I remember vividly the release of the movie Maleficent. Why, you ask? Simple, I realized that the landscape of morality had forever changed. I realized that we were finally back in the ancient Greek world where philosophers would debate what made something good or evil. Was evil real, or just the byproduct of life? In other words, could I be evil given the right circumstances?
I took a lot of schtick for my take on the theatrical production, "Wicked." I remember telling people that I thought this was a very bad decision to make from a cultural standpoint, and that humanizing evil characters would create empathy toward them and their evil deeds. Many told me I was just ruining a good story with my moralizing, but time has proven me to be correct.
You see, the production, "Wicked," gave rise to a new genre of story. That genre is that of the anti-hero. The story of the bad guy, how they "became" bad, and why they are not really so evil.
The entire goal of this genre is to essentially say, "hey don't judge them, you don't know why they are this way."
Well, I'm sorry, but the origins of the Wicked Witch of the West, Maleficent, Joker, Harley-Quinn, et al are largely unimportant in comparison to the choices that they made in response to those stimuli.
Yes, they may have had it rough, but so do many people who do not go on to become mass murders, torturers, societal oppressors (in the original and true sense, not the woke sense of today), and so many other things.
In other words, their origin does not make them evil, their choices do.
That is the difference between the Darth Vader origin arc in the prequels of Star Wars and these recent stories. George Lucas never attempted to explain away Vader's evil, or to make us empathize with him enough to see that we could have been him, no, he gave us Obi-Wan as a foil against Vader to prove that evil is a choice, and that people are evil by their actions, not their "circumstances."
Make no mistake, these recent story arcs are not happenstance. They do not just "happen" to turn out this way. They are planned, carefully, and crafted, to push a narrative and world view. That world view?
There is no such thing as good or evil, just perceptions of good or evil from where we stand.
Yep, you guessed it. This is all a major social apologetic for moral relativism.
So I guess the only question left to answer is, "why?"
Why would they work so hard to abolish good and evil? Why would they work so hard to make everything about perspective? Well, let us use the Israeli massacre of October 7th, 2024 as an example.
You see, if there is no such thing as good or evil, if there is no such thing as a good guy or bad guy, but rather just byproducts of things done to us, then you can absolutely justify the murders, rapes, brutality, kidnaping, and other horrendous acts committed.
After all, they are not evil, they are just reacting to their perception of being oppressed. It is their "origin story" that is to blame, not them, not their choices, not their decisions, but those who "made them" do it.
Ditto the American race riots, the South African apartheid retaliation, the shooting of churches and synagogues by Muslim terrorists and LGBTQ+ activists... etc. etc. etc.
After all, they are not to blame, the "origin of their pain" is.
It totally divorces the person from the consequences of their actions. They cannot be responsible, after all, you would have done the same thing given those circumstances. Except that is rarely true, most people would not make those choices, and that is what makes those people evil, their CHOICE to engage in those destructive actions.
And before anyone goes there, no, I am not absolving conservative extremists from the consequences of their actions either. They engaged in whatever they did, and their choices make them good or evil as well, regardless of what they believe in.
The guys who gunned down Ahmad Aubrey? They are evil.
Full. Stop.
No excuses offered or accepted.
They absolutely deserved what they got, and I am happy that the courts removed that evil from our society.
Yes, that is right, I am not afraid to call it what it is, EVIL.
We cannot let the left win this battle. This is a serious and borderline existential issue.
If we get to a point where there is no good or evil, but rather just a view of whether or not it is appropriate by committee, we reach a point where we can justify any behavior, governmental or otherwise, as long as mob rule is in favor of it.
That is exactly what our Republic was formed to prevent. It is why we are not a democracy. Mob rule is almost always evil, and our government system was put in place to stop it.
Yet if no one believes that there is such a thing as good or evil anymore.....
Then anything that happens is okay given enough justification for it.....
This. Is. False.
Good and evil exist. They are defined by choices.
Your choices make you one or the other.
You are not a byproduct of your circumstances, you are a culmination of your choices.
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