Good and Evil
What is it that draws people to one party or the other? It’s much deeper than the party’s stated principles. Principles are part but not the complete answer. The complete answer must lie at a deeper level; a level that is not apparent upon casual observation. Why? Because it must be powerful enough to have people ignore they own interests and remain loyal. And it must be powerful enough to defy conventional logic; for instance, that social justice is an anathema to Christian principles. By now you must know that I’m questioning the power of the Republican Party to keep loyal supporters when rational analysis fails. I’m not criticizing individual people who might belong to the party.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the answer lies in an understanding of the concepts of good and evil in the world. How we think of good and evil can open the door to some pretty serious mischief. I believe that a general principle in the Republican worldview is that good and evil exist as a feature of the universe and as such are autonomous principles, not simply assessments of events.
In reality, good and evil are judgments made by observers. They are the observer’s assessments, not attributes of the observed. Good and evil are not autonomous principles. They do not exist independently of human values. They are social constructions that artificially delineate the world.
An example in Christian theology is belief or disbelief in Satan. Belief in Satan says that evil is an autonomous principle and he is its personification. In other words, God and the Devil are representations of something autonomous called good and evil. The problem is that the next step is to categorize people into either/or classifications.
For instance, when Bush called three countries, “the axis of evil” he was assessing and condemning entire nations of people because they failed to meet our criteria for being “good”. When their lunatic religious fringe calls us, “the great Satan”, they are doing the same thing. These are blanket condemnations that require a belief in the existence of an autonomous evil that can be assigned to a total nation of people.
A belief in these principles prohibits us from developing strategies for solving complex world problems. This is why I am so anti-Republican in principle. The fundamental paradigm of the Republican philosophy is that good and evil are autonomous principles. Once on the side of good, the rest of the world can be judged an enemy.
The Republican Party and the extreme religious right are attracted to each other because they share the common view of a world that can be divided into good and evil. I’m convinced that this is why the GOP attracts so many people whose practical interests they don’t serve. At a subliminal level, it affirms them and their values.
As an example President Bush characterized the wars in the Mideast as wars between “good and evil”. Reagan called the Soviet Union, “the evil empire”. Donald Rumsfeld’s presidential daily war briefings had Biblical quotes on the cover pages. All one needs to do is to tune-in to a right-wing commentator to hear his or her assessment of good and evil people. Have you ever wondered why Fox news has the highest ratings and left-wing radio has never been very successful? I suggest that it might be because left wing commentators fail by copying the right-wing method. The idea of an autonomous good and evil and the resultant categorization of people doesn’t appeal to most Democrats. It simply doesn’t affirm their world view. Dems are more inclined to judge others individually. Republicans are inclined to categorize them as good or evil. I know this is a generalization. But don’t believe me. Hopefully, as you listen to and read the news more critically you will become aware of what I’ve written about here. You’ll decide for yourself.
Robert DeFilippis
I’ve come to the conclusion that the answer lies in an understanding of the concepts of good and evil in the world. How we think of good and evil can open the door to some pretty serious mischief. I believe that a general principle in the Republican worldview is that good and evil exist as a feature of the universe and as such are autonomous principles, not simply assessments of events.
In reality, good and evil are judgments made by observers. They are the observer’s assessments, not attributes of the observed. Good and evil are not autonomous principles. They do not exist independently of human values. They are social constructions that artificially delineate the world.
An example in Christian theology is belief or disbelief in Satan. Belief in Satan says that evil is an autonomous principle and he is its personification. In other words, God and the Devil are representations of something autonomous called good and evil. The problem is that the next step is to categorize people into either/or classifications.
For instance, when Bush called three countries, “the axis of evil” he was assessing and condemning entire nations of people because they failed to meet our criteria for being “good”. When their lunatic religious fringe calls us, “the great Satan”, they are doing the same thing. These are blanket condemnations that require a belief in the existence of an autonomous evil that can be assigned to a total nation of people.
A belief in these principles prohibits us from developing strategies for solving complex world problems. This is why I am so anti-Republican in principle. The fundamental paradigm of the Republican philosophy is that good and evil are autonomous principles. Once on the side of good, the rest of the world can be judged an enemy.
The Republican Party and the extreme religious right are attracted to each other because they share the common view of a world that can be divided into good and evil. I’m convinced that this is why the GOP attracts so many people whose practical interests they don’t serve. At a subliminal level, it affirms them and their values.
As an example President Bush characterized the wars in the Mideast as wars between “good and evil”. Reagan called the Soviet Union, “the evil empire”. Donald Rumsfeld’s presidential daily war briefings had Biblical quotes on the cover pages. All one needs to do is to tune-in to a right-wing commentator to hear his or her assessment of good and evil people. Have you ever wondered why Fox news has the highest ratings and left-wing radio has never been very successful? I suggest that it might be because left wing commentators fail by copying the right-wing method. The idea of an autonomous good and evil and the resultant categorization of people doesn’t appeal to most Democrats. It simply doesn’t affirm their world view. Dems are more inclined to judge others individually. Republicans are inclined to categorize them as good or evil. I know this is a generalization. But don’t believe me. Hopefully, as you listen to and read the news more critically you will become aware of what I’ve written about here. You’ll decide for yourself.
Robert DeFilippis
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