the heart of the degradation of our culture.  We have no operational definition of evil that we all agree on and to which we hold fast.  Our post modern culture has made good and evil relative to political expediency and utility.  It is the type of culture that people become enraged by the killing of a citizen by a police officer, but don't seem to be as enraged when law enforcement officers are ambushed by citizens.  Or, when people were outraged by Bill Clinton's affair with a White House intern, but conveniently don't even blush at Trump's long train of sexual infidelities.  Unfortunately, evil is often reduced to who and what our political adversaries believe and do, not on an absolute moral understanding.

This inability to define and distinguish what truly is evil causes confusion and deceives us.  When evil is a moving target, society cannot craft solutions to lessen it or abate it.  We just merely try and treat its symptoms.  Evil is victorious because we often don't see it staring at us in the mirror.  Evil wins when we prioritize political victories over moral victories.  Evil prevails when we fail to have courage to push back against it.  Evil is compounded when we try to fight evil with evil.

So, what is evil?  How should we define it?  I think this may be a good start...

Evil is the willful and blatant disregard for others through deliberate acts.  In other words, it is putting yourself before others, at the detriment of others.  All evil flows from this spring.  All evil acts begin with this sentiment and no other.  Lying, cheating, stealing, killing, violence, greed, laziness, infidelity, immorality, and any other act is essentially a selfish act.

A famous quote that was correctly attributed to its author, Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart, is a reference to the difficulty of legally defining obscenity.  Stewart stated, "I know it when I see it."  I think the same can said for evil.  We just need more people to clearly see it.