<p>"from one Canadian to another, thanks; that is exactly what I was addressing:"</p>
<p>what, another one? haha, congratulations on your dartmouth acceptance. </p>
<p>Is evil real or a cultural invention? Excuse my delayed response, but i sorta missed these last few responses. </p>
<p>Fountain, I agree with you say...to an extent. Right and wrong are absolute and determined by nature, evil is not; thus it is an abstract idea. Abstractness implies an openness to outside manipulation and forces including cultural and societal ones. Evil is simply a varying degree of wrongness. Also, i caught the gist of what you were saying, and apparently you believe evil cam exist purely. While that would be nice, reality is not so black and white. If a teenager purposely trips a toddler, it is wrong, but definitely not evil. If a terrorist bombed a building full of children, that would be evil.</p>
<p>Gluttony, megalomania, gold, glory, nationalism, greed are what perpetuate imperialism; thus imperialism is wrong in many aspects and the underlying forces are wrong in themselves. Inevitably, one might wonder: why was it that imperialism existed so wholesomely for so many centuries in china, india, britain, germany and so many other countries with no one questining its rational? The truth is: what was morally and ethically right was less important than the desperate desire to win turbulent power struggles and the need for territorial expansion and rapid colonization. It resulted in cruel oppression, racism, and massive murders of peoples of all ethnities, but was not conisdered evil. So yes, great news for hitler, and stalin. Whether we like to admit it or not, society compels the level of wrongnesss that is evil, and we unquestioningly accept it. Somehow, in historical days, the need for power pacified what is "today" known as "evil'. </p>
<p>Another example is slavery, that "peculiar institution". What is more evil than employing fellow human beings to be our cows and sheeps, all the while treating them worse than we treat our dogs. Yet, this was not considered evil. If it was, then the fact that it was a "norm" in british, dutch, and southern usa, silenced anyone who thought so. The industrial revolution, a revolutionary age where new innnovations were invented to improve the quality of everyday life and to provide impetus to the economy had a dark side to it: child labor, economical needs before children's needs.</p>
<p>In contemporary days, war is a prime example of cultural, religious, and societal influences in determining what is evil. War, no matter its motives, is murderings of countless sons, fathers, daughters and mothers. The constitution(or whatever it is in the united states that states murder is morally wrong) states that anyone who committes murder is to be harshly punished. Therefore, the mere idea of war contradicts the judicial system in the united states. However, it is not considered evil by a large majority in society; not even wrong. Why? Because that large majority of society accepts war.</p>
<p>Centuries, even decades ago, war happened on a daily basis. No one questioned the immorality of it. In many african and developing nations it still does, but in developed nations, war has virtually ceased, and instead peace efforts and establishments are enforced. This is not because of evil becoming more prominent in people's minds, but because our society's paradigm has shifted. In fact, the very idea of imperialism angers and shames many today. If Hitler was alive, he'd most likely be jailed like the few neo-nazis that live today. Fortunately for him, he lived after world war I destroyed germany's economy and when german nationalists, in other words, all germans, were itching to blame someone, namely the jews. So yes, great news for hitler, stalin, and mao. Although it won't happen as spontaneously as you, fountain hypothetically said it would, what we concede as being evil is very much influenced by the direction that the forces of society, culture, religions and such flow.</p>