On Evil

Campus Report ^ | June 23, 2008 | Bethany Stotts

[bs9021]

On Evil

Bethany Stotts, June 23, 2008

Is evil the result of human choice or manufactured by social circumstances? Professor Philip Zimbardo, known for his infamous Stanford Prison Experiment of 1971, opted for the latter explanation at a recent CATO book forum.

Zimbardo told the audience that he believes Lucifer was expelled from heaven not for sinning, but for disobeying an authority figure. “It’s really a story about what happens when you challenge authority—you go to hell,” said the Stanford University professor. The author of The Lucifer Effect, Zimbardo believes that any person has the capacity for terrible deeds, torture, murder, and other crimes.

Anticipating the criticism that his theory abdicates human responsibility, Zimbardo said, “When I give this talk people say ‘oh, you’re saying people are not accountable for their behavior.’ No, not at all...You are personally accountable for your behavior.”

This did not, however, keep Zimbardo from sympathizing with the Columbine and Virginia Tech shooters. He said,

“Again, I did a lot of research [earlier] on shyness and shy people desperately want someone to notice them...This little Korean kid at Virginia Tech, what did he say in that video? He said, ‘for two years nobody spoke to me. You ignored me. I was nothing until I had a gun and started shooting, suddenly I became important.’ And the same thing at Columbine and [in] all these cases these are kids who are marginalized...” ......

“And so what he’s saying is ‘everybody wants to feel special, at least to somebody. And so my sense is that is an obligation that you have, that for all the people you come in contact with, you think ‘what is it I can do to avoid myself treating you as an object, treating you as a student, treating you as an ordinary person.’”

[agere_contra]

This little Korean kid at Virginia Tech

That "little Korean kid" was a) an adult and b) fairly large.

[Libertarianize the GOP]

A fan of Plato who believes that with the proper structure for society man can be perfected. I would say that his prisoner studies disprove that assertion; young college graduates who had been pschologigcaly screened should have been the cream of the crop and educated to be as good as humanly possible, yet they were the very ones who quickly turned barbaric when given power over others.

[Corin Stormhands]

Zimbardo told the audience that he believes Lucifer was expelled from heaven not for sinning, but for disobeying an authority figure.

Um...what?

[shineon]

Jesus spoke in no uncertain terms about the default state of the depravity of mankind. Case closed.

Luke 13:1-5

There were present at that season some that told him of the Galilaeans, whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices.

And Jesus answering said unto them, Suppose ye that these Galilaeans were sinners above all the Galilaeans, because they suffered such things?

I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

Or those eighteen, upon whom the tower in Siloam fell, and slew them, think ye that they were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem?

I tell you, Nay: but, except ye repent, ye shall all likewise perish.

[Apercu]

Liberals rationalize, conservatives analyze.

[shineon]

Here are a few more interesting quotes which I happen to have no trouble agreeing with wholeheartedly.

Jeremiah 17:9
The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
Jeremiah 17:8-10 (in Context) Jeremiah 17 (Whole Chapter)

Proverbs 21:2
Every way of a man is right in his own eyes: but the LORD pondereth the hearts.
Proverbs 21:1-3 (in Context) Proverbs 21 (Whole Chapter)

[tbw2]

Yet there is no way to create a perfect society, using imperfect people.
Then you get the whole acts of god throwing chaos into the mix. Then you have kids seeing parents die in horrific accidents and then despise innocent people for not helping, going awry. There could be house fires that leave you scarred (physically and emotionally), leaving someone out of sync to become a fire bug. Add in something like small pox that fried the brain and accidental poisonings, and even perfect people in a perfect society get shaken, stirred, and dumped on the rocks sometimes.