tag:theconversation.com,2011:/fr/topics/evil-10523/articles
Evil – The Conversation
2023-11-22T19:09:19Z
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/216737
2023-11-22T19:09:19Z
2023-11-22T19:09:19Z
Is it time to reconsider the idea of ‘the banality of evil’?
<p>After attending the 1961 trial of Nazi war criminal <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann">Adolf Eichmann</a>, the philosopher and political theorist <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hannah_Arendt">Hannah Arendt</a> claimed what was terrifying about this man was not his moral monstrosity. It was his sheer normality. She subtitled her 1963 book on the subject, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58709556">Eichmann in Jerusalem</a>, “a report on the banality of evil”.</p>
<p>Arendt’s phrase made its way into our broader culture. It is widely considered a salutary warning against the idea that enormous atrocities, such as the Holocaust, could never be conceived of, and carried out, again.</p>
<p>For Arendt, Eichmann, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adolf_Eichmann">the principal organiser</a> of the trains that took millions of Jewish men, women and children to concentration camps was above all an efficient, bland bureaucrat. We may find many of his kind in the modern world, her argument implied, working away efficiently in their offices, interested in building careers and not rocking the boat.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Polish women and children boarding a train to Treblinka." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560294/original/file-20231120-27-ry0pva.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=943&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The deportation of Polish Jews to Treblinka from the ghetto in Siedlce in 1942.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Deportation_to_Treblinka_from_ghetto_in_Siedlce_1942.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58709556">Arendt’s version of Eichmann</a> he was neither a convinced Nazi, nor a fanatical anti-Semite. He showed no sign of “indoctrination of any kind”, she wrote, as he testified to an Israeli court in Jerusalem. But he was unable to see the world, and what he was doing, from the perspective of others, including the victims of the actions of which he was a part. </p>
<p>Whenever wider reality threatened to impose itself, Arendt wrote, Eichmann would retreat behind a wall of administrative jargon and mind-numbing “cliches”. And it was this “thoughtlessness”, she claimed, that enabled him to work so well, sending millions of innocent people to their deaths in precisely scheduled trains of cattle cars to places like <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/62052493-the-hell-of-treblinka">Treblinka</a> and Auschwitz-Birkenau.</p>
<p>But the publication since Eichmann’s trial of the full transcripts of audio recordings and manuscripts he produced in the 1950s – when still at large in Argentina – show he was anything but a banal bureaucrat.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-book-that-changed-me-hannah-arendts-eichmann-in-jerusalem-and-the-problem-of-terrifying-moral-complacency-187600">The book that changed me: Hannah Arendt's Eichmann in Jerusalem and the problem of terrifying moral complacency</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>A ghastly confession</h2>
<p>Eichmann in Jerusalem, published 60 years ago, has continued to generate enormous controversies. As the prosecution <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9401635">successfully established</a> during his 1961 trial, Eichmann had not always mindlessly followed orders. He even defied the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55842.Becoming_Eichmann">in the last days of 1944</a>, ordering <a href="https://www.yadvashem.org/articles/academic/the-death-marches-of-hungarian-jews-through-austria.html">death marches</a> of tens of thousands of Hungarian Jews. (With the Third Reich collapsing, Himmler had ordered a stop to the deportations in October 1944.)</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The cover of Eichmann in Jerusalem" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560290/original/file-20231120-21-milkuj.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1102&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Goodreads</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Indeed, by the time of the trial, <a href="https://ia902905.us.archive.org/32/items/theconfessionofadolfeichmann/The%20Confession%20of%20Adolf%20Eichmann.pdf">Life magazine</a> had published a “confession” Eichmann made to Nazi comrades in Argentina. It was drawn from the 70 so-called “Sassen tapes”, recorded in 1957, and amounting to around 1000 pages of transcript. </p>
<p>Even in this abridged version, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19288101-eichmann-before-jerusalem">the Eichmann who emerged</a> was far from the bumbling, balding clerk who presented himself at Jerusalem. We learn that, <a href="https://ia902905.us.archive.org/32/items/theconfessionofadolfeichmann/The%20Confession%20of%20Adolf%20Eichmann.pdf">when all was lost</a> in the final days of the war, Eichmann told his SS coworkers that no matter what would now happen, he would “gladly jump into his grave” knowing he had been involved in the deaths of so many “enemies of the Reich”.</p>
<p>Concluding his ghastly confession, Eichmann went farther, underlining he regretted only that the Allies’ victory had prevented the “extermination” of all of those slated for this fate by the Nazi elites at the <a href="https://www.theholocaustexplained.org/how-and-why/how/the-wannsee-conference/">January 1942 Wannssea conference</a>.</p>
<p>Eichmann was sentenced to death by the court in Jerusalem and executed on 31 May, 1962.</p>
<h2>Deeply indoctrinated</h2>
<p>In the decades since the Eichmann trial, the full transcripts of the Sassen tapes have become available <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19288101-eichmann-before-jerusalem">for historical assessment</a>. We also now have a 107-page political testament written by Eichmann in 1956, entitled “The Others Have Spoken, now I want to Speak!”</p>
<p>These documents establish that Eichmann remained a Nazi true believer throughout his life. As the retired SS <em>Obersturmbannführer</em> (“<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Obersturmf%C3%BChrer">Senior Storm Leader</a>”) told his comrades in Argentina, he had never been only a pen-pusher, just doing his job:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This cautious bureaucrat was attended by a […] fanatical warrior fighting for the freedom of my blood, which is my birthright […] what benefits my people is a sacred order and a sacred duty for me. Yes indeed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Eichmann was still convinced, more than a decade after Hitler’s fall, there was a Jewish “world conspiracy” and the Holocaust was a justified act of war. He was, in short, a deeply indoctrinated individual, never walking back from his <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/55842.Becoming_Eichmann">ideological training near Dachau and elsewhere</a> in the 1930s. He would lament only having been too “weak” not to have done more to effect the total annihilation of Germany’s “racial enemy”.</p>
<p>When in 1960-61, he was captured by the arch enemy of “his blood” and taken to their Holy City to face justice, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9401635">Eichmann and his defence did everything</a> they could to keep his Argentinian musings hidden and have the Sassen tapes disallowed as evidence. The “fanatical warrior” also morphed into the ungainly clerk next door, the man behind the glass, giving his halting testimony.</p>
<p>Eichmann would even try to persuade the court he was a moral universalist, a pacifist and a lover of nature who had been compelled to do bad things by a criminal government in which he never had believed.</p>
<h2>The deception of banality</h2>
<p>What then can we learn from Eichmann’s performance of banality at Jerusalem and the way he was able to deceive a philosopher as insightful as Hannah Arendt and, in her wake, many others?</p>
<p>For Nazis, as <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19288101-eichmann-before-jerusalem">Eichmann’s writing whilst at large in Argentina attests</a>, “the drive towards self-preservation is stronger than any so-called moral requirement”.
Given “the duty to our blood” which supposedly bound everyone to their own race, universal moral rules, like “always treat others as you would yourself be treated”, were <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14721370-ss-thinking-and-the-holocaust">no more than deceptive tools</a> used by weaker people(s) to subdue the superior:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There can be no possible agreement with systems of thought of an international nature, because at bottom these are not true and not honest, but based on a monstrous lie, namely the lie of the equality of all human beings. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>In Jerusalem, Eichmann continued the ideological struggle in the best way he could. He monstrously lied, deftly playing a role he thought might appease his captors. As historian Bettina Stangneth puts it in her 2004 book, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/19288101-eichmann-before-jerusalem">Eichmann before Jerusalem</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>As part of this masquerade, Eichmann [in 1961] described himself in terms that would previously have sent him into a screaming rage. He was now ‘small-minded’, a ‘pencil-pusher’, and a ‘pedant’, someone who ‘did not overstep his responsibilities’ – and the last of these lies may even have amused him a little.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>By presenting himself as a banal non-entity, Eichmann must also have savoured how this would deprive survivors even of a worthy object for their anger and outrage. How could anyone rightfully blame such a mediocre, inoffensive figure, without showing themselves – not the Nazis – to be vengeful, aggressive and unjust?</p>
<p>In his final statement, <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/9401635">Eichmann would go so far</a> as to suggest that, far from condemning him, the court should recognise he was a victim too.</p>
<p>Arendt was not fooled Eichmann was innocent. She supported the death penalty handed down by the court. Yet he deserved death, she argued, despite “the possible noncriminal nature of your [Eichmann’s] inner life and your motives […]”. </p>
<p>About this inner life and these noncriminal motives, she was mistaken.</p>
<h2>To do is to deny</h2>
<p>Eichmann remains an enduring illustration of how evil agents can use the masquerade of banality as one way to muddy the waters, deflect those who would hold them accountable and continue to deny their victims even the thin consolation of the moral high ground.</p>
<p>There are of course many other strategies bad actors use to try to “get away with murder”. Several of them, Eichmann had already used in Argentina, when he needed to justify his crimes only to himself, not his victims and their descendants.</p>
<p>These strategies include firstly, blame-shifting onto the victims. In Eichmann’s case – but he was far from alone – blame for the second world war, even for the Holocaust itself, in which Jews were murdered in millions. They “had it coming”, they “gave us no choice”, they “had every chance to avoid it”, “what else could we do?”</p>
<p>Second, there is creating false equivalence between what perpetrators enact and what the victims were supposedly “already up to”. The enduring ideological function of conspiracy theories, like the anti-Semitic myth of the world conspiracy at the heart of Eichmann’s Nazism, comes from creating this imaginary moral equivalence. </p>
<p>Such accusations of nefarious evildoing license political and other violence against enemies, repackaging it as self-defense, even when the opponent is defenceless. “Anyone who can make you believe in absurdities, can make you commit atrocities”, as the enlightenment philosopher <a href="https://voltairefoundation.wordpress.com/2021/02/16/voltaire-on-capitol-hill-anyone-who-can-make-you-believe-absurdities-can-make-you-commit-atrocities/">Voltaire is reputed to have said</a>.</p>
<p>Intertwined with these two rationalisations of evil is <a href="https://academic.oup.com/book/37362/chapter-abstract/331335701?redirectedFrom=fulltext">the dehumanisation of the foe</a>. We see this in Eichmann, outside of Jerusalem, who repeatedly described the Nazi’s victims as “animals”. Sadly, we see <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/religion/dignity-and-dehumanisation-in-israel-and-gaza-suzy-killmister/103014316">this dehumanisation of the enemy playing out</a> still, around the world today.</p>
<p>Last but not least, there is the cynicism which claims the whole world, nature itself, is a grim struggle for survival and domination, for oneself and for one’s “people”, “race”, or “nation”. This <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14721370-ss-thinking-and-the-holocaust">sophistical pseudo-philosophy at the heart of the SS worldview</a>, with roots in social Darwinism, has also reemerged in corners of the internet in our times. </p>
<p>Presenting itself as “the hard truth”, it contends that what “goody goodies”, “social justice warriors”, “liberals” and “humanitarians” call “evil” is just the way of the world. No one can be blamed for doing whatever they think is necessary. As Eichmann philosophised in Argentina:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the more I listened to the natural world, whether microcosm or macrocosm, the less injustice I found […] Everyone was in the right, when seen from his own standpoint.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This thinking is why the Nazis derisively <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jedem_das_Seine">placed the slogan</a> “To each their own” above the gates at Buchenwald concentration camp.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The entrance gates to Buchenwald concentration camp." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/560293/original/file-20231120-17-milkuj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The entrance gate of the Buchenwald concentration camp, with the slogan ‘To each their own’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Gedenkst%C3%A4tte_Konzentrationslager_Buchenwald_-_Entrance_gate_of_the_Buchenwald_concentration_camp,_inscribed_Jedem_das_Seine_(%22To_each_his_own%22)_Clemens_Vasters_July_2022.jpg">Clemens Vasters/Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Evil, denial and deceit</h2>
