For Monday class we read a
beautiful piece of article discussing ideas on definition of evilness by Daniel
A. Forbes. The writer presented intriguing movie characters that explain his
standpoints on evil, or rather confusions about it. As he tried
to find the fundamental factors that determines its origin, and observe it from
different historical periods, angles and scales.
To me the answer was rather concise and clear. Even though I had a hard time explaining it in class (boy Monday is rough). Rather than getting frozen during class discussion, I hope to give an explicit answer of evilness that I find helpful in explaining oddity around the world in this blog.
In my honest opinion, there is no such thing as good an evil, at least the contemporary definition of evil. The original meaning of the English word "evil" has changed considerably over the last few hundred years. Old and Middle English period it meant simply "bad" but now it contains an intensification level of "moral wickedness". And the idea of "good" and "bad" is merely an abbreviation of a much larger and mixed context.
To me the answer was rather concise and clear. Even though I had a hard time explaining it in class (boy Monday is rough). Rather than getting frozen during class discussion, I hope to give an explicit answer of evilness that I find helpful in explaining oddity around the world in this blog.
In my honest opinion, there is no such thing as good an evil, at least the contemporary definition of evil. The original meaning of the English word "evil" has changed considerably over the last few hundred years. Old and Middle English period it meant simply "bad" but now it contains an intensification level of "moral wickedness". And the idea of "good" and "bad" is merely an abbreviation of a much larger and mixed context.
Evil is an identification( physical or physiological) of
disturbance in one's well-being, and often in a way that deteriorate ones'
living conditions. In contrast, the idea of good, and the
symbol of it, a hero, is something that formulate and improves one's well-being.
A hero is good because he or she saves life and prevent villain from destroying
others' well-being. Instead of thinking about moral on a good and bad spectrum,
one should look upon the net growth of one's well-being. But why are things
related to one's well-being?
The word well-being has a wide definition but can be condensed
into terms such as survival, emotion and physical condition. By nature's
definition, life is good, because we can experience all the greatness around
us, and oppose to death as fear of the unknown plus it is a drastic change in one's
well-being, Any form of living organism has the basic reflex of denying death,
either by escaping from predators or hiding in a shell. Majority of human tend
to deny death or disadvantages to our living conditions, and this basic behavior forms every bit of our daily language
and communication. "I missed my flight today because of this awful weather." "This president candidate is beyond evil, how can this
person say/do such things?" There is no good or evil, and your opinion
ultimately comes down to the potential influence and effect of this
"something" to your believes and life.
Why does the The Evil Queen wants to kill Snow white? The reason is simple because Snow White's beauty disturbs Evil Queen's well-being , and anyone's survival instinct is to insure and maintain his or her own living status and condition. So who is the villain now? These questions comes by in every movie.
Understanding of evil not only helps me to analysis villains in movies and books in a much more efficient and objective manner, but also helps one to live smarter. When someone has an opinion about you, it is because you have an influence in his or her well-being. By understanding the problem of morality, you can tackle conflicts and hiccups in life with precision and also help others when possible.
No comments:
Post a Comment