Mann 1 Tobias Mann College Comp Mr.

Reynolds Feb 29, 2012 Evil What constitutes good and evil. What is the distinction, why is there a distinction at all. Evil is infectious, it permeates our lives on a daily basis, and rots our minds with ideas of greed, ignorance, intolerance and deciet, deluding us to this with challenges and competition. The newspaper on the kitchen table, outlines the courageous life of a fallen journalist, gunned down in Syria. Wars rage, and we sit at our desks insulated from the world by these reminders that our lives are mundane, we are safe from these atrocities, knowing our lives are so insignificant compared to those for which we read. And yet we want to know the gruesome reality residing outside our boarders, and still we find ourselves shocked to find our retirement funds drained by a corrupt insiders manipulating the stock market, and guiding the hands of our politicians. Evil surrounds us, we are obsessed with it, but also in denial of it. Evil resides not just in the minds of the most corrupt, greedy, or powerful, but in the hands of the under privileged, the hungry, and the weak. Evil is easy, it requires no effort, it is simply a response to stimuli that feeds our need for retribution, sanctifies the darkest parts of our souls, dragging them deeper until we see no way back. Lies and deceit, ignorance, and intolerance feed and nurture evil, allowing it to grow and overpower a population with ideas of superiority. Like that of Nazi Germany during world war two, or Segregated America during the civil rights movement, Evil finds its way into everything, and we as consumers eat it up. Why, to make our lives seem normal, our actions seem insignificant.

Mann 2 Is evil a perspective, or is it really a shroud that manipulates our vision of the world, transforming it in to that of a greater influence. False believes and ignorance label anything new or a threat to the status quo as unarguably evil. The masses are under the whim of the few, controlled by debt, religion, and politics, and conditioned to think in a specific fashion. Should someone speak out, suggesting a different reality than that for which has already been established, labels them an outsider. From that point on fear and ignorance kicks in spreading intolerance, amongst the populous. After the September eleventh terrorist attacks on the world trade center in New York, Americas perception of Muslims changed from indifference to suspicion, distrust, and intolerance, all feed, directly from fear and ignorance of there faith. In a matter of minutes there lively hoods transformed from that of normal Americans perhaps even in there third generation here in the states to that of an evil entity hell bent on destroying everything for which America stands for. Worse is this isnt the first time either. promise world war two hundreds of thousands of Asian Americans along the pacific coast were rounded up and taken to internment camps. Why? Because we were afraid they would ally themselves with the Japanese, even when many of them werent Japanese to begin with. The reality of evil is, like death and taxes, good and evil, will remain a part of our lives forever. We can only combat it by opening our minds, and letting reason sway us before that of scripture, of political jargon.