<p>The philosophical challenge posed by Arendt’s book, given what we now know, is not that of getting our heads around the banality of evil. It is that of reconsidering the connection, always at <a href="https://www.theologyofwork.org/key-topics/truth-deception/key-biblical-texts-on-truth-deception/">the heart of Biblical understandings</a>, between evil and the kind of deceptions Eichmann continued to practice until the end.</p>
<p>Philosopher Claudia Card <a href="https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/748554">has defined evil</a> as involving intolerable harms against others, culpably carried out by people who know exactly what they are doing. What the Eichmann case highlights is how, for social creatures like human beings, such actions can usually only succeed – unless and until, a total asymmetry of power is created – through concealment and deception. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/does-evil-exist-and-if-so-are-some-people-just-plain-evil-26911">Does evil exist and, if so, are some people just plain evil?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is first, the luring, bating and deceiving of the victims. Eichmann’s SS comrades and their associates told the Jewish deportees they were being “resettled”, they needed to be showered on arrival, they would receive food and coffee afterwards, that there was nothing to fear.</p>
<p>Secondly, there is the self-deception involved in justifying the evil to the perpetrators themselves: recasting it as necessary, truly unavoidable, a difficult, heroic task, as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posen_speeches">Himmler infamously argued to the SS</a> in his October 1943 Posen speeches. It is here that ideological indoctrination is especially important, despite Arendt’s claims in Eichmann in Jerusalem.</p>
<p>Thirdly, there is the deception involved in hiding the actions, so outsiders do not discover the crimes and hold the perpetrators to account. This is why Himmler ordered that <a href="https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/operation-reinhard-the-camps-of-belzec-sobibor-and-treblinka">all the bodies</a> from the Nazis’ mass slaughters were, as far as possible, to be exhumed and incinerated after 1942, so as to leave no trace. <a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/unearthing-the-atrocities-of-nazi-death-camps/">The killing facilities</a> themselves were then mostly destroyed before the Soviets arrived.</p>
<p>There is surely nothing banal about any of this. Many lines need to be crossed to get ordinary human beings to believe that committing atrocities against others, then concealing and belittling them, is defensible or even admirable.</p>
<p>It may be true that all humans, all societies, are capable of becoming so corrupted as to come to see destroying others’ lives, outside of open combat, as a needed or heroic thing. But societies cannot typically survive undamaged, let alone flourish, if a culture of systematic lying is fostered and allowed to grow.</p>
<p>Ordinary democratic citizenship, civility and public life depend on not allowing the mendacity of evil, of which Adolf Eichmann provides one extraordinary example, to become the norm. This is why better understanding his case remains so vital today.</p>
<p><em>This article is adapted from this year’s <a href="https://www.acu.edu.au/about-acu/faculties-directorates-and-staff/faculty-of-theology-and-philosophy/school-of-philosophy/simone-weil-lecture">Simone Weil Lecture</a> at the Australian Catholic University.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216737/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Sharpe has received ARC funding in the past as part of a team working on religion and politics in the modern world. This text concerns the subject of his 2023 Simone Weil address at the Australian Catholic University.</span></em></p>
Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann was anything but banal. His case is an apt reminder of how evil agents can deflect accountability, denying victims even the thin consolation of the moral high ground.
Matthew Sharpe, Associate Professor in Philosophy, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/184289
2022-06-09T18:31:09Z
2022-06-09T18:31:09Z
Blaming ‘evil’ for mass violence isn’t as simple as it seems – a philosopher unpacks the paradox in using the word
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467836/original/file-20220608-23-ce0o76.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=28%2C0%2C3826%2C2560&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A visitor pays respects at a memorial created outside Robb Elementary School to honor the victims killed in the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://newsroom.ap.org/detail/TexasSchoolShooting/8cd761ddf20a4f8e9bfb95c202c9ff96/photo?Query=uvalde&mediaType=photo&sortBy=arrivaldatetime:desc&dateRange=Anytime&totalCount=1049&currentItemNo=244">AP Photo/Eric Gay</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The word “evil” circulates widely in the wake of terrible public violence. The May 24, 2022, massacre at an elementary school in Uvalde, Texas, is a case in point.</p>
<p>Texas state safety official Christopher Olivarez spoke of “<a href="https://apnews.com/article/uvalde-texas-school-shooting-44a7cfb990feaa6ffe482483df6e4683">the complete evil of the shooter</a>.” Others expressed their resolve with the same word. “Evil will not win,” the Rev. Tony Grubin <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/may/26/evil-will-not-win-sorrow-and-disbelief-as-uvalde-mourns-its-children">told the crowd</a> at a vigil.</p>
<p>Days later, at the National Rifle Association’s convention in Texas, CEO Wayne LaPierre acknowledged the Uvalde victims before <a href="https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/nra-convention-kicks-off-texas-days-elementary-school/story?id=84996347">arguing against gun control legislation</a>. His reasoning pivoted on the concept of evil: “If we as a nation were capable of legislating evil out of the hearts and minds of criminals who commit these heinous acts, we would have done it long ago.” </p>
<p>Evil is one of the most complex and paradoxical words in the English language. It can galvanize collective action but also lead to collective paralysis, as if the presence of evil can’t be helped. As <a href="https://espringer.wescreates.wesleyan.edu/">a philosopher studying moral concepts</a> and their role in communication, I find it essential to scrutinize this word. </p>
<h2>The evolution of ‘evil’</h2>
<p>Evil wasn’t always paradoxical. In <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/evil">Old English</a> it was simply the common word for bad – for any kind of misfortune, illness, incompetence or unhappy result. This meaning lingers in phrases such as “choosing the lesser of two evils.” </p>
<p>Starting around 1300, <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/bad">the word bad</a> gradually emerged as the familiar opposite of good. Yet even while bad was becoming common, people continued to encounter the word evil in older written works, and speech influenced by these works. Translations of the Bible and <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org/files/16328/16328-h/16328-h.htm">Anglo-Saxon classic literature</a> surely shaped how the concept of evil came to seem larger than life, and spiritually loaded. Some things seem too bad for the word bad. But what, exactly, does evil mean?</p>
<p>Many people would answer that they <a href="http://cbldf.org/about-us/case-files/obscenity-case-files/obscenity-case-files-jacobellis-v-ohio-i-know-it-when-i-see-it/">know evil when they see it</a> – or when they feel it. If there’s any good occasion for using the word, surely a planned massacre of vulnerable children seems an uncontroversial case. Still, this commonsense approach doesn’t shed much light on how the idea of evil influences public attitudes.</p>
<p>One philosophical approach – <a href="https://iep.utm.edu/pragmati/#:%7E:text=Pragmatism%20is%20a%20philosophical%20movement,ideas%20are%20to%20be%20rejected.">pragmatism</a> – may be helpful here, since it focuses on how words do things, rather than on how they should be defined. People who use the word evil are doing something: sending a clear signal about their own attitude. They are not interested in excuses, justifications or coming to some kind of shared understanding. In this pragmatic sense, the word evil has something in common with guns: It’s an extreme tool, and users require utter confidence in their own judgment. When the word evil is summoned to the scene, curiosity and complexity go quiet. It’s the high noon of a moral standoff.</p>
<p>As with reaching for guns, however, resorting to the word evil can backfire. This is because there are two deep tensions embedded in the concept. </p>
<h2>Inner or outer?</h2>
<p>First, there’s still some confusion about whether to locate evil out in the world, or within the human heart. In its archaic sense, evil could include entirely natural causes of great suffering. The Lisbon earthquake and tsunami of 1755 is an infamous example. Tens of thousands of people died agonizing deaths, and thinkers throughout Europe <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-god-good-in-the-shadow-of-mass-disaster-great-minds-have-argued-the-toss-137078">debated how a good God could allow such terrible things</a>. The French philosopher Voltaire concluded, “<a href="http://courses.washington.edu/hsteu302/Voltaire%20Lisbon%20Earthquake.html">evil stalks the land</a>.”</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A black and white illustration shows a tsunami wave crashing over an oceanside city." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467837/original/file-20220608-10364-9yz87j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/467837/original/file-20220608-10364-9yz87j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467837/original/file-20220608-10364-9yz87j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467837/original/file-20220608-10364-9yz87j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=347&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467837/original/file-20220608-10364-9yz87j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467837/original/file-20220608-10364-9yz87j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/467837/original/file-20220608-10364-9yz87j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=437&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An 18th-century engraving depicts the destruction of Lisbon, Portugal, by an earthquake and tidal wave in 1755.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/engraving-depicting-the-destruction-of-lisbon-by-an-news-photo/915219764?adppopup=true">Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At the opposite extreme, many Christian thinkers – and some classical Greek and Roman ones – treat evil as entirely distinct from worldly events. The 18th-century German philosopher Immanuel Kant, for example, defines evil as an inner moral failure, which might lurk behind even the most acceptable-looking acts. Given his faith that innocent victims would go to heaven, Kant did not focus moral concern on the fact that their lives were made shorter. Rather, <a href="https://doi.org/10.12987/9780300128154">he argued</a> murder was terrible because it was the expression of a morally forbidden choice.</p>
<p>Most people today would reject both of these simple views and focus instead on the connection of inner and outer, where human choices result in real-world atrocities.</p>
<p>Yet the purely inner view casts new light on LaPierre’s argument, that legislation is powerless to prevent evil. If evil were strictly an interior, spiritual problem, then it could be effectively tackled only at its source. Preventing that evil from erupting into public view would be like masking the symptoms of a disease rather than treating its cause.</p>
<h2>The paradox of blame</h2>
<p>There is a second major tension embedded in how the word evil works: evil both does and does not call for blame.</p>
<p>On one hand, evil seems inherently and profoundly blameworthy; evildoers are assumed to be responsible for their evil. It’s constructive to blame people, however, when <a href="https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/communicating-moral-concern">blame helps to hold them responsible</a>. Unfortunately, that important role is undermined when the target of blame is “evil.”</p>
<p>Philosopher <a href="https://dornsife.usc.edu/cf/phil/faculty_display.cfm?Person_ID=1023035">Gary Watson</a> helps illuminate this paradox in his essay “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199272273.001.0001">Responsibility and the Limits of Evil</a>.” Blame involves attempting to hold people responsible as members of a shared “moral community” – a network of social relations in which people share basic norms and push one another to repair moral expectations after they are violated. Taking responsibility, in Watson’s view, involves a kind of competence, an ability to work with others in community.</p>
<p>Evil, however, implies being beyond redemption, “beyond the pale” of this community. Calling someone evil signals a total lack of hope that they could take up the responsibility being assigned to them. And some people do seem to lack the social bonds, skills and attitudes required for responsibility. Examining the life story of a notorious school shooter, Watson reveals how his potential for belonging to a moral community had been brutally dismantled by chaotic abuse throughout his formative years. </p>
<p>If evil implies such a complete absence of the skills and attitudes required for moral responsibility, then calling people evil – while still holding them morally responsible – is paradoxical. </p>
<p>Compare this with <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/332273/zero-by-charles-seife/">the paradoxical power of the number zero</a> – a quantity that is the absence of quantity. Zero is a powerful concept, but it requires a warning label: “Steer clear of dividing by this number; if you do, your equations are ruined!”</p>
<p>The English word evil is powerful, no doubt. Yet the power of the concept turns out to be driven by turbulence below the surface. Laying blame on evil can bring this turbulence to the surface in surprising ways.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/184289/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Springer does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
The word ‘evil’ sends a clear message – or does it? There are deep tensions in what the word means, and what it can accomplish.
