# Have you ever known a truly evil person? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 15, 2012, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765 "2012-10-15T11:28:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/61 "2012-10-17T19:10:45Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > Successful drug dealers are an evil breed of human being. I’ve met a few (crack dealers, mostly) that absolutely had no soul. They make their money by sucking the life right out of their customers; and it happens right before their eyes in the most vicious way. And the more the better. You have a seriously low standard of evil. Drug dealers are selling something people want, it’s a victimless crime. Wouldn’t every person who works in the alcohol industry be just as responsible for all of the damage caused by alcohol? Is a gas station cashier responsible for my lung cancer when he sells me a pack of smokes? ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/62 "2012-10-17T19:28:07Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > You have a seriously low standard of evil. Drug dealers are selling something people want, it’s a victimless crime. > > Wouldn’t every person who works in the alcohol industry be just as responsible for all of the damage caused by alcohol? Is a gas station cashier responsible for my lung cancer when he sells me a pack of smokes? I think they are talking about the dealers who give free sampels to children to get them hooked, and hard sell to former customers they know to be trying to kick, or provide pimping services to those customers who have lost everything to their wares - that sort of thing. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/63 "2012-10-17T21:01:41Z")
> [@TruCelt](#): > > I think they are talking about the dealers who give free sampels to children to get them hooked, and hard sell to former customers they know to be trying to kick, or provide pimping services to those customers who have lost everything to their wares - that sort of thing. All of these are things that the tobacco industry has done. And unlike the actions of a drug dealer, these were industry-wide programs, carefully planned by the companies, and promoted by their many employees. Some of them may still be ongoing. So like ExcitedIdiot asked, why wouldn’t everyone involved in the promotion of tobacco addiction, from the company executives to the gas station attendent selling pack, to the farmer who grew the original crop – why don’t you consider them all evil too? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/64 "2012-10-17T21:11:25Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > That’s even less likely to be evil than a socipoath. That man probably thought he was doing it for a good reason. Socipaths aren’t evil? Really? He did it because the child’s mother (his ex-girlfriend) went on a vacation with her new boyfriend. He told her to get back together with him or he would kill her and the child. Instead, he committed murder/suicide. He did it because he was _evil_. Stop excusing him As child sexual abuse expert Andrew Vachss says “Don’t confuse sickening with sick.” ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/65 "2012-10-17T21:14:48Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > He did it because he was _evil_. lol I already made this analogy once, but imagine yourself transplanted into his brain. You would do exactly the same thing he did. Do you disagree? Are you evil? ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/66 "2012-10-17T21:24:00Z")
Bullshit I would murder an innocent child. I am not that evil. ---
**Author:** ![drewtwo99](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d07c76/32.png) [@drewtwo99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewtwo99)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 9:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/67 "2012-10-17T21:41:12Z")
I don’t think I’ve ever met someone who was evil, but I do believe it exists (just like there are good people). I think a good example of an evil person would be Jerry Sandusky, who in the face of all evidence of all the wrong he has done, steadfastly denies it and refuses to apologize, and probably sincerely believes in his heart that he did nothing wrong. That’s evil. And it’s not even his “fault” in a sense… he just has no idea how evil he truly is. Truly evil people are tragic, really. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/68 "2012-10-17T22:03:46Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Bullshit I would murder an innocent child. I am not that evil. So what magic part of you would stop the brain of this guy, which I reiterate is exactly the same in this hypothetical, from making the exact same decision we know it made last time? ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/69 "2012-10-17T22:16:51Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > You have a seriously low standard of evil. Drug dealers are selling something people want, it’s a victimless crime. > > Wouldn’t every person who works in the alcohol industry be just as responsible for all of the damage caused by alcohol? Is a gas station cashier responsible for my lung cancer when he sells me a pack of smokes? A hippie who deals LSD or a teenager who deals pot is one thing. Someone who rises among the ranks of violent street gangs to become a successful dealer of crack is something else. Evenso, I doubt the majority are actual sociopaths. Evil and destructive yes but probably not really sociopathic. ---
**Author:** ![Simple\_Linctus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Simple\_Linctus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simple_Linctus)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 10:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/70 "2012-10-17T22:59:59Z")
I don’t know this, but I suspect there are not really super-succesful crack dealers. At the high level everything is powder cocaine. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/71 "2012-10-17T23:44:41Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > I don’t know this, but I suspect there are not really super-succesful crack dealers. At the high level everything is powder cocaine. No, not at the street level. Although back in the early 80s I believe the good street dealers could make a grand a day. The street level dealers seem like they’d be rougher than the suppliers though. ---
