Truly evil people are among us

I know the concept of evil has been debated for thousands of years. Indeed, ponerology, derived from the Greek word “poneros” meaning “evil”, is the study of evil, particularly in the context of political systems and human behavior. Psychopathy comes to mind. Or anti-social personality disorder, as it’s called these days. Sounds a bit politically correct, doesn’t it? Psychopath hits you hard. Anti-social personality disorder? Meh. Could mean anything.

I’m convinced that Robert Hare, the creator of the Psychopathy Checklist, is a hugely important figure who deserves all the praise. Big words, I know, but we can’t truly grasp how world-changing the Psychopathy Checklist actually is. While psychopathy was known throughout history (also known as moral insanity, and so on, in the past, indeed, even demonic possession), Psychopathy Checklist captures the essence of psychopathy. Now, it doesn’t mean we ought to be walking around diagnosing everyone around us, including ourselves. We don’t want witch hunts (ya, I know, some of us would love a witch hunt or two), but being aware of the Checklist is, in my opinion, a must these days. Anyone can be a psychopath – your boss, your family member, anyone. We don’t want to believe it but life is life.

And no, there’s no cure, although some psychologists and psychiatrists disagree. There are TV shows and books where psychopaths, be it by divine intervention or some kind of medical miracle, grow a conscience. Now, being a fully-blown psychopath isn’t the same as being psychopathic – confidence, charm, chameleonism, and so on, these are useful traits. But psychopathic individuals still have a conscience (sociopaths), even if it’s muffled.

To me, evil is the deliberate and orchestrated action of an individual or group to achieve an aim that is going to hurt, enslave, even eliminate, a group of people, while their assets are taken over.

Hatred is a vital component, but most definitely not the only one. Hatred can also be used as an excuse.

Calculated hatred propelling the zealots forward. Even if one didn’t hate, didn’t dehumanize, you start believing your own propaganda when immersed in the regime apparatus.

Heinrich Himmler said in Poznań (Posen at the time) in 1943: “A basic rule for the SS man must hold absolutely: honest, decent, loyal, and comradely must we be to members of our own blood and to nobody else,”

“If while building a tank ditch, 10,000 Russian women die from weakness or not, that interests me only insofar as the tank ditch is built for Germany.”

That’s why Holocaust denial is so dangerous – not only do the deniers dishonor the names of the victims, but they enable the same mentality to resurface because if the horrors weren’t real to begin with, then clearly they aren’t happening now, either. We see it so clearly. Bucha? Nah, fake news. Mass graves? Deep fakes, mannequins, or bodies from the morgue. Russians and useful idiots, or opportunists, repeating the Kremlin mantra. See?

Deny the past, enable the horrors in the present.

How many people throughout history chose loyalty to various regimes because they couldn’t find employment, or the kind of employment they wanted? They became regime functionaries not out of ideological zeal but out of greed and a desire to become famous (infamous). Classic opportunism. Is that evil? Or is this some form of getting back at the world? A survival strategy?

Well, if innocent people die as a result of our actions, and we’re aware our actions cause death and destruction of innocents, we could argue it’s evil. Propagandists sitting in their TV studios don’t kill anyone directly, but their words embolden others to do it.

The soldiers that kill might really believe they are doing a patriotic duty – they aren’t necessarily evil. They aren’t as smart as propagandists and had their minds messed with. In that sense, to me at least, the propagandists are the vilest of them all, because they deliberately twist the meaning of words and come up with new words and phrases to turn others into their lethal puppets while propagandists continue to sip lattes.

But propaganda goes both ways. Propagandists are often smart but there are smart people on the other side, too, who see right through their charade, and hit back hard. That’s something regime propagandists often forget about. They aren’t the only clever kids on the block.

We have a saying in Polish, ”Człowiek strzela, Pan Bóg kule nosi.” A man (soldier) shoots, but it’s God who carries the bullets. No matter how Machiavellian you think you are, no matter how many masks you wear and no matter how many elaborate events you engineer, it’s ultimately God’s will what’s going to happen to you… or sheer luck, coincidence. It doesn’t mean we have no agency, quite the contrary. It just means hubris by challenging God can have humiliating consequences for those who thought they could read the mind of the Creator. God can bless but God can also be infinitely cruel. And He knows exactly where to hit, our brave fronts are irrelevant defenses. Don’t test Him.

In their hubris, some propagandists thought they were smarter than God and are now stuck in hell playing the violin for eternity, among other ”scenarios.” I hope the snickering of their victims, and of others who listen in from time to time, makes it an even more exciting experience.

Some say we all deserve a second chance. I’m not so sure about that. If you’re driven only by calculation, whoever suffers in your wake be damned, no limits to your Machiavellianism, then shouldn’t you be damned yourself? I understand some of us want to give evil a second chance. I get it. Surely, people can change. Surely, they are just broken or doing what they really think is right and must be educated what they are doing is wrong. But what if some people can’t change, unless God wants them to? Who decides what’s wrong and what’s right? This philosophical maze can get more and more elaborate until nothing gets done or solved. No. Simple solutions are best sometimes. Simple conclusions are best sometimes. Some people are evil. What if God doesn’t want them to change? Even if they escape justice here, they’ll face the consequences of their actions in the afterlife. I know, we’d prefer them to face justice here, but if they managed to avoid justice here, on Earth, we must take comfort in the fact God has our backs and He’ll deal with these evil people mercilessly, swiftly and appropriately.

Their hubris and mind games will be no more when facing God, I assure you.