Elise Springer, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Wesleyan University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/181386
2022-04-14T21:54:52Z
2022-04-14T21:54:52Z
Christians hold many views on Jesus’ resurrection – a theologian explains the differing views among Baptists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/458226/original/file-20220414-20-dk713t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=36%2C27%2C2967%2C1963&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Resurrection of Christ depicted in 14th-century fresco in Chora Church, Istanbul, Turkey.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/resurrection-fresco-in-chora-church-istanbul-turkey-royalty-free-image/124516452?adppopup=true">LP7/Collections E+ via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Every year, Christians from around the world gather for worship on Easter Sunday. Also known as Pascha or Resurrection Sunday, Easter is the final day of a weeklong commemoration of <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/327976/the-historical-figure-of-jesus-by-e-p-sanders/">the story of Jesus’ final days</a> in the city of Jerusalem leading up to his crucifixion and resurrection.</p>
<p>Most Christians refer to the week before Easter as <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/this-is-the-night-9780567027603/">Holy Week</a>. In Western Christianity, Holy Week begins with Palm Sunday, which commemorates Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem. Easter is the third day of the larger three-day festival known as <a href="https://brill.com/view/title/36244?rskey=v0m9To&result=1">Holy Triduum</a>, which begins on the evening of Maundy Thursday, marking the night of Jesus’ Last Supper with his disciples. Good Friday marks Jesus’ suffering, crucifixion and death. Holy Saturday marks Jesus’ burial in a tomb owned by Joseph of Arimathea. The festival reaches its climax on early Sunday morning with the Easter Vigil and ends on the evening of Easter Sunday.</p>
<p>As a Baptist minister and <a href="https://virginia.academia.edu/JasonOEvans">theologian</a> myself, I believe it is important to understand how Christians more generally, and Baptists in particular, hold differing views on the meaning of the resurrection. </p>
<h2>The resurrection</h2>
<p><a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/2120/exploring-and-proclaiming-the-apostles-creed.aspx">According to the Christian faith</a>, resurrection is the pivotal event when “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Romans%208%3A11-13&version=NCV">God raised Jesus from the dead</a>” after he was <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800628864/The-Crucifixion-of-Jesus">crucified</a> by the Roman governor Pontius Pilate.</p>
<p>While none of the <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-gospels-and-jesus-9780199246168?cc=us&lang=en&">four canonical Gospels</a> of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John describe the actual event of the resurrection in detail, they nonetheless give varying reports about the <a href="http://bakerpublishinggroup.com/books/the-story-of-jesus-in-history-and-faith/338111">empty tomb and Christ’s post-resurrection appearances</a> among his followers both in Galilee and Jerusalem.</p>
<p>They also report that it was women who discovered the empty tomb and received and proclaimed the first message that Christ was risen from the dead. These narratives were passed down orally among the earliest Christian communities and <a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6782/the-oral-gospel-tradition.aspx">then codified in the Gospel writings</a> beginning some 30 years after Jesus’ death.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800626792/The-Resurrection-of-the-Son-of-God">Earliest Christians believed</a> that by raising Jesus of Nazareth from the dead, God cleared Jesus from any wrongdoing for which he was tried and unjustly condemned to death by Pilate.</p>
<p>By affirming the resurrection, Christians do not mean that Jesus’ body was merely resuscitated. Rather, as New Testament scholar <a href="https://candler.emory.edu/faculty/emeriti-profiles/johnson-luke-timothy.html">Luke Timothy Johnson</a> <a href="https://www.harpercollins.com/products/the-real-jesus-luke-timothy-johnson?variant=32117576564770">writes</a>, resurrection means that “[Jesus] entered into an entirely new form of existence.” </p>
<p>As the risen Christ, Jesus is believed to share God’s power to transform all life and also to share this same power with his followers. So the resurrection is believed to be something that happened not only to Jesus, but also an experience that happens <a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1+Corinthians+15&version=NRSV">to his followers</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Christ standing before Roman governor Pontius Pilate, in a tile from the Cathedral of Siena, Italy." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395102/original/file-20210414-17-gwacnp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=596&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christ before Pilate: Detail of a tile from the Cathedral of Siena, Italy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/siena-museo-dellopera-metropolitana-christ-before-pilate-news-photo/146325687?adppopup=true">DeAgostini/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Opposing views</h2>
<p>Over the years, Christians have engaged in passionate debates over this central doctrine of Christian faith.</p>
<p>Two major approaches emerged: the “liberal” view and the “conservative” or “traditional” view. Current perspectives on the resurrection have been predominated by two questions: “Was Jesus’ body literally raised from the dead?” and “What relevance does the resurrection have for those struggling for justice?” </p>
<p>These questions emerged in the wake of <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800637958/Modern-Christian-Thought-Second-Edition">theological modernism</a>, a European and North American movement dating back to the mid-19th century that sought to reinterpret Christianity to accommodate the emergence of modern science, history and ethics.</p>
<p>Theological modernism led liberal Christian theologians to create an alternative path between the rigid orthodoxies of Christian churches and the rationalism of atheists and others. </p>
<p>This meant that liberal Christians were willing to revise or jettison cherished Christian beliefs, such as the bodily resurrection of Jesus, if such beliefs could not be explained against the bar of human reason. </p>
<h2>Baptist views on the resurrection</h2>
<p>Just like all other Christian denominations, Baptists are divided on the issue of the bodily resurrection of Jesus. Arguably, what may be unique about the group is that <a href="https://www.helwys.com/sh-books/the-baptist-identity/">Baptists believe</a> that no external religious authority can force an individual member to adhere to the tenets of Christian faith in any prescribed way. One must be free to accept or reject any teaching of the church. </p>
<p>In the early 20th century, Baptists in the United States found themselves on both sides of a schism within American Christianity over doctrinal issues, known as the <a href="https://global.oup.com/ushe/product/fundamentalism-and-american-culture-9780195300475?cc=us&lang=en&">fundamentalist-modernist</a> controversy. </p>
<p>The Rev. Harry Emerson Fosdick, a liberal Baptist pastor who served First Presbyterian Church and later Riverside Church in Manhattan, <a href="https://www.mupress.org/Baptist-Theology-A-Four-Century-Study-P1014.aspx">rejected the bodily resurrection of Jesus</a>. Rather, Fosdick viewed the resurrection as a “persistence in [Christ’s] personality.” </p>
<p>In 1922, Fosdick delivered his famous sermon “<a href="http://historymatters.gmu.edu/d/5070/">Shall the Fundamentalists Win</a>?” rebuking fundamentalists for their failure to tolerate difference on doctrinal matters such as the infallibility of the Bible, the virgin birth and bodily resurrection, among others, and for downplaying the weightier matter of addressing the societal needs of the day.</p>
<p>In his <a href="https://www.grandcentralpublishing.com/titles/clayborne-carson/the-autobiography-of-martin-luther-king-jr/9780759520370/">autobiography</a>, civil rights leader and Baptist minister the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. explained that in his early adolescence he denied the bodily resurrection of Jesus. </p>
<p>While attending Crozer Seminary in 1949, <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/what-experiences-christians-living-early-christian-century-led-christian">King wrote a paper </a> trying to make sense of what led to the development of the Christian doctrine of Jesus’ bodily resurrection. For King, the experience of the early followers of Jesus was at the root of their belief in his resurrection.</p>
<p>“They had been captivated by the magnetic power of his personality,” King argued. “This basic experience led to the faith that he could never die.” In other words, the bodily resurrection of Jesus simply is the outward expression of early Christian experience, not an actual or, at least, a verifiable event in human history. </p>
<p>It is not clear from his later writings that King changed his views on the bodily resurrection. In one of his notable <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/questions-easter-answers-sermon-delivered-dexter-avenue-baptist-church">Easter sermons</a>, King argued that the meaning behind the resurrection signaled a future where God will put an end to racial segregation. </p>
<p>Others within the Baptist movement disagreed. Like his fundamentalist forebears, conservative evangelical Baptist theologian <a href="https://www.crossway.org/books/god-revelation-and-authority-tpb/">Carl F.H. Henry argued in 1976</a> that all Christian doctrine can be rationally explained and can persuade any nonbeliever. Henry rigorously defended the bodily resurrection of Christ as a historical occurrence by appealing to the Gospels’ telling of the empty tomb and Christ’s appearances among his disciples after his resurrection.</p>
<p>In his six-volume magnum opus, “<a href="https://www.crossway.org/books/god-revelation-and-authority-tpb/">God, Revelation, and Authority</a>,” Henry read these two elements of the Gospels as historical records that can be verified through modern historical methods.</p>
<h2>Alternative views</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A fresco of Christ with lifted arms, his head encircled by a halo, or nimbus, wearing a tunic and a mantle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=762&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/395137/original/file-20210414-16-54fl6w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=958&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Christians hold a diversity of perspectives on Christ’s resurrection.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/italy-basilicata-matera-cripta-di-santa-maria-alle-malve-news-photo/187388766?adppopup=true">Bruno Balestrini / Electa / Mondadori Portfolio via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Despite their predominance, the liberal and conservative arguments on the resurrection of Jesus are not the only approaches held among Baptists. </p>
<p>In his book “<a href="https://wipfandstock.com/9781592445172/resurrection-and-discipleship/">Resurrection and Discipleship</a>,” Baptist theologian <a href="https://wipfandstock.com/author/thorwald-lorenzen/">Thorwald Lorenzen</a> also outlines what he calls the “evangelical” approach, which seeks to transcend the distinctions of “liberal” and “conservative” approaches. He affirms, with the conservatives, the historical reality of the resurrection, but agrees with the liberals that such an event cannot be verified in the modern historical sense. </p>
<p>[<em>3 media outlets, 1 religion newsletter.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/this-week-in-religion-76/?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=religion-3-in-1">Get stories from The Conversation, AP and RNS.</a>]</p>
<p>Other than these, there is a “liberation” approach, which stresses the social and political implications of the resurrection. Baptists who hold this view primarily interpret the resurrection as God’s response and commitment to liberating those who, like Jesus, <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800698782/We-Have-Been-Believers">experience poverty and oppression</a>.</p>
<p>Given this diversity of perspectives on the resurrection, Baptists are not unique among Christians in engaging matters of faith practice. However, I argue that Baptists may be distinct in that they believe that such matters must be freely believed by one’s own conscience and not enforced by any external religious authority.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of a piece <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-baptists-hold-differing-views-on-the-resurrection-of-christ-and-why-this-matters-158572">first published on April 15, 2021</a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason Oliver Evans does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Christians have engaged in passionate debates over the meaning of the resurrection. Baptists may be distinct in that they believe an external religious authority cannot enforce views on such matters.
