To what extent is mankind the cause of its own misery?

13 augustus 2016

Evil within in Western civilization
An attempt to save the world by Rosanne Jonkhout

Do we spread evil by mimicking each others behaviour? Does the smallest of evil in everyday life have a ‘snowball effect’ and evolve into disasters? Or does great evil, like wars for example, simply exist in the world like an energy beyond human understanding? The word ‘evil’ has the tendency to sound rather heavy and fierce. Evil can mean a big thing to which we distance ourselves from. This makes it easier to pass it off as though it doesn’t apply to you. However, I am most interested in where evil starts. The ‘little’ evil that gives the first push on the snowball-effect. Where and whether large scale confrontations, wars and social problems can be led back to. Everyday evil; evil that is a responsibility to be in the hands of individuals. Events that we see in the news, and which we don’t feel addresses us. Why we all seem to know so well, and love to tell other people right and wrong, but live in the world where the phrase NIMBYI exist. But maybe we are not so far removed as we would like to think ourselves to be. This thesis is a search for why we people harm and stagnate others, and (too often) ourselves. To which extend it has to do with stress, emotions or lack of intelligence. Whether you and me are inherently benevolent or malevolent, and part of harm that is inflicted on a daily basis, and to what extend we are aware of it. What are the limits in our understanding of acting rightly?