Chad_7_I

A judge once told me: "In my years on the bench, I have seen some, but not a lot, of bad people. I've seen some, but not a lot, of evil people. I've seen a lot of people who have made bad choices."

(Author's note: I was not on the wrong side of the defendant's table when I got this comment.)

Simmons suggests "The Truly Evil" are so often the invention of people trying to rationalize their own choices by villifying others. It's a handy trick, although a damaging one. Creating a villain not only chalks up the position of the opponent to nature; it also protects the person on the other side of the argument. After all, there's no dealing with true evil, outside of divine intervention.

Simmons also suggests the best way to deal with this type of argument is to "recreate 'them' as 'us.' "

Useful, but I'd take it a step further. Erase the concept of evil altogether, when making judgment calls.

Shakespeare paraphrase: "Nothing is either good or bad, but thinking makes it so."