Evil

"We believe in right and wrong, and we choose right.
We believe in good and evil, and we choose good."

(from my recollection of General Patton's speech in the movie, "Patton" (Perhaps also Mel Gibson in "We were soldiers once." Others?).

But, some of us don't. Some of us want to blur the distinctions, arguing that things are too complex, and everything is gray.

Crap! Besides failing to explain things (note how the attempted explanations have to be individually tailored by 'experts,' are convoluted, and contain a lot of nonsense), this thinking prohibits anything from ever really being fixed (and actually leads us into deeper troubles). Isn't that just what 'evil' would like?

I am not the first to claim this. It is not even a modern idea (because evil has been around a long long time). Perhaps Shakespeare said it better:

"Oft' times, to winne us to our harme,
the Instruments of Darkness tell us truthes,
winne us with honest trifles,
to betray us in deepest consequence."

General Banquo to Macbeth
(forgive me if I didn't recall the old spelling correctly).

I should disclose that I encountered this citation while reading one of Loren Eisley's books. (Eisley was a 'naturalist' and believer in Darwin, but he seemed to have some serious reservations about 'evolution.' He was a tormented man that had respect for religion and even wished for the days when faith was a central part of life).

Eisley was impressed by how we are able to sit idly by and watch in fascination as evil operates. He is not alone.

"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

Edmund Burke (paraphrased?)

How do we recognize evil? What are the truths it uses? Why do we seem to be in a trance, unable to stand against it?

Macbeth finally understood:

"And be these juggling fiends no more believed,
that palter with us in the double sense,
that keep the word of promise to our eare,
and breake it to our hope."

However, as I remember, it was too late for Macbeth. My efforts are intended to wake enough people before it is impossible to save us. In my estimation, the 'global warming' lie tipped the scale in the last election and gave control of our country to people who really do not subscribe to the principles needed to preserve our way of life. It is my conclusion that they are "juggling fiends." Note how they play with the language.

Is that evil? Well, you tell me. Where are we headed? Can you itemize for me all of the things we have done to avoid air pollution over the last forty years that have played right into the hands of the misanthropes and those who truly despise our freedoms? Can you point out their half truth lies and their trivial truths used to deceive us?

You may find the answers in these webpages. Please take the time to look and think.

Perhaps you are not ready to address the issue of what is 'evil.' In that case, maybe we can talk about what leads to 'evil.' If you can grasp that, you might be able to decide.

There are some people who, when they see footprints on the ground, can tell you what kind of animal made them. Others can tell us what mindset and actions will inevitably result in evil. I believe C. S. Lewis could do that. Therefor, I will turn to him. If you grasp what he teaches, you may understand why our founders used the wording, "general welfare."

Lewis is one of my heroes. I leave it to you to investigate him if you are not familiar with his work. The top of our homepage has a quote from his book, "The Great Divorce." Here is a longer quote from the same book at its end. It is a dialogue taking place in Heaven between 'the teacher' and a person from the 'wrong side' of 'the gulf.' This person got to view the 'right side' where the people there have 'overcome,' and he begins ---

"What some people say on earth is that the final loss of one soul gives the lie to all the joy of those who are saved."

"Ye see it does not."

"I feel in a way that it ought to."

"That sounds very merciful: but see what lurks behind it."

"What?"

"The demand of the loveless and the self-imprisoned that they should be allowed to blackmail the universe: that till they consent to be happy (on their own terms) no one else shall taste joy: that theirs' should be the final power; that Hell should be able to veto Heaven."

"I don't know what I want, Sir."

"Son, son, it must be one way or the other. Either the day must come when joy prevails and all the makers of misery are no longer able to infect it: or else for ever and ever the makers of misery can destroy in others the happiness they reject for themselves. I know it has a grand sound to say ye'll accept no salvation which leaves even one creature in the dark outside. But watch that sophistry or ye'll make a Dog in a Manger the tyrant of the universe."

"But dare one say—it is horrible to say—that Pity must ever die?"

"Ye must distinguish. The action of Pity will live for ever: but the passion of Pity will not. The passion of pity, the pity we merely suffer, the ache that draws men to concede what should not be conceded and to flatter when they should speak truth, the pity that has cheated many a woman out of her virginity and many a statesman out of his honesty—that will die. It was used as a weapon by bad men against good ones: their weapon will be broken."

"And what is the other kind—the action?"

"It's a weapon on the other side. It leaps quicker than light from the highest place to the lowest to bring healing and joy, whatever the cost to itself. It changes darkness into light and evil into good. But it will not, at the cunning tears of Hell, impose on good the tyranny of evil. Every disease that submits to a cure shall be cured: but we will not call blue yellow to please those who insist on still having jaundice, nor make a midden of the world's garden for the sake of some who cannot abide the smell of roses."

You can observe "the passion of pity" at operation in the actions of those who push equality of outcomes or results over equality of opportunity. It is the under-pinning of most government programs. It is inseparable from "liberation theology," communism, and socialism.

How does 'local' carbon dioxide fit? How does "global warming?" Would it mean anything to you if I told you that President Jimmy Carter was once a nuclear submarine commander, and he must have known what high levels of CO2 do (I do not mean to imply that he was the designer of some plot)? Is he concerned with equality? Is he the only one? What can you say about people who do not appear to love their country, the USA? Do many of them feel that we have an unfair advantage over the rest of the world? Does it necessarily follow that they are seeking equality of outcomes? What are their intentions, then? What are their tools? Are they "makers of misery?" Will they destroy our happiness? How far have they already gone?