Seems there is no escaping the word “evil” this week. At my church on Sunday, the priest talked about the fact that we delude ourselves if we see evil as something entirely outside of ourselves. He mentioned all of the references to “evil” and “evil people” after the bombings in London, and noted one such article on the cover of the Columbus Dispatch.
He commented that on the same page, there was an article about “Coingate”, which no one ever seems to use the word “evil” to describe.
Good point, I thought. But I also thought, well, we usually reserve the word “evil” for acts like the one in London, or on 9/11, where people are killed. But when I got home and discussed it with Demetrius, he pointed out “Well, the ‘Coingate’ thing just isn’t killing people directly, but how many steps removed do you have to get before it’s not “evil”.
This diary is a reminder that, while it is not as easy to measure the cost in human lives in this case, human lives certainly could be endangered by the loss of medical coverage. Then today, I was horrified to read the recommended diary, Jeb’s Culture-of-Life doesn’t apply to poor li’l black girls. I don’t hesitate for a moment to use the word “evil” to describe what is being done to little Marissa. I do hesitate–or try to–to label Jeb himself as evil.
Why do I hesitate? In a more abstract sense, it goes back to the sermon I described above. I know that I am deluding myself if I imagine “evil” as something entirely outside of myself. And, not sure exactly what I’d call it–a spiritual practice, perhaps?–but I try to reserve the word “evil” for actions rather than people.
But there are more practical reasons for that as well. If I start describing specific human beings as “evil”, people’s “us vs. them” shields go up. I may then lose the opportunity to appeal to people on the basis of shared values. Like, oh, I don’t know, the value of being genuinely pro-life beyond the womb and before a persistent vegetative state sets in?
And then there is the issue of guilt versus shame. If you use guilt, telling someone that what they did was bad, and you are successful, they can be motivated to change their actions–or act differently in the future. If you use shame (bad self being the focus, rather than bad behavior), it is more likely to result in feelings of anger and destructive behavior…
Aaron Kipnis, Ph.D., author of “Angry Young Men: How Parents, Teachers and Counselors Can Help Bad Boys Become Good Men” and a clinical psychologist in private practice in Santa Barbara, Calif., agrees. He says that shame’s effects are more damaging than those of guilt.
“Guilt is positive,” he said. “It’s a response of psychologically healthy individuals who realize they have done something wrong. It helps them act more positively, more responsibly, often to correct what they’ve done.”
But shame is not productive, Kipnis says. “Shame tends to direct individuals into destructive behaviors. When we focus on what we did wrong, we can correct it; but when we’re convinced that we are wrong as a result of shame, our whole sense of self is eroded.”
That’s why guilt doesn’t produce the anger, rage or other irrational behaviors shame does, Kipnis adds. “Many violent behaviors lead back to a deep well of shame,” he said.
So, I have reasons for hesitating to call people evil. But I also feel it is important to name evil acts as such when we see them. In his July 4 essay, We Stand at the Crossroads of History, Anthony Wade offers some reflections on our American heritage:
It has been spoiled by people who wrap themselves in the flag but only represent greed. That tragic fact that blood has to be spilled to feed this greed is not relevant to them. They claim the mantle of Christianity, but do not represent the teachings of Jesus Christ, the Prince of Peace. They come under a banner that reads, “Culture of Life” while embracing the politics of death. We walk around every day trying to be politically correct. You don’t say the president lied; you say his statements were not borne out to be factually accurate. You don’t say that the president lied to go to war; you say the intelligence was poor. Everyone dances around the truth, afraid to confront the fact that the enemy is thyself. The Word of God says:
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; Who put darkness for light, and light for darkness; Who put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter! 21 Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight!
It is time to call evil, evil.
Amen. And I only hope that the rest of what he says is more than wishful thinking…
After sleeping through a corporate-media-induced coma for five years, it appears that America is starting to awaken. Appalled at what they are seeing and hearing, they are starting to recognize what has happened to their country, their ideals, their children. The faux patriotism is being exposed for what it is, just a smokescreen.
Well, even if that is not a completely accurate statement of the current American consciousness at this point, I think it works well as an affirmation. Together, may we “make it so”.
