Of good and evil, and maybe something in between

It was once said that "all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing." Then later, someone criticized that statement by saying, "if there are men who see evil at work and do nothing, then they are not good."

Some people might say that if you're not one, then you are the other. I wonder, is the dichotomy between good and evil a false one? Is there an excluded middle that we could refer to as "indifference?" Does describing someone who is indifferent to the plight of others as "not good" make them evil?

These are the useless thoughts plaguing my mind today, with the addition of some insipid tune that repeats itself every 5 seconds.

I think that most people are living in a relative large grayzone that tends to swing a bit to either good or ill. There are only few people that are "evil" and even less people that are completly good.
However in my opinion, people that bring forth alot of good deeds are only able to do so, once there is a "counter" that they are balancing out, not only in the sense of trying to protect people from other humans but also as in crisis management after a catastrophe etc.

There are no sharp line between good and evil. Actually, I don't believe that People are good and evil what so ever, what matters is the actions they take and the choices they make. A good person can still do something evil, as well as the other way around. And then you must also look at the action; in some eyes it's a good one, in some eyes it's a bad.

To quote Star Wars: "The Force and it's power is never Good or Evil, it is how you use it that is." (something like that)

All people live in a moral greyzone, and all people do things that are both good and evil in other peoples eyes. Doing nothing in the face of 'evil' does not make you evil as well, but the action you're taking will most likely not be considered 'good' in the eyes of others.

Good and evil are concepts made up by humans.

They are words used to subjectively explain one's opinion.

Good and evil are simply opinions and/or a label for of people relating to opinions. It also depends on the views of societies. There is good and there is evil. But not in reality, simply based upon personal views.

good and evil are like white and black and let me tell you I love to wear black.

Good and evil are subjective. Good and evil are just ideas created by people to justify everything that they do.

Good: The ways I want things to work.
Evil: Anything that interferes with those ways without contributing in a fashion that pleases me.

It's not possible to really label something as good or evil.
For instance:
We see terrorists as evil doers, wanting to destroy everything. Terrorists see themselves as saving the world, and ascending into greatness.
In war, each side sees the other as evil.
A thug might try to justify his/her actions for robbing a person in a fancy business suit by, for instance, using the money to pay for his family's dinner rather than let it be spent on a pointless accessory.

So, who is right? Who is good or evil? Dark or light?
It's just another description for human emotion in the end...


So, as a helpful reply to your original question I do believe we are all in that gray area between good and bad. Someone will always think of your action(s) as one or the other.

The true good thing is being of purpose to another and the ultimate sin is uselessness.

We can put that all through the processing of morality, religion, philosophy, or whatnot, but it all comes down to that basic point.

I wholeheartedly agree that the concepts of good and evil are subjective, but that's not the point.

https://www.fakku.net/viewtopic.php?t=29433

Taking the situation from this thread (which was very apropos), would you think of the person who does nothing as evil, even though in that thread you said (if you responded) that they are responsible for the murder as well as the actual murderer? Would you allow for such a thing as indifference, which makes the person neither good nor evil?

I'm still having an internal debate over this useless subject (I'll forget about it soon enough) and I was interested in what others though of this.

Okay, lets say for example that I see someone about to get killed. If the would-be killer was some scrawny wimp, yes I would try to stop him. However, lets say the guy is big enough to put my ability to stop him in question. For the sake of this example I will say I have a family to support. What would the point of interfering be if all I succeed in doing is adding to the death toll? My point being that you can't expect everybody to be heroes, that is just unrealistic.

In a case like this, where you have the power to save someone, but choose not to, then yes, you are as bad as the actual murderer, but not necessarily "evil". Evil is (at least for me) a very strong word. And no one is nether evil nor good, since it's our actions that define who we are. Let's put it as this; Someone rapes and kills a woman, but later on takes a bullet for his friend, or a stranger for that part. Is that man good or evil? No one is pure "good" or "evil", but no one is truly "neutral" either.

Thus a man that sees evil at work, but choose not to do anything. Perhaps out of fear for himself, is neither good nor bad. This action is not meant to be evil, perhaps (as in the second above post) he thinks about his family, what favor would he do them if he got himself killed? Would he be evil if he didn't think about his family and(knowing that he probably had no chance of survival) choose to fight this guy for the sake of "good", even if that would only bring pain to others?

One can brood over his forever.
(I am sorry if my lack of skill in the english language made this post kinda confused.)

There is no such thing as a good or evil person. Everyone wants to benefit themselves, some people are just willing to go farther then others.

Basically evil is a minority and good is a majority.

Andy paradigm cannot exist without it's opposite extreme. Without Evil there would be not comparative good, just as without Good, Evil cannot exist. It is only by remaining neutral in all things that you will see the truth.