Jason Oliver Evans, Ph.D. Candidate in Religious Studies, University of Virginia
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/170767
2021-11-04T12:26:03Z
2021-11-04T12:26:03Z
Netflix’s ‘Midnight Mass’ joins a long line of horror that plays with Catholic beliefs
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430046/original/file-20211103-25-13tp80n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=43%2C16%2C3486%2C2376&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A still from the Netflix series "Midnight Mass."</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eike Schroter/Netflix</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Horror and Catholicism have walked hand in hand on screen for almost a century. From <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0013257/">Benjamin Christensen’s 1922 film “Häxan</a>” to Mike Flanagan’s 2021 Netflix series “<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/81083626">Midnight Mass</a>,” scary films and television shows have portrayed the Catholic religion in both reverent and shocking ways. </p>
<p>“Midnight Mass” incorporates both approaches. </p>
<p>Set in a small, mostly Catholic community, the series gives a detailed depiction of everyday Catholic life. It also suggests an uncanny side to some elements of the religion, particularly the central sacrament of the Eucharist, or Communion, in which participants are understood to partake of the literal body and blood of Christ.</p>
<p>For many believers, Catholic ritual is meant to evoke a sense of wonder. For others, it can call up distrust of the religion’s overt mystical and supernatural claims and <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/ct-dfr-blaser-catholic-church-tl-0906-story.html">anger at the ongoing scandals</a> within the Church. </p>
<p>In my experience as a <a href="https://www.fordhampress.com/9780823297900/giving-the-devil-his-due/">scholar of religion in film</a>, horror movies can offer a complex picture of Catholic belief, ritual and daily experience.</p>
<h2>Demon-fighters and exorcism</h2>
<p>Many horror films depict Catholic ritual as a means of fighting evil, especially demonic possession. </p>
<p>For instance, “The Conjuring,” a horror film franchise, fictionalizes the experiences of Ed and Lorraine Warren, a married couple, who are self-professed demon hunters and lifelong devout Catholics. <a href="https://www.rottentomatoes.com/franchise/the_conjuring_universe">In the films</a> – “The Conjuring,” its two sequels, and the prequels “Annabelle” and “The Nun” – the Warrens employ the instruments of their faith, including prayer and sacramental objects such as rosary beads, to free possessed people. </p>
<p>In other films, often with the words “exorcist” or “exorcism” in the title, Catholic clergy are the heroes in the fight against evil. These movies often depict priests as martyrs whose sacrifices may even absolve them from violence they commit during the ritual. </p>
<p>In the 1973 film “The Exorcist,” which centers around the possession of 12-year-old character Regan MacNeil, two priests give up their lives in an <a href="https://www.warnerbros.com/movies/exorcist">attempt to expel the demon</a>. The film has also been criticized for representing physical violence in a way that it appears necessary for <a href="https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/the-terrifying-power-of-girls-and-second-wave-feminism-backlash-in-the-exorcist">saving the young female protagonist</a>. </p>
<p>Similar violence is questioned within the 2005 film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0404032/?ref_=nv_sr_srsg_0">The Exorcism of Emily Rose</a>.” In it, a priest is found guilty of homicide after the titular character dies during an exorcism. The movie’s narrative ultimately absolves him of moral, if not legal, guilt for her death because he believes himself to be acting according to the will of God. </p>
<h2>Catholic symbols and the fight against evil</h2>
<p>Screen heroes often don’t have to be priests, or even Catholic, to fight evil with Catholic ritual and symbols. In horror television and film, vampire hunters employ religious symbols like the Christian cross, but also specifically Catholic elements such as holy water and the consecrated Communion wafer. Francis Ford Coppola’s “<a href="https://www.netflix.com/title/328942">Bram Stoker’s Dracula</a>” leans heavily on such Catholic symbols. </p>
<p>Still, not all screen vampires fear the emblems of Catholicism. Many narratives make a point of the inefficacy of sacramental objects. <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/11/why-vampire-movies-always-break-all-the-vampire-rules.html">These films and series</a> include “The Strain,” “Interview with the Vampire” and even the “Twilight” franchise. </p>
<p>More importantly, many vampire narratives make use of the Catholic doctrine that the bread and wine consumed during Mass are the literal body and blood of Christ. Such stories connect Catholic rituals and vampirism. In fact, “Midnight Mass” creator <a href="https://ew.com/tv/midnight-mass-ending-mike-flanagan-postmortem-interview/">Mike Flanagan has stated</a>that Catholic ritual and vampirism are “explicitly linked. You are dealing with a mythology that is steeped in blood ritual and resurrection.” </p>
<p>Other types of screen horror subvert or dismiss Catholic ritual and symbolism altogether. According to scholar Jana Toppe, modern zombie stories <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Roman_Catholicism_in_Fantastic_Film/AtALOnale4QC?hl=en&gbpv=1&printsec=frontcover">represent the opposite of Catholic belief</a> regarding eternal life. </p>
<p>Toppe suggests that zombie narratives have come to “satirize” the Catholic understanding of the Eucharist. In most zombie films, the eating of flesh does lead to a resurrection of a body, but one without a soul. </p>
<h2>Gothic Catholicism</h2>
<p>For every horror film that sees the rituals of Catholicism as instruments in the fight against evil, another portrays the Church itself as evil.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A priest blesses the young girl who is a in a possessed state, in the 1973 film, 'The Exorcist.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=402&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/430025/original/file-20211103-25-ud62p1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=505&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Swedish-born actor Max Von Sydow blesses actress Linda Blair as she lies in a possessed state in the film ‘The Exorcist.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/swedish-born-actor-max-von-sydow-blesses-actress-linda-news-photo/2703168?adppopup=true">Warner Bros./Courtesy of Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This representation dates at least back to horror’s roots in the 18th-century Gothic novel, which <a href="https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/213080618.pdf">dramatized the Enlightenment distrust</a> of the irrational in general and the supposedly occult and uncanny nature of Catholicism in particular. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.uwp.co.uk/book/the-gothic-and-catholicism/">Gothic’s use of Catholic tropes</a> – ruined abbeys, lecherous priests, nuns walled up in convents and so on – created a picture of the religion that could be both repellent and fascinating to readers. </p>
<p>According to scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.co.uk/citations?user=8aM9LzwAAAAJ&hl=en">Susan Griffin</a>, in England and in 19th- and early 20th-century North America, Catholics – usually from countries outside the English-speaking world – were often portrayed as a “<a href="https://www.cambridge.org/gb/academic/subjects/literature/american-literature/anti-catholicism-and-nineteenth-century-fiction?format=HB&isbn=9780521833936">racialized other</a>” in Gothic as well as early horror. </p>
<h2>Horror’s critique of Catholicism</h2>
<p>For years, horror film and television have also critiqued the Church’s secular and political influence, as well as the moral failures and sins of its adherents and hierarchy. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-44209971">Horror narratives often reflect</a> the Church’s reluctance to recognize or acknowledge the evil in its own midst. This has <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2021/06/30/native-american-boarding-schools-catholic-church-investigation-240950">tragic relevance</a> both in light of the child sex abuse crisis and its cover-up, as well as revelations about the <a href="https://www.americamagazine.org/politics-society/2021/06/30/native-american-boarding-schools-catholic-church-investigation-240950">treatment of Indigenous children</a> in boarding schools administered by Catholic religious orders, among other groups. </p>
<p>Horror can call up historical abuses. The 2018 film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt6793280/">The Devil’s Doorway</a>” is a supernatural film inspired by the abuse experienced by women at Ireland’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/06/world/europe/magdalene-laundry-reunion-ireland.html">Magdalene Laundries</a>, where the so called “fallen women” were confined and subjected to hard labor. In another example, the 2015 Polish film “<a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4935158/">Demon</a>” combines Catholic characters with the Jewish mythological figure of the “dybbuk,” a spirit of the dead, to interrogate <a href="https://www.ushmm.org/collections/bibliography/christianity-and-the-holocaust">Catholic complicity in the Holocaust</a>. </p>
<p>Other narratives critique the institutional church while treating faith respectfully. In the television series “Evil,” for example, a Catholic psychologist and an atheist raised in the Muslim faith <a href="https://www.paramountplus.com/shows/evil/">investigate supernatural occurrences</a> for the Vatican alongside a tortured but devout Catholic seminarian. In doing so, they address issues within the church such as abuse, racism, misogyny and clericalism, or the privileging the clergy over everyday believers. </p>
<h2>Complexities of Catholicism and horror</h2>
<p>The representation of Catholicism in horror is varied and complex, and emphasizes the narrative and aesthetic creativity, as well as the subversive nature, of a genre so often undervalued as merely shocking and violent. Flanagan’s show is a case in point. </p>
<p>“Midnight Mass” exposes religious intolerance, including the othering of the community’s Muslim sheriff, which recalls representations of Catholics in the Gothic novel. The show also decries false piety and draws attention to the evil that can result from blind religious belief. </p>
<p>At the same time, the series emphasizes the possibility of redemption, as well as the complexity and authenticity in each character’s religious experience. </p>
<p>In “Midnight Mass” and other narratives, screen horror’s evocations of Catholicism parallel the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2015/06/13/world/europe/francis-the-activist-pope.html">intricacies and contradictions</a>, along with the <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/07/opinion/the-argument-catholic-church-gay.html">good and the evil</a>, within the Church itself, and perhaps within all powerful institutions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/170767/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Regina Hansen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A scholar of religion in film explains the varied representation of Catholicism in horror. In some films, it is used in the fight against evil, while others show the Church itself as evil.
