# Is distilled true evil existent in today's society? **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [October 21, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-distilled-true-evil-existent-in-todays-society/701978 "2014-10-21T02:35:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-distilled-true-evil-existent-in-todays-society/701978/21 "2014-10-21T18:05:11Z")
> [@Oedipus](#): > > For instance, we can explain away hatreds between cultures or between races as a lack of culture and knowledge but is there a simpler answer that there’s just pure hate in people that doesn’t have any explanation? To this point I disagree that overcoming ‘evil’ is a matter of knowledge, it is a matter of love and compassion. It is not of the head but the heart and putting love before rational thinking, even to one’s own destruction, that accomplished this and is the only way. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [October 21, 2014, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-distilled-true-evil-existent-in-todays-society/701978/22 "2014-10-21T18:11:18Z")
> [@kanicbird](#): > > To this point I disagree that overcoming ‘evil’ is a matter of knowledge, it is a matter of love and compassion. It is not of the head but the heart and putting love before rational thinking, even to one’s own destruction, that accomplished this and is the only way. “A kind heart can indeed stop an evil blade…especially if the thrust is weak and the blade is dull.” ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-distilled-true-evil-existent-in-todays-society/701978/23 "2014-10-22T00:56:48Z")
> [@bump](#): > > You’d have to strain out all the boogers and fingernails and hairs before it would be “Distilled”. Yeah, that thing makes me hyperventilate. They let CHILDREN use it! _shudder_ ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2014, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-distilled-true-evil-existent-in-todays-society/701978/24 "2014-10-22T20:15:24Z")
A fascinating essay on evil in the Guardian this week; > **[The truth about evil | John Gray](https://www.theguardian.com/news/2014/oct/21/-sp-the-truth-about-evil-john-gray)** > > The long read: Our leaders talk a great deal about vanquishing the forces of evil. But, John Gray argues, their rhetoric reveals a failure to accept that cruelty and conflict are basic human traits > [@](#): > > When the west aligned itself with the USSR in the second world war, it was choosing the lesser of two evils – both of them evils of a radical kind. This was the view of Winston Churchill, who famously said he would “sup with the devil” if doing so would help destroy “that evil man” Hitler. Churchill’s candid recognition of the nature of the choice he made is testimony to how shallow the discourse of evil has since become. Today, no western politician could admit to making such a decision. Churchill was probably inured against working with evil people, after working with British politicians for so long. But nowadays everyone is too scared to even mention the possibility of evil, and therefore unprepared to weigh one evil accurately against another. ---
**Author:** ![grude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47774/32.png) [@grude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grude)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2014, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-distilled-true-evil-existent-in-todays-society/701978/25 "2014-10-23T12:08:20Z")
> [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > But if someone is born sociopathic/psychopathic/whatever, are they truly “evil”? Such people are very dangerous, yes, and need to be restrained or killed for everyone’s safety; but “evil” implies choice. > > I think that there’s plenty of people who choose evil, who decide that they _prefer_ cruelty and ruthlessness; but it’s not “true evil” if they are born that way. Wouldn’t a sociopath just not care either way lacking empathy? Sure if a smart sociopath thinks they could escape punishment or benefit(even if the benefit is no more than personal amusement) they might decide to commit an “evil” act. It seems like sociopaths are making a choice, the CEO who decides profit is worth more than a recall, they are rationally weighing that decision. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-distilled-true-evil-existent-in-todays-society/701978.md?page=1)