Confronting Evil
Now that the madness of Christmas and the irrelevance of New Year’s is over with, we can get back to civilized conduct and discourse in our day-to-day activities.
And speaking of civilized conduct, the execution of Saddam Hussein comes to mind. The executions of mad dictators, serial killers, terrorists and other deranged criminals are, for me, an opportunity lost.
How many of us, in our civilized day-to-day activities, ever get a chance to confront evil? I’m talking about true, supreme, heinous, real Evil in the flesh.
No one.
I would like to confront them. I would like to have a beverage with them be it coffee, scotch, tea, or Hemlock, and talk with them about life, history, perspective and childhood memories. I would like to learn from them and have my ideas shaped by their opinions, be they mad, lucid, rational or passionate.
I do not fear them. I do not loathe them. I am curious about them.
The heroes of our history were not much different from many of them you know. Revered popes, respected generals, honoured leaders and adored queens were as bloodthirsty, cruel, and Soulless as any today but we allow our discontemporal biases to fracture rational opinion separating the evil ones from the adored ones.
I propose that we place all the Evilest of the Evil Ones in a traveling caravan. The caravan would tour Europe, North America, Japan and Australia and provide the public with an opportunity to see True Evil in the flesh. I propose that in large cities, a concert venue would be used. A large stage would have as a background, huge screens that would play the evil acts committed by the evil one. Audience members would be encouraged to scream and curse and vent their outrage. The evil one, in appropriate restraints, would be paraded on stage, for people to see in the flesh. Then, the evil one would be permitted to say a few words, either in defense of their actions, in asking for forgiveness or even to taunt the audience. It would be their choice. Then, the next evil one would be paraded out and the process repeated.
The Evil Ones Tour would also visit Higher Schools and Universities to give students an opportunity to confront evil and confront their own fears and responsibilities and ask themselves the question, “What does it mean to be Human?”
How very cathartic this would be! Would not one feel much more grounded after an encounter such as this? Would not one feel much more confident about the righteousness of their lives and the surety of their futures? Would this not pull those with synthetic lives in the synthetic world back into reality, much like a refreshing New Year’s Polar Day Swim?
Cheers and Good Mental Health
Now that the madness of Christmas and the irrelevance of New Year’s is over with, we can get back to civilized conduct and discourse in our day-to-day activities.
And speaking of civilized conduct, the execution of Saddam Hussein comes to mind. The executions of mad dictators, serial killers, terrorists and other deranged criminals are, for me, an opportunity lost.
How many of us, in our civilized day-to-day activities, ever get a chance to confront evil? I’m talking about true, supreme, heinous, real Evil in the flesh.
No one.
I would like to confront them. I would like to have a beverage with them be it coffee, scotch, tea, or Hemlock, and talk with them about life, history, perspective and childhood memories. I would like to learn from them and have my ideas shaped by their opinions, be they mad, lucid, rational or passionate.
I do not fear them. I do not loathe them. I am curious about them.
The heroes of our history were not much different from many of them you know. Revered popes, respected generals, honoured leaders and adored queens were as bloodthirsty, cruel, and Soulless as any today but we allow our discontemporal biases to fracture rational opinion separating the evil ones from the adored ones.
I propose that we place all the Evilest of the Evil Ones in a traveling caravan. The caravan would tour Europe, North America, Japan and Australia and provide the public with an opportunity to see True Evil in the flesh. I propose that in large cities, a concert venue would be used. A large stage would have as a background, huge screens that would play the evil acts committed by the evil one. Audience members would be encouraged to scream and curse and vent their outrage. The evil one, in appropriate restraints, would be paraded on stage, for people to see in the flesh. Then, the evil one would be permitted to say a few words, either in defense of their actions, in asking for forgiveness or even to taunt the audience. It would be their choice. Then, the next evil one would be paraded out and the process repeated.
The Evil Ones Tour would also visit Higher Schools and Universities to give students an opportunity to confront evil and confront their own fears and responsibilities and ask themselves the question, “What does it mean to be Human?”
How very cathartic this would be! Would not one feel much more grounded after an encounter such as this? Would not one feel much more confident about the righteousness of their lives and the surety of their futures? Would this not pull those with synthetic lives in the synthetic world back into reality, much like a refreshing New Year’s Polar Day Swim?
Cheers and Good Mental Health
posted by The Commisioner and McKay | 8:29 AM
3 Comments:
Indeed I think this funtion was once filled by the stage. Greek tragedies and the like paraded our villians before us and providing us with a more viceral cathartic release. Alas these new talking pictures, as entertaining as they may be, have lost their cathartic elements by distilling the the human condition into demographics and archtypes as thin as an afterthought. Aristotle would be ill pleased with our entertainments I fear. Not that I live to please him. After all, he's dead.
I'm rather dubious of capital punishment, no doubt owing to the fact that brutal crimes have escaped touching me. But I find the outrage surrounding the hanging to be difficult to fathom. How insulting are a few taunts compared with the ultimate insult of being snatched from the mortal coil? I generally filter out the outrage of others which is usually as enlightening as a the sound of a gravel truck on a bumpy road. But are these hard-done-bys so hardened to the face of death that its the taunts that they find offensive. I guess if I am to learn anything in all this, I must remember that murder is not a license to forget manners.
Beware to not serve the Hemlock in a dirty glass!
Even a cartoon is enough to set them off in bloodlust!
I find your comments about Aristotle disturbing. Not that they are controversial no. But rather it is me that disturbed myself upon considering your comment. What IF ARistotle was alive today? What if Aristotle found our entertainments highly appealing? What if he, y'know being Aristotle, was embraced by the Celebrity Community and was paraded about toga and all, to all the celebrity parties. What if tabloid headlines screamed his every indiscretion real or imagined with every dingbat dilletante?
I think Aristotle would be corrupted and once off his pedestal would be condemned for being a drunken, wife beating miser who stole all his ideas from his indentured slave apprentices.
Yep. That's Aristotle in the Modern World.
Cave verra!
Cheers and Good Mental HEalth
I suspect that if reincarnation was something more than intellectual vicodin, Aristotle would be reincarnated as Tipper Gore, the 80's buzz-killer and foe to teen angst busybody who mispent her life saving people from themselves and walking bent under the burden of her imagined good deeds.
eagerly awaiting your next entry
Post a Comment
<< Home