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On the Solitary Task of Watching People Call Each Other Evil
Critical thinking skills don’t stand a chance against evil.
I used to think that I only saw it on Twitter (Sorry, I’m just not going to call it “X” yet). In any interaction between adversaries, the cheap shot is to call the other guys “evil”. If they say something we don’t like, they’re “evil”. If they do unspeakable horrors, they’re evil. If they sit on the sidelines and watch other people be evil, goddammit, they’re “evil”, too.
Now I see it in the news, too. Most of the time, I only cruise the headlines for the stuff that some people do to each other. The details are just too much to bear.
I don’t need the details on how some guy killed his family and then himself. I don’t need the details on how someone just pleaded guilty to raiding the retirement fund for a company with hundreds of workers, and those workers had nothing else. I don’t need to know everything about why a defense contractor defrauded the government out of millions of dollars.
Yes, we could call all that evil and more. Most of the time, “evil” is implied in the accusations hurled at the target. I see people calling Trump evil every day, all day. Same with Biden and Kamala. Same with murderers, thugs, grifters and hackers.
The cool thing about calling someone evil is that once the tag is made, we can stop thinking. We don’t have to delve any further into cause and effect.
We can assume that the “evil person” is less than human. “Don’t bother talking to him. He’s evil.” Don’t read what he wrote. Don’t listen to him. Don’t follow him. Unfollow him. Let him know that his evil won’t be tolerated.
Each day just goes so fast.
I turn around it’s past.
You don’t get time to
hang your sign on me.
— George Harrison, Love You To
Once we label someone as “evil”, we do something else. We assume that we’re better than him. We’re separate from the evil dude. We don’t share the same fate as the evil woman. We’re going to heaven where we won’t have to think anymore. We’ll all be nice people in heaven because we want to be nice.
“Be nice to everyone you meet because they are fighting a battle you know nothing about, and that I…