Regina Hansen, Master Lecturer, Rhetoric, Boston University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/169411
2021-10-06T14:34:53Z
2021-10-06T14:34:53Z
No Time to Die: the problem with Bond villains having facial disfigurements
<p>As the 25th James Bond film <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2382320/">No Time to Die</a> hits the cinemas, we are once again reminded of the way that disability is depicted negatively in Hollywood films. The new James Bond film features three villains, all of who have <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/james-bond-disability-campaigners-villains-b1928355.html">facial disfigurements</a> (Blofeld, Safin and Primo).</p>
<p>If you take a closer look at James Bond villains throughout history, the majority have facial disfigurements or physical impairments. This is in sharp contrast to the other characters, including James Bond, who are able-bodied and presented with no physical bodily differences. </p>
<p>Indeed, many films still rely on outdated disability tropes, including Star Wars and various Disney classics. Rather than simply being part of a character’s identity, the physical difference is exploited and exaggerated to become a plot point and visual metaphor for villains.</p>
<p>In <a href="https://www.press.umich.edu/11523/narrative_prosthesis">their book</a> about depictions of disability in fiction, academics David Mitchell and Sharon Snyder coined the term “narrative prosthesis” to highlight how disability is used to prop up or propel a narrative. </p>
<h2>The problem</h2>
<p>Although James Bond films are particularly consistent with this trope, other examples include Peter Pan and The Lion King, where Scar has a facial scar and Captain Hook has a missing limb. In both films, their impairments are exploited so much that they are even named after them.</p>
<p>There’s also <a href="https://dcextendeduniverse.fandom.com/wiki/Doctor_Poison">Dr Poison from Wonder Woman</a>, <a href="https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Tom_Riddle">Voldermort from Harry Potter</a>, <a href="https://www.starwars.com/databank/kylo-ren">Kylo Ren from Star Wars</a> and many more – particularly in horror and sci-fi films. Often, these characters have a tragic backstory that provides their narrative with an explanation of their facial disfigurement as well as a reason why they are evil. Many of these characters seek revenge because of what happened to them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Simba and Scar." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425022/original/file-20211006-23-1iwf03u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/425022/original/file-20211006-23-1iwf03u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425022/original/file-20211006-23-1iwf03u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425022/original/file-20211006-23-1iwf03u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425022/original/file-20211006-23-1iwf03u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425022/original/file-20211006-23-1iwf03u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/425022/original/file-20211006-23-1iwf03u.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=753&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Scar from The Lion King acting the villain.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The reliance on this trope and the continuous use of it in films has been labelled as <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/james-bond-villains-facial-disfigurements-disabilities">lazy, boring and outdated</a> by disability activists. It is also important to note that many of these characters are played by actors who do not have facial disfigurements, which is another issue of representation in the film industry.</p>
<h2>Why it matters</h2>
<p>These representations are harmful to people with facial differences. When facial differences are used only as signs of evil, this reinforces the damaging beliefs about people with facial differences in society. </p>
<p>Disabled people want to see disability represented in a variety of roles and narratives on the screen instead of constantly being portrayed as evil, pitied or for comedic value. <a href="https://rl.talis.com/3/exeter/items/54D1D11B-F7B0-D595-5779-D89B74462B3E.html">Tom Shakespeare</a>, a disability studies scholar, says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The use of disability as a character trait, plot device, or atmosphere is a lazy shortcut. These representations are not accurate or fair reflections of the experience of disabled people. Such stereotypes reinforce negative attitudes towards disabled people and ignorance about the nature of disability. </p>
</blockquote>
<p><a href="https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/">Changing Faces</a>, a charity that supports people who have a visible difference or disfigurement, has set up a campaign “<a href="https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/i-am-not-your-villian/">I am not your villain</a>” to fight for equal representations of visible difference on screen. It has called on the film industry to stop using scars, burns and other facial disfigurements as a shorthand for villainy. The British Film Institute (BFI) was the first organisation to sign up and has committed to stop funding films that feature negative representations depicted through scars or facial differences – a step in the right direction.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.changingfaces.org.uk/get-involved/campaign-with-us/i-am-not-your-villian/">Research from Changing Faces</a> has found that people with facial differences feel lower levels of confidence, struggle with body image and self-esteem and have mental health problems because they are not represented accurately in society and popular culture. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/bA4BcwEeikA?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>This short film highlights how these representations are damaging to people with facial differences, stressing the importance of change in the film industry. As one woman in the video states, “often or not, it’s not their own acceptance it’s society’s acceptance that is the problem. How do you integrate yourself into work, dating, into schools? But if you had a positive character, I think some of these things would just make it easier to deal with”.</p>
<p>This is why it’s time we moved beyond the <a href="https://www.refinery29.com/en-gb/james-bond-villains-facial-disfigurements-disabilities">regressive stereotypes of disability</a> as evil, and for people with facial differences to be portrayed as the hero or the love interest rather than just the villain.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/169411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jessica Gibson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
A sign of evil? A look at the use of facial disfigurement in James Bond films.
Jessica Gibson, PhD Candidate in the Centre for Research on Education and Social Justice, University of York
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/161188
2021-05-25T19:39:37Z
2021-05-25T19:39:37Z
Who’s afraid of Cruella de Vil? New stories are humanising female villains of old
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402247/original/file-20210524-23-uhh43w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C3180%2C1796&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Disney’s new live-action Cruella transforms the infamous Dalmatian killer into an aspiring fashion designer who is driven to embrace the darkness and a life of crime. </p>
<p>It is the latest adaptation reclaiming female villains of fairy tales and children’s literature, providing them with an origin story — and extending them a degree of sympathy. </p>
<p>The female villain is common, in part, because of the Brothers Grimm. </p>
<p>As the Brothers collected and published fairy tales in the early 19th century, they progressively changed these stories to <a href="https://theconversation.com/reader-beware-the-nasty-new-edition-of-the-brothers-grimm-34537">conform to appropriate morality</a> for children. These alterations included silencing strong female characters and demonising powerful women — ensuring evil behaviour was clearly contrasted with good. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/reader-beware-the-nasty-new-edition-of-the-brothers-grimm-34537">Reader beware: the nasty new edition of the Brothers Grimm</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Children’s literature followed suit, with easily understandable divides between the good (and beautiful) and the evil (and ugly). L. Frank Baum’s one-eyed Wicked Witch of the West in The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was designated the “bad witch” in sharp contrast to the good witch, and to Dorothy. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gmRKv7n2If8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>But recent adaptations of these stories discard the usual focus on the “good” princess or heroine. </p>
<p>Instead of consigning the female villain to a simplistic caricature of evil, films such as Maleficent (the evil fairy from Sleeping Beauty) and the musical Wicked (the Wicked Witch of the West) offer nuanced (and newly beautiful) depictions of iconic foes.</p>
<h2>An inhuman beast?</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="101 Dalmatians still" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402249/original/file-20210524-19-1162rg7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">If she doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In Disney’s 1961 animated 101 Dalmatians, Cruella is angular and unattractive, with spindly limbs and a shock of half-black and half-white hair. She is a spinster; not maternal in any respect. She not only lacks her own children but seeks to harm puppies. She feels no concern for the young and vulnerable. </p>
<p>Vanity is Cruella’s final flaw, evident in her excessive interest in her appearance and the pleasure she takes in luxury objects, clothing and make-up.</p>
<p>The jazzy song that punctuates the film is thick with condemnation. Cruella is “like a spider waiting for the kill”, “a devil”, “vampire bat” and “inhuman beast” who “ought to be locked up and never released”. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/fXTQWVqBDWY?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Wanting to wear puppy fur is certainly alarming enough, but Disney’s animated film provides no other details about Cruella’s dark side, nor her motivations. </p>
<p>In Dodie Smith’s children’s novel on which the film was based, Cruella marries a furrier. The large stock of furs and coats she has not yet paid for are destroyed by the Dalmatians and her own Persian cat (who avenges the deaths of many litters of kittens that were drowned by Cruella) leaving the de Vils to flee England for their unpaid debts.</p>
<p>This new Cruella film encourages compassion by depicting the events that lead to a conscious embrace of wrongdoing. This incarnation was once Estella de Vil (Emma Stone), orphaned at 12 and growing into a teenager with a record of petty crime and a dream to work in the fashion industry.</p>
<p>Her fashion boss and mentor Baroness von Helman (Emma Thompson) advises Cruella not to care “about anyone or thing”, providing a model of self-absorption and vanity for emulation.</p>
<p>Cruella says she “was born brilliant, born bad, and a little bit mad” — but this film makes clear she was “made” from the damage and loss orphaned Estella experiences. </p>
<h2>Embracing the monster</h2>
<p>The current recuperation of the female villain follows the makeover of Gothic monsters such as the vampire in popular fiction and film. In Bram Stoker’s Dracula, vampires are repulsive and threatening. From True Blood to Twilight, today’s vampires are more commonly depicted as attractive love interests. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Twilight movie still" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402463/original/file-20210524-17-13k3ixp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Edward Cullen was not your grandmother’s vampire.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Summit Entertainment</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The stories we tell have begun to both embrace the monster, and explain how they were created. Many cultures have lost faith in the grand narratives provided by former certainties in life such as religion. A sharp divide between good and evil is no longer as easy to maintain. </p>
<p>Well-known stories intended for children, such as those reshaped by the Brothers Grimm, were typically based on unambiguous morals that rewarded the good and punished the bad. </p>
<p>These new live-action adaptations introduce a more complicated sense of morality. While the actions of female villains may still be disturbing, the focus on their ill-treatment in early life humanises them and dismantles the idea of people being inherently “evil”. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Maleficent production image." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=318&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/402468/original/file-20210524-13-y4wdsf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Some are not born evil, these reworking say, they have evilness thrust upon them.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Disney</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The short form of traditional fairy tales and children’s novels can offer minimal scope for characterisation, leaving us none the wiser as to what motivates the villain. </p>
<p>Why does Hans Christian Andersen’s disgusting Sea Witch (immortalised as Ursula in Disney’s The Little Mermaid) <a href="https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Page:The_fairy_tales_of_Hans_Christian_Andersen_(c1899).djvu/156">feed a toad</a> from her mouth and make a doomed bargain with the poor mermaid? Andersen’s story (and the Disney film) give us no clues — but perhaps the <a href="https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a28333685/little-mermaid-remake-cast-release-date-plot-trailer/">upcoming</a> live-action adaptation will.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-why-grown-ups-still-need-fairy-tales-87078">Friday essay: why grown-ups still need fairy tales</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Expansion of the stories of villains such as Maleficent, the Wicked Witch of the West, and Cruella not only complicate naïve ideas about good and evil, but also allow us to take pleasure in aligning ourselves with the antihero. </p>
<p>Just so long as no puppies are harmed in the process.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/161188/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Smith has previously received Australian Research Council funding. </span></em></p>
Today’s stories embrace the monster — and explain how she was created.
