A Question of Evil?
Most people agree that taking the life of, or severely harming another person or person(s), especially with premeditated malice, is evil. Most people agree that arranging the murder or downfall of another person or person(s) is evil.
However we hesitate to characterize those wealthy and powerful individuals - the corporate and political elite, whose main goal is massive profits at the expense of all other considerations - who either knowingly create, or powerfully influence legislation, (legalizing crime), and will even start wars to distract we, the people, from the plundering of our country and the world, as evil. Regardless of the fact that the body count and the destruction of the lives of billions of people around the globe is endless.
Oh, we might, in an off-the-cuff sort of way, declare the "almighty" elite as evil as we watch this group of greed and power-brokers collect their billions of dollars in bonus money as reward for ravaging our economy -- and that's only what we can see, the tip of the iceberg. That's only what we can see...can you imagine the trillions of dollars that exchange hands that we don't see?
But our actions or inaction tell a different story. We do not demand accountability of the greedy, corrupt individuals at the top. We do not demand retribution, even as we watch our own life-savings dissolve before our very eyes. Never mind all of the people around the world who have lost or who will lose their lives as a result of the actions of these individuals.
On the other hand, we, the people demand retribution and often times, thirst for vengeance for underprivileged individuals accused of even much lesser crimes than committed by those in power. We not only declare these people as evil, we believe these people are evil, as proven by the steps we'll take to make sure these people pay, guilty or not.
So, why is it so easy for us to classify people, who for the most part, grew up in a hopeless environment void of any kind of love; instead surrounded by hatred and indifference, impoverished, abused, and neglected, fighting for their own survival before they enter school, who end up destroying one or perhaps two lives a evil?
Yet, at the same time, we find it very hard to label men, who grew up nurtured in an environment of love, kindness, fully educated and wanting for nothing, who attain more wealth, power and influence than some nations; nevertheless, they knowingly push their agenda of profit over people, knowing full well it will end up destroying the lives of millions perhaps billions of people around the world?
Instead, we assume, or we like to convince ourselves that these highly educated, worldly-wise, privileged - from the time they entered this world beyond what most of us can imagine - individuals, didn't know better. They didn't know what they were doing.
The reality is that over the last thirty years, culminating in the last decade, the greedy elite players premeditated a mass-crime, systematically planned and executed to destroy any opportunity for quality of life, and in certain parts of the world, even survival, to obtain even more money and more power for themselves.
In the end, if you believe the survival of humanity trumps the individual's right to line his or her pockets by exploiting the less fortunate, and the planet, than you believe that the actions of the power elite, is evil.
So, where is the accountability? Well, the banksters, corporate elite, and the politicians in their pocket, with the assistance of the mainstream news media, avoid facing the consequences of their actions by placing universal blame, pointing their fingers at everyone, but specifically targeting the defenseless "poor".
"Where all are guilty, no one is; confessions of collective guilt are the best possible safeguard against the discovery of culprits, and the very magnitude of the crime the best excuse for doing nothing."
I guess it's easier to put poor black men, who may or may not be guilty, to death, than go through the trouble of holding the truly evil, accountable. -- Hannah Arendt
Economic growth may one day turn out to be a curse rather than a good, and under no conditions can it either lead into freedom or constitute a proof for its existence. -- Hannah Arendt
4 comments:
Here's the problem. We allow our government to debate endlessly over as little as hundreds of thousands of dollars, meanwhile, the Fed has the ability to do whatever it wants to with over $6 TRILLION (reduced from $8 TRILLION)completely open to possibility without any accountability whatsoever.
It's a shell game. While we watch them deliberate over the cost of health care, and how it's going to unravel the fabric of American tradition, trillions of dollars is up for grabs. The people claiming that Obama is a socialist are the very people benefiting from the biggest corporate welfare scam ever.
Until the public smartens up and starts to pay attention, and demands transparency and accountability across the board, the corporate mugging of America and the entire world will continue.
The thing I don't understand is why there is not more public outrage over the fact that not only do these people avoid punishment or consequences of their behavior, they reap tremendous reward.
I hear people complain about it but that's about it. I realize I do the same thing. I complain, but I don't know where to begin and I guess that's the way most Americans feel.
We're kind of brainwashed not to make waves, and that the rich and wealthy deserve all that they have, as long as they appear as upstanding citizens. AS long as they don't smoke pot, don't kiss their gay boyfriend, or preach progressive politics, everything's just peachy.
Evil is anything we don't like or that makes us suffer. Therefore you cannot label anyone evil as it is a personal preference.
Putting CEO’s or politicians in jail or to death won't change a thing. It's the unregulated corporate environment they work in that enables their behavior. Even if it was against the law, greedy power-hungry executives and politicians would still operate, but just go further underground.
The whole structure has to be gutted and built from scratch.
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