The Presence of Evil

There is Evil in the world.

I’m not talking about the little evils that most people talk about- racism, sexism, pickyourcontroversyofchoice. I mean big Evil- with a capital “E”.

There are people- especially in this country- who prattle about “moral relativism” and similar fictions. These people do not believe that Evil exists- or, if it does exist, is a little evil … like making stupid racist jokes.

Evil exists. We see it every day in the news. Big Evil- capital “E” Evil. Evil exists  because non-Evil people refuse to fight it. Worse than not fighting it, far too many people refuse to even believe it exists. These same people often actively prevent any opposition to Evil in the name of preventing lesser evils- such as making someone feel bad.

Because too many people were afraid of hurting someone’s feelings, the nation was forced to endure another in a long series of truly Evil acts recently. Those who were worried about the possibility of Evil were prevented from acting on their fears by rules put in place to avoid controversy and bad feelings and (most importantly) lawsuits. I submit that controversy or bad feelings or even lawsuits are far better than school dormitories and classrooms filled with dead and wounded people. Thirty-two lives were snuffed out because those who foresaw the problem could not take action.

In addition to the Evil wrought by one deranged asshole, we have been visited by lesser, companion evils: the Armchair Quarterbacks, Second-Guessers, and Political Hacks. Hundreds of people feel compelled to prattle about how they would have done something differently. BULLSHIT! Unless you were actually there, your opinion is worthless. Period. Full stop.

Others feel free to opine endlessly about unlikely scenarios with the genius of 20-20 hindsight. This is unadulterated wish-fulfillment. If you weren’t there, you are not entitled to second-guess the actions of the people who were.

The worst of all are those who crawled out from under their rocks and used the carnage to further their own political agenda- many of them exhorting us with their tripe while the victims still lay bleeding. I make no distinction between the different political persuasions- they are all equally guilty of this shameless pandering.

I refuse to second-guess the people on the ground. I wasn’t there. I have no idea what I would have done under those circumstances, and nobody else does either. Anyone who tries to tell you otherwise is lying to you and (very likely) themselves. When the shit really hits the fan, people are going to react according to their training and personal temperment- as we saw at Virginia Tech. Some ran. Some did what they could. Too many died. I have no blame for any of them, only sorrow and shock.

I reserve blame for the vile purveyors of political agendas, Monday-morning quarterbacks, and anyone else who mines this senseless  act for their own  gain.  I would call them ghouls, but I find I have more respect for fictitious undead than for the hacks who’ve been polluting the airwaves and newspapers with their foul swill. They are evil.

I see no need to pay heed to these attention-whores just because they aren’t Evil. They’re evil enough.

A pox on all their houses!

Current mood: Deeply misanthropic

Current music:  A Day in the Life, by the Beatles