Michelle Smith, Senior Lecturer in Literary Studies, Monash University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/149140
2021-01-08T13:28:29Z
2021-01-08T13:28:29Z
What is Pure Land Buddhism? A look at how East Asian Buddhists chant and strive for buddhahood
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/374519/original/file-20201211-16-n4ukja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C60%2C5725%2C3699&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Monks pray at Nanshan Temple in Sanya, Hainan Province of China.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/monks-pray-during-ksitigarbha-bodhisattvas-birthday-news-photo/1272947130?adppopup=true">Chen Wenwu/VCG via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many people in the West interpret Buddhism as a path of meditation leading to enlightenment. </p>
<p>What many may not know is that this interpretation differs <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-making-of-buddhist-modernism-9780195183276?cc=us&lang=en&">vastly</a> from its practice in East Asia.</p>
<p>I have spent many years observing Buddhist temples in Taiwan and mainland China, and my research culminated in the book “<a href="https://uhpress.hawaii.edu/title/chinese-pure-land-buddhism-understanding-a-tradition-of-practice/">Chinese Pure Land Buddhism</a>.” This form of Buddhism teaches people to call upon <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/658372/pure-land-by-charles-jones/">a buddha named Amitābha</a> in the expectation that when they die he will take them to his pure buddha-land, an ideal place to pursue the practices that will lead them to become buddhas, or fully enlightened and liberated beings. </p>
<p>This form of practice – central to Pure Land Buddhism – arose from Mahayana Buddhism, a branch of Buddhism that emerged in the first to sixth centuries A.D.</p>
<h2>Buddhism in China</h2>
<p>One of the innovative teachings of Mahayana Buddhism was that the cosmos is inhabited by millions of buddhas, not just the historical founder of the religion. Since all these buddhas had to reside somewhere, and their environments had to be as pure as they were, it followed that there are many buddha-lands.</p>
<p>Pure Land Buddhism taught that the pure land of Amitābha was accessible to regular people after they died. Prior to the development of Pure Land Buddhism, the only way to enlightenment lay through an arduous path of study and practice that was out of reach for most people. </p>
<p>In China, the Pure Land teaching made the prospect of liberation from suffering and the attainment of buddhahood feasible for ordinary people. While Pure Land Buddhism spread and became dominant in other East Asian countries, China is the land of its birth.</p>
<h2>The theory of karma</h2>
<p>Buddhists believe that <a href="http://www.buddhanet.net/e-learning/karma.htm">all living beings are stuck in an endless loop of birth and rebirth</a> and the good or bad fortune they experience results from karma. Karma is a moral force created by the deeds one does: Virtuous deeds give one better fortune, while evil or even just ignorant deeds bring misfortune.</p>
<p>Karma is said to determine the future life in terms of gender, intelligence and other personal attributes as well as one’s environment. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="The Shaolin Temple in China" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/377395/original/file-20210106-19-ehstn9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Shaolin Temple in Henan Province of China.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/tsai-chih-chung-a-well-known-cartoonist-from-taiwan-attends-news-photo/1286435569?adppopup=true">Ren Hongbing/VCG via Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As a buddha is believed to have completely purified his karma, his body and mind are free of all defects and the land he inhabits is perfect. Several Buddhist scriptures describe “buddha-lands” as <a href="https://www.oxfordreference.com/view/10.1093/oi/authority.20110810104524361">paradises with no moral evil</a> and free of all taints. </p>
<p>Many Buddhists hope for birth in a buddha-land so they can complete their path under a buddha’s direct supervision. </p>
<h2>The founding story</h2>
<p>According to the Sutra, or scripture, on the <a href="https://www.bdk.or.jp/document/dgtl-dl/dBET_ThreePureLandSutras_2003.pdf">Buddha of Infinite Life</a> from no later than the third century, a monk named Dharmākara resolved to become a buddha. After much study and deliberation, he made 48 vows that detailed what kind of buddha he would be and what his buddha-land would look like. </p>
<p>Most of these vows laid out a scene familiar to believers: As a buddha, he would be powerful, wise and compassionate. His land would be magnificent, and the beings who shared it with him would be so accomplished that they would already have many of the powers and attributes of a buddha. These included perfect eloquence and the ability to see and hear from great distances.</p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.bdk.or.jp/document/dgtl-dl/dBET_ThreePureLandSutras_2003.pdf">among the vows</a> recorded in the Sūtra, it was the 18th that changed everything. This <a href="https://www.bdk.or.jp/document/dgtl-dl/dBET_ThreePureLandSutras_2003.pdf">vow stipulated</a> that anyone who merely brought him to mind before death would be reborn in his buddha-land:</p>
<p>“If, when I attain buddhahood, sentient beings in the lands of the ten directions who sincerely and joyfully entrust themselves to me, desire to be born in my land, and think of me even ten times,” Dharmākara is quoted as saying. </p>
<p>The fact that he realized his goal and became the buddha named Amitābha meant that the vow became reality. However, the term “ten times” referring to thoughts of Amitabha was vague. Another scripture, the Sutra on the <a href="https://www.bdk.or.jp/document/dgtl-dl/dBET_ThreePureLandSutras_2003.pdf">Visualization of the Buddha of Infinite Life</a>, clarified that one had only to say this buddha’s name ten times. </p>
<p>In addition, Dharmākara had also said that those who “commit the five grave offenses and abuse the Right Dharma” would be excluded. This Sutra eliminated such restrictions. The two scriptures allowed ordinary Buddhists to aspire to a rebirth in this Pure Land.</p>
<h2>Pure Land in China</h2>
<p>Buddhism entered China around 2,000 years ago and developed a following slowly as scriptures became available in translation and missionaries <a href="https://www.learnreligions.com/buddhism-in-china-the-first-thousand-years-450147">learned to communicate their message</a>.</p>
<p>The story of Dharmākara’s vows proved especially popular. The Sūtra on the Buddha of Infinite Life was translated into Chinese several times, and scholar-monks lectured and commented on the Pure Land sūtras.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/RJTw5PB62XE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Chanting the name of Buddha Amitabha.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Monks and nuns chanted the Amitābha Sūtra during their daily devotions. This sūtra, along with the two already mentioned, became the “Three Pure Land Sūtras” that anchored the emerging tradition.</p>
<p>The earlier Chinese commentators on these sūtras held that one needed great stores of good karma from the past to even hear of these teachings. They also preached that if one’s mind was not purified through prior practice, then one could not see the Pure Land in all its splendor.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<h2>Striving for buddhahood</h2>
<p>In the sixth and seventh centuries, <a href="https://www.buddhistdoor.net/features/the-pure-land-lineage-from-shakyamuni-buddha-to-master-shandao">three monks named Tanluan, Daochuo and especially Shandao provided new interpretations</a> and practices that gave the ordinary believer complete access to the Pure Land without them needing to earn or deserve it. </p>
<p>First, they said that rebirth in the Pure Land is an “easy path” compared to the “difficult path” of traditional Buddhist practice.</p>
<p>Second, that the Buddha Amitābha helps the practitioner by adding his “other-power” to the believer’s “self-power.” In other words, the buddha’s power assisted the believer directly and brought him or her to the Pure Land. “Self-power,” or the believer’s own effort, might have beneficial effects but it was not enough for liberation. The addition of the buddha’s power guaranteed liberation at the end of this life.</p>
<p>Third, they defined the main practice as calling Amitābha’s name aloud. In the original texts it was not clear whether the practice consisted of difficult meditations or oral invocation, but they made it clear that just repeating “Hail to Amitaqbha Buddha” would cause the buddha to transport one to the Pure Land.</p>
<p>The Pure Land was not a final destination, like heaven in Christianity. The point of rebirth there was to be in the perfect environment for becoming a buddha. One would still need to strive toward buddhahood, but one’s own power with that of Amitābha would guarantee the final result.</p>
<p>Think about being on an escalator. If one cannot walk at all, it will carry one to the top, but if one can walk even a little, one’s speed will combine with the motion of the escalator to get one there more quickly. </p>
<h2>Chanting Buddha’s name</h2>
<p>Pure Land believers may recite “Hail to the Buddha Amitābha” silently or aloud while counting the repetitions on a rosary; they may participate in group practice at a local Buddhist temple; they may even take part in one-, three- or seven-day retreats that combine recitation with repentance rituals and meditation. </p>
<p>This remains the prevalent form of Buddhist practice in East Asia to this day.</p>
<p>
<section class="inline-content">
<img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/338598/original/file-20200529-78871-1g5gse5.jpg?w=128&h=128">
<div>
<header></header>
<p><a href="https://www.ats.edu/">The Catholic University of America School of Theology and Religious Studies is a member of the Association of Theological Schools.</a></p>
<footer>The ATS is a funding partner of The Conversation US.</footer>
</div>
</section>
</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149140/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles B. Jones has received funding from the Fulbright Program.</span></em></p>
In China, many Buddhists hope for birth in a buddha-land so they can complete their path under a buddha’s direct supervision.
Charles B. Jones, Associate Professor of Religion and Culture and Religion and Culture Area Director, Catholic University of America
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/149792
2020-11-12T13:27:51Z
2020-11-12T13:27:51Z
The many stories of Diwali share a common theme of triumph of justice
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368684/original/file-20201110-15-1u68rl2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C2%2C1970%2C1275&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Diwali is the most important festival for the South Asian community.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/anjali-cq-voria-cq-and-her-sister-rakhi-voria-cq-at-news-photo/161008394?adppopup=true">Photo By Cyrus McCrimmon/The Denver Post via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Sometimes called the Indian festival of lights, Diwali is arguably the <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/what-diwali-festival-lights-india-hindu-1467603">most important holiday</a> of the year for South Asian families. </p>
<p>The festival, which is observed by Hindus, Sikhs and Jains, lasts five days in its entirety. Traditionally the third day is considered the most important. During this day, families gather to light candles, eat sweets and place lit lamps in their public-facing windows.</p>
<p>As a <a href="https://faculty.txstate.edu/profile/1922200">scholar of Asian religion</a> and popular narratives, I’m interested in Diwali because it demonstrates how ancient tales in epics become part of religious practice. </p>
<h2>Popular stories from Hinduism</h2>
<p>There are many stories around what exactly Diwali commemorates and why it is celebrated. </p>
<p>Among Hindu families, <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520249141/the-life-of-hinduism">many</a> claim the festival celebrates the defeat of the evil demon king Ravana by Rama – an incarnation of the Hindu god Vishnu and the hero of India’s Ramayana epic. In the most famous part of this epic tale, Rama’s wife is abducted by the demon Ravana, and Rama must journey to the land of Lanka to save her with the assistance of his brother.</p>
<p>A different tradition states that the festival commemorates the defeat of the demon Narakasura by Lord Krishna. Like Rama, <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/The_Bhagavad_Gita/DtCvAC94ZbUC?hl=en">Krishna is an incarnation of the god Vishnu</a>, who has come to assist humanity in its time of need. </p>
<p>Stories tell of Krishna’s efforts to rid the world of demons. In this particular story, the King Naraka gains extraordinary abilities through a deal with a demon and becomes intoxicated with power. </p>
<p>Narakasura, as he is now called, destroys the kingdoms around him and eventually plans to assault even the heavens. Krishna appears and uses his divine powers to neutralize Narakasura’s weapons, eventually beheading him with a multi-pronged discus. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Guests_at_God_s_Wedding/3KcEotmV2MAC?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Guests+at+God%27s+Wedding:+Celebrating+Kartik+among+the+Women+of+Benares&printsec=frontcover%22%22">Other traditions</a> associate the festival with the birth of the goddess Lakshmi and her marriage to Vishnu. In the Hindu tradition, Lakshmi is worshipped as the goddess of wealth, while Vishnu is seen as the preserver of humanity.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=449&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368689/original/file-20201110-17-k9egdc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=565&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lord Vishnu and his consort goddess, Lakshmi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/16/Lord_Vishnu_and_his_consort_Goddess_Lakshmi.jpg">Bikashrd via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While there are many stories of her birth, the most prevalent is that Lakshmi appeared during the churning of the divine ocean of milk from which the nectar of immortality comes during a fight between the gods and demons. After appearing, she chooses to marry Vishnu and to assist him in working for the benefit of humanity. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.pitara.com/non-fiction-for-kids/festivals-for-kids/the-story-of-diwali/">In southern India, Hindu families</a> commemorate the defeat of the demon Hiranyakshipu by Narasimha, the lion-headed incarnation of Vishnu. Like many Indian stories, Hiranyakshipu is a demi-god who believes he is immortal after receiving a divine blessing from the Hindu creator-god Brahma that lists the conditions for his death. </p>
<p>According to the boon, he cannot be killed at day or at night, inside or outside, by human or by animal, by projectile weapons or by hand weapons, and neither on the ground nor in the sky. </p>
<p>In response to Hiranyakshipu’s terrorizing of the heavens and Earth, Vishnu then incarnates as the lion-headed god Narasimha to kill the demon. He kills him at dusk, on the step of his house, as a chimeric lion with his claws as he lies on Narasimha’s lap – all conditions that satisfy the elements of the boon.</p>
<h2>Stories from other religions</h2>
<p>The Diwali tradition is celebrated by Jains and Sikhs as well, who have their own interpretations of the festival. For <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/Jainism/JmRlAgAAQBAJ?hl=en&gbpv=0">Jains</a>, Diwali celebrates the nirvana, or enlightenment, of Mahavira, the 24th spiritual teacher of the Jain path and the contemporary tradition’s founder. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/368691/original/file-20201110-23-3wxf5q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Jain sculpture showing Mahavira in Madurai, Tamilnadu, India.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mahavira_Keezhakuyilkudi.jpg">Francis Harry Roy S via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=w8yWAwAAQBAJ&newbks=0&printsec=frontcover&pg=PT86&hl=en&source=newbks_fb%22%22">Sikhs</a> consider Diwali a commemoration of the release of Guru Hargobind, the sixth of 10 spiritual leaders, and 52 other men who were imprisoned by the Mughal Empire that ruled the Indian subcontinent from 1526 to 1857. </p>
<p>After the public execution of his father by Mughal leaders, Guru Hargobind became increasingly passionate about forming an independent Sikh homeland through military action if necessary. He was eventually jailed by the Mughal Emperor Jahangir, but was released two years later on the day of Diwali.</p>
<p>Popular legends state that when he was freed, Guru Hargobind tricked the Mughal emperor into allowing him to bring out as many men as could hold onto the hem of his cloak and, in this way, helped release 52 other prisoners who held onto 52 threads coming off of his garment. </p>
<h2>Origins of Diwali</h2>
<p>The multiplicity of interpretations for why Diwali is celebrated and questions regarding the festival’s exact origins may have one potential answer: that the narrative of origins is an afterthought to rituals. </p>
<p>This problem is illustrated in a well-known episode of the sitcom “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diwali_(The_Office)">The Office</a>,” where the Dunder Mifflin team attends a Diwali celebration at a local Hindu temple. Before they go, they ask Kelly – the Hindu office worker who is playing hostess – to explain the origins of the festival. </p>
<p>She demurs, stating “I don’t know; it’s really old, I think,” before excitedly discussing the beautiful clothes everyone wears, the dancing and the food. Mindy Kaling, who plays Kelly and wrote the episode, <a href="https://mashable.com/article/the-office-diwali-episode-mindy-kaling-podcast/">explained</a> that she based Kelly’s cluelessness on her own, noting that – despite identifying as Hindu – she had to do significant research into her own religious tradition to write the episode.</p>
<p>In other words, while she was aware of and excited about the rituals, the narrative explanation was secondary to joining with her community in celebration. </p>
<p>But this does not mean that narrative may be inconsequential. It is important to think what these multiple narratives about Diwali’s origins may be able to tell us about the Indian culture. </p>
<p>Asian religions scholar <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Nl63ENwAAAAJ&hl=en">Robert Ford Campany</a> <a href="https://www.google.com/books/edition/A_Garden_of_Marvels/0PHGDwAAQBAJ?hl=en%22%22">suggests</a> that narratives entail a subtle form of argument that “reveal, argue, or assume something significant about the world, about spirits, about relations between humans and other beings, or about the afterlife and the dead.” </p>
<p>Perhaps these diverse origin stories of Diwali point to a shared argument that Indian culture is making about the world: that good – whether as one of the many avatars of Lord Vishnu, an enlightened Jain prince, or an imprisoned guru – will necessarily triumph over the evils of demons, injustice and ignorance. </p>
<p>Certainly that’s an argument worth celebrating, especially in the chaotic times we live in today.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/149792/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natasha Mikles does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Many Indian Americans will be celebrating the festival of Diwali soon. A scholar of Asian religion explains what this festival of lights means – especially in chaotic times.
Natasha Mikles, Assistant Professor in Philosophy and Religious Studies, Texas State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/146281
2020-10-20T12:22:37Z
2020-10-20T12:22:37Z
How QAnon uses satanic rhetoric to set up a narrative of ‘good vs. evil’
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364342/original/file-20201019-17-1h4fzp6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=7%2C7%2C5158%2C3431&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A QAnon supporter waiting to see Donald Trump at a rally in Pennsylvania.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/david-reinert-holds-up-a-large-q-sign-while-waiting-in-line-news-photo/1009769482?adppopup=true">Rick Loomis/Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In front of a TV audience on Oct. 15, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/15/rather-than-condemn-qanon-conspiracy-theory-trump-elevates-its-dangerous-central-assertion/">President Donald Trump declared</a> that he knew “nothing about” QAnon, before correcting himself to say: “I do know they are very much against pedophilia.”</p>
<p>What he didn’t do was disavow what has been referred to as a “<a href="https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/drumoorhouse/qanon-mass-collective-delusion-buzzfeed-news-copy-desk">collective delusion</a>.” Part of that could be down to QAnon followers holding up Trump as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/oct/17/donald-trump-is-the-qanon-president-and-hes-proud-of-it">some sort of savior</a> – someone playing four-dimensional chess against shadowy political insiders and power players <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/what-deep-state-is-and-why-trump-gets-it-wrong-2020-1">known as the “Deep State</a>.”</p>
<p>But that is only part of what Anons – followers of QAnon – believe. What Trump didn’t mention is the atrocious claims that underlie this supposed chess match, and the demonic imagery and language that are used in the course of the conspiracy. </p>
<p>As <a href="https://www.radford.edu/content/chbs/home/phre/faculty-staff/pbthomas.html">a professor of religion</a> who teaches courses on the cultural significance of monsters, I see many similarities between Anon claims and <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/10/30/13413864/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-explained">prior rumor panics that employed satanic rhetoric</a>. Moreover, given the growing popularity of the QAnon conspiracy – and its <a href="https://www.chicagotribune.com/election-2020/ct-qanon-candidate-georgia-house-20200812-z27f6mqbkvgoxkjksk5zjfxlqm-story.html">encroachment into mainstream politics</a> – I believe that ignoring this rhetoric risks harm to those targeted by the conspiracy.</p>
<h2>Accusations of evil</h2>
<p>The QAnon conspiracy theory started with an anonymous 4chan post in October 2017. The author, who later signed his or her posts as “Q”, <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/09/qanon-identity-revealed-explained.html">remains unknown</a>. Since then Q has posted anonymous messages, known as Qdrops, on 8chan and now 8kun – on both online message and image boards.</p>
<p>The conspiracy claims that deep-state politicians and the “Hollywood elite” are involved in a large child abduction network that harvests the chemical compound adrenochrome — which is obtained from the oxidation of adrenaline — from sexually abused children subjected to satanic rituals.</p>
<p>Anons say that adrenochrome is consumed by some Democratic politicians and Hollywood elites for its psychedelic and anti-aging effects and is more potent when harvested from a frightened victim. Trump, they believe, is planning a day of reckoning that will see the arrest, conviction and even execution of dozens of current and former government officials for their involvement in child sex trafficking.</p>
<p>In analyzing the Qdrops, I have noted a discourse of evil woven throughout Q’s nearly 5,000 messages. Peppering the Qdrops are claims like “many in our government worship Satan.” According to Anons, Trump is engaged in a battle of cosmic significance between the “children of light” and the “children of darkness” and is working to dismantle pedophile networks that are abducting children for satanic rites.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364343/original/file-20201019-21-budz9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/364343/original/file-20201019-21-budz9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364343/original/file-20201019-21-budz9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364343/original/file-20201019-21-budz9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364343/original/file-20201019-21-budz9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364343/original/file-20201019-21-budz9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/364343/original/file-20201019-21-budz9w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=530&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Protesters at a rally in Minnesota. QAnon supporters believe the chemical compound adrenochrome is being harvested from abused children.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/people-march-during-a-save-the-children-rally-outside-the-news-photo/1228159550?adppopup=true">Stephen Maturen/Getty Images</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In using such language and imagery, Q does not portray perceived political adversaries as merely having a difference of opinion, but as being downright evil.</p>
<p>For example, in an Aug. 10, 2018, Qdrop titled “Many in Power Worship the Devil,” Q states: “PURE EVIL. HOW MANY IN WASHINGTON AND THOSE AROUND THE WORLD (IN POWER) WORSHIP THE DEVIL?”</p>
<p>On Aug. 26, 2020, Q posted an image suggesting that the 2020 Democratic National Convention logo resembled a <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-33682878">Satanic Baphomet pentagram</a>, which incorporates a goat’s head and a five-pointed star. Accompanying text asserts that one party – Republicans – discusses God while the other party – Democrats – discusses darkness.</p>
<p>Such dialogue rises beyond the level of us versus them. Instead, for Q and Anons it elevates the conspiracy to a matter of cosmic good versus monstrous evil.</p>
<p>This, I believe, is of grave concern. Presenting opponents as monstrously evil dehumanizes them. Through that process, Anons may see themselves as would-be monster-killers ready to use violence to remove the evil.</p>
<h2>Remembering the past</h2>
<p>This process of using the language of evil to dehumanize a perceived enemy is nothing new. It was seen in conspiracies such as the <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-the-protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-is-still-pushed-by-anti-semites-more-than-a-century-after-hoax-first-circulated-145220">Protocols of the Elders of Zion</a>. The Protocols, a fictional document first published in Russia in the early 1900s, link a satanic Jewish cabal to the Antichrist.</p>
<p>Examining past rhetoric targeting Jews reveals how such a discourse lubricates the machinery of violence – Hitler called the Protocols “immensely instructive.”</p>
<p>Jewish communities faced the <a href="https://www.adl.org/education/resources/glossary-terms/blood-libel">blood libel</a> — the idea that Jews kidnapped children for blood sacrifices — for centuries before it resurfaced in the Protocols. In the Middle Ages this was driven by a fear of Jewish magicians kidnapping and stabbing children for evil rituals. The blood produced from these rites was rumored to be ritually consumed as drink or mixed into matzo. It was a demonic fantasy not based in any reality.</p>
<p>It is noteworthy that <a href="https://forward.com/news/national/451647/just-how-anti-semitic-is-qanon/">Anon claims about child abduction and blood consumption</a> are linked to prominent Jewish figures such as billionaire philanthropist George Soros and the Rothschild family. </p>
<p>Joel Finkelstein, of the anti-hate watchdog the Network Contagion Research Institute <a href="https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/qanon-is-an-old-form-of-antisemitism-in-a-new-package-experts-say-642852">has noted</a> that the QAnon conspiracy is becoming increasingly anti-Semitic. Indeed, <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/author/stantongregory/">renowned genocide scholar Gregory Stanton</a> <a href="https://www.justsecurity.org/72339/qanon-is-a-nazi-cult-rebranded/">warned in an article in September</a> that QAnon’s demonic fantasy was “a rebranded version of the Protocols” and noted that the conspiracy was gaining traction in neo-Nazi circles.</p>
<h2>‘Satanic Panic’</h2>
<p>For those who remember the <a href="https://www.vox.com/2016/10/30/13413864/satanic-panic-ritual-abuse-history-explained">“satanic panic”</a> of the 1980s, these Anon narratives will sound hauntingly familiar. The satanic panic was based on a series of rumors spread by concerned parents and authority figures, ranging from therapists to law enforcement agencies, convinced that a <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/what-does-satanism-have-to-do-with-qanon/">demonic cabal</a> had infiltrated society to its highest levels. Organizations set up to counter this perceived threat, like Believe the Children, argued that children were most at risk in day care centers run by secret satanists. Prosecutors accepted, with apparent earnest seriousness, the claims being made about child sexual abuse, secret tunnels, and satanic rituals at the McMartin Preschool in Manhattan Beach, California. Similar sensational charges were brought against the <a href="https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/innocence/etc/other.html">Fells Acres Day School and the Wee Care Nursery School</a>. Charges were eventually dropped or reversed in many of these cases.</p>
<p>As the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-mcmartin-family-trials-review-prosecution-as-ludicrous-charade-11564089074">unjust prosecutions</a> demonstrate, the satanic panic damaged the reputations and livelihoods of innocent people. </p>
<p>QAnon is poised to cause similar disruptions in the lives of innocent people. Already <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/oct/15/qanon-violence-crimes-timeline">there have been incidents</a> including the apparent <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/21/nyregion/gambino-shooting-anthony-comello-frank-cali.html">QAnon-inspired shooting of a mob boss</a> and <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/a-qanon-devotee-live-streamed-her-trip-to-ny-to-take-out-joe-biden">a live-streamed effort to “take out” Joe Biden</a>. Anons are beginning to show a willingness to take matters into their own hands.</p>
<h2>Why it matters now</h2>
<p>It is tempting to dismiss QAnon as too small and fringe to lead to the violence associated with prior satanic panics. However, the emerging influence of Q is evident. It is seen not only in the growing number of supporters – <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/qanon-groups-have-millions-members-facebook-documents-show-n1236317">QAnon Facebook pages alone boast 3 million followers</a> – but also in Washington with a president who declines to disavow the conspiracy and a Republican QAnon supporter, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/news/us-journal/how-the-qanon-candidate-marjorie-taylor-greene-reached-the-doorstep-of-congress">Marjorie Taylor Greene</a>, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/sep/18/republican-qanon-congress-marjorie-taylor-greene">looking set to head</a> to Congress in November.</p>
<p>[<em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/us/newsletters/the-daily-3?utm_source=TCUS&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>.]</p>
<p>The size of the QAnon community is difficult to estimate. It is, by no means, mainstream. But past experience has shown us that when a minority drapes its cause in a cosmic discourse of good versus evil, atrocities can follow.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/146281/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Thomas does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Donald Trump said followers of conspiracy theory ‘are very much against pedophilia.’ What he didn’t mention was the demonic imagery and language that peppers QAnon posts.
Paul Thomas, Chair and Professor of Religious Studies, Radford University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/144016
2020-09-11T13:26:20Z
2020-09-11T13:26:20Z
How tech billionaires’ visions of human nature shape our world
<p>In the 20th century, politicians’ views of human nature shaped societies. But now, <a href="https://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/13/peter-thiel/education-libertarian">creators of new technologies</a> increasingly <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/jul/28/bezos-zuckerberg-us-tech-billions">drive societal change</a>. Their view of human nature may shape the 21st century. We must know what technologists see in humanity’s heart.</p>
<p>The economist <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/thomas-sowell/a-conflict-of-visions/9780465002054/">Thomas Sowell</a> proposed two visions of human nature. The <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/290730/the-blank-slate-by-steven-pinker/">utopian vision</a> sees people as naturally good. The world corrupts us, but the wise can perfect us. </p>
<p>The tragic vision sees us as inherently flawed. Our sickness is selfishness. We cannot be trusted with power over others. There are no perfect solutions, only imperfect trade-offs.</p>
<p>Science <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/290730/the-blank-slate-by-steven-pinker/">supports the tragic vision</a>. So does history. The <a href="https://www.littlebrown.co.uk/titles/david-andress/the-terror/9780349115887/">French</a>, <a href="https://www.basicbooks.com/titles/timothy-snyder/bloodlands/9780465032976/">Russian</a> and <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/maos-great-famine-9780802779281/">Chinese</a> revolutions were utopian visions. They paved their paths to paradise with 50 million dead.</p>
<p>The USA’s founding fathers held the tragic vision. They <a href="https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/290730/the-blank-slate-by-steven-pinker/">created checks and balances</a> to constrain political leaders’ worst impulses.</p>
<h2>Technologists’ visions</h2>
<p>Yet when Americans founded online social networks, the tragic vision was forgotten. Founders were trusted to juggle their self-interest and the public interest when designing these networks and gaining vast data troves.</p>
<p>Users, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23736992.2018.1477047">companies</a> and <a href="https://www.intelligence.senate.gov/sites/default/files/documents/Report_Volume2.pdf">countries</a> were trusted not to abuse their new social-networked power. Mobs were <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/james-madison-mob-rule/568351/">not constrained</a>. This led to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1145/3292522.3326034">abuse</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23736992.2018.1477047">manipulation</a>.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.eubios.info/UNESCO/precprin.pdf">Belatedly</a>, social networks have adopted <a href="https://blog.twitter.com/en_us/topics/product/2018/Serving_Healthy_Conversation.html">tragic visions</a>. Facebook <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/7/18/17575158/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-interview-full-transcript-kara-swisher">now acknowledges regulation</a> is needed to get the best from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/jdmp.10.1.33_1">social media</a>. </p>
<p>Tech billionaire Elon Musk dabbles in both the tragic and utopian visions. He thinks “<a href="https://sonix.ai/resources/full-transcript-joe-rogan-experience-elon-musk/">most people are actually pretty good</a>”. But he supports <a href="https://www.rev.com/blog/transcripts/joe-rogan-elon-musk-podcast-transcript-may-7-2020">market, not government control</a>, wants competition to <a href="https://surfcoderepeat.com/elon-on-governments">keep us honest</a>, and <a href="https://sonix.ai/resources/full-transcript-joe-rogan-experience-elon-musk/">sees evil in individuals</a>. </p>
<p>Musk’s tragic vision <a href="https://www.spacex.com/">propels us to Mars</a> in case short-sighted selfishness destroys Earth. Yet his utopian vision assumes people on Mars could be entrusted <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lBfi2AcGrTY&list=PLKof9YSAshgyPqlK-UUYrHfIQaOzFPSL4&index=4">with the direct democracy</a> that America’s <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/10/james-madison-mob-rule/568351/">founding fathers feared</a>. His utopian vision also assumes giving us tools to <a href="https://neuralink.com/">think better</a> won’t simply enhance our Machiavellianism.</p>
<p>Bill Gates leans to the tragic and tries to create a better world within humanity’s constraints. Gates <a href="https://news.microsoft.com/2008/01/24/bill-gates-world-economic-forum-2008/">recognises our self-interest</a> and supports market-based rewards to help us behave better. Yet he believes “creative capitalism” can tie self-interest to our inbuilt desire to help others, benefiting all. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Peter Tiel stood in front of screen displaying computer code." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357446/original/file-20200910-25-174iq53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/357446/original/file-20200910-25-174iq53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357446/original/file-20200910-25-174iq53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357446/original/file-20200910-25-174iq53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357446/original/file-20200910-25-174iq53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357446/original/file-20200910-25-174iq53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/357446/original/file-20200910-25-174iq53.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Peter Thiel considers the code of human nature.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/heisenbergmedia/14051014116/">Heisenberg Media/Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>A different tragic vision lies in the writings of Peter Thiel. This billionaire tech investor <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt6qq?turn_away=true">was influenced by</a> philosophers <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/strauss-leo/">Leo Strauss</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/carl-schmitt-nazi-era-philosopher-who-wrote-blueprint-for-new-authoritarianism-59835">Carl Schmitt</a>. Both believed evil, in the form of a <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Cloaked-in-Virtue-Unveiling-Leo-Strauss-and-the-Rhetoric-of-American-Foreign/Xenos/p/book/9780415950893">drive for dominance</a>, is part of our nature.</p>
<p>Thiel dismisses the “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt6qq?turn_away=true">Enlightenment view of the natural goodness of humanity</a>”. Instead, he approvingly cites the view that humans are “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt6qq?turn_away=true">potentially evil or at least dangerous beings</a>”. </p>
<h2>The consequences of seeing evil</h2>
<p>The German philosopher <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/ie/academic/subjects/philosophy/philosophy-texts/nietzsche-beyond-good-and-evil-prelude-philosophy-future?format=PB">Friedrich Nietzsche warned</a> that those who fight monsters must beware of becoming monsters themselves. He was right.</p>
<p>People who believe in evil are more likely to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.09.037">demonise, dehumanise, and punish</a> wrongdoers. They are more likely to support violence <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213496282">before</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213500997">after</a> another’s transgression. They feel that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213500997">redemptive violence</a> can eradicate evil and save the world. Americans who believe in evil are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213500997">more likely to support</a> torture, killing terrorists and America’s possession of nuclear weapons.</p>
<p>Technologists who see evil risk creating coercive solutions. Those who believe in evil are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0146167213496282">less likely to think deeply</a> about why people act as they do. They are also <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.paid.2017.09.037">less likely to see</a> how situations influence people’s actions. </p>
<p>Two years after 9/11, Peter Thiel founded <a href="https://www.palantir.com/">Palantir</a>. This company creates software to analyse big data sets, helping businesses fight fraud and the US government combat crime.</p>
<p>Thiel is a Republican-supporting libertarian. Yet, he appointed a Democrat-supporting <a href="https://www.bloomberg.com/features/2018-palantir-peter-thiel/">neo-Marxist</a>, Alex Karp, as Palantir’s CEO. Beneath their differences lies a shared belief in the inherent dangerousness of humans. Karp’s PhD thesis argued that we have a fundamental aggressive drive towards <a href="https://www.boundary2.org/2020/07/moira-weigel-palantir-goes-to-the-frankfurt-school/">death