**Author:** ![ExcitedIdiot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ea5d25/32.png) [@ExcitedIdiot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExcitedIdiot)\ **Post date:** [October 17, 2012, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/72 "2012-10-17T23:48:50Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > No, not at the street level. Although back in the early 80s I believe the good street dealers could make a grand a day. You believe wrong. [This guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudhir_Alladi_Venkatesh) studied a street gang in Chicago in the late 80’s. He found that the street level dealers made less per hour than McDonalds employees. Even the guys who survived long enough to be promoted made less than McManagers. ---
**Author:** ![Scumpup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ce73a5/32.png) [@Scumpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scumpup)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 1:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/73 "2012-10-18T01:00:30Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > You believe wrong. [This guy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sudhir_Alladi_Venkatesh) studied a street gang in Chicago in the late 80’s. He found that the street level dealers made less per hour than McDonalds employees. Even the guys who survived long euncnough to be promoted made less than McManagers. Watched a bunch of my students go swirling down this drain from '92 to present. A big ass wad of money in your pocket is no indication of wealth when almost all of it has to be kicked upstairs to people who will do horrific things to your happy little ass if you aren’t making your expected earnings. ---
**Author:** ![scratch\_llll](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@scratch\_llll](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scratch_llll)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/74 "2012-10-18T04:03:02Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > lol > > I already made this analogy once, but imagine yourself transplanted into his brain. You would do exactly the same thing he did. Do you disagree? Are you evil? I don’t have a dog in this hunt but your “analogy” is crap. You cannot “transplant” yourself into anothers brain. Our brains are who we are. Change them and we are not ourselves. It’s theoreticly possible to change bodies but change brains or share brains is impossible. That’s a no brainer. Brains R Us. Some people have a funny reaction to the word evil. I just see it as synonymous with bad. Really really bad. Or is there such a thing as bad? If I were a bad person with a bad brain would I understand there is no such thing as bad? That certainly IS how THEY think. I think you have to have a bad brain to think that way though. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/75 "2012-10-18T04:16:04Z")
> [@ExcitedIdiot](#): > > You have a seriously low standard of evil. Drug dealers are selling something people want, it’s a victimless crime. I’m specifically referring to crack/meth/heroin dealers. And I only formed this opinion after getting to see their operations up close and personal. To be willing to take part in such a gruesome, sickening, twisted degradation of human life that takes place right in front of your eyes, simply in order to make a profit, takes a creature that is something less than fully human. ETA: It would have been better for me to have said “Ive known drug dealers who I believed were truly evil”. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/76 "2012-10-18T06:11:10Z")
> [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > lol > > I already made this analogy once, but imagine yourself transplanted into his brain. You would do exactly the same thing he did. Do you disagree? Are you evil? > [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > Bullshit I would murder an innocent child. I am not that evil. > [@Simple\_Linctus](#): > > So what magic part of you would stop the brain of this guy, which I reiterate is exactly the same in this hypothetical, from making the exact same decision we know it made last time? Probably the same magic part that made it possible for her to be transplanted into his brain… ---
**Author:** ![gracer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/8e7dd6/32.png) [@gracer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gracer)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/77 "2012-10-18T09:26:27Z")
For the discussion on the nature of evil it might be good to consider that to some extent “evil” is a concept of the abrahamic religions; it’s not necessarily universal. Good has two opposites: good \<-\> bad good \<-\> evil Many cultures only really have the “good \<-\> bad” distinction. Regarding people I’ve met we might classify as evil: I once stood face to face with the father of two of the kids at the orphanage where I worked. He had molested them so badly and from such a young age that they had both had have operations. He had kept them locked up in the basement and had rented them out. It was horrific. He had called regularly from prison, trying to speak with them. When the girls heard his voice they both hid under they bed. One of them wet herself. I went out to the gate, I took one of the big boys and a machete. I told him to run. I hope he is grateful that I didn’t rip his throat out, because I still wish I had. When I got back to the dorm the other girls had formed a ring around the bed the girls were hiding under. Those two girls are doing fantastically well. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/78 "2012-10-18T10:03:26Z")
In response to [another thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=15601773), and ongoing debates elsewhere, may I nominate telemarketing or phone survey companies? ---
**Author:** ![Charley](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/97f17d/32.png) [@Charley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charley)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 10:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/79 "2012-10-18T10:31:35Z")
Seriously? Annoying as hell, sure - but evil? You can read a story like the one **gracer** posted just above you and then suggest that telemarketing is in the same ball park? Calling that sort of behaviour evil, even in jest, kind of devalues the term till it’s completely meaningless, IMO. To the OP: not personally - I’ve known people who had such an overwhelming ego and sense of their own importance that they might as well have been evil, but I’m not sure they were anything other than mildly sociopathic. In my head true evil has an active component, on top of the passive disregard for anyone else’s feelings. ---
**Author:** ![Seanette](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/seanette/32/9139_2.png) [@Seanette](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Seanette)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2012, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765/80 "2012-10-18T10:37:46Z")
Read all the smugly entitled (bleep) **Flyer** has been posting and tell me that’s not sociopathic levels of selfish. Sociopaths have a flying head start on the evil scale for me, since it’s not much of a jump to worse behavior. There are gradations of evil, I think, **gracer** posting an example of the darkest end of that range. This does not mean lesser evils are not in themselves evil, just because something worse exists. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/have-you-ever-known-a-truly-evil-person/637765.md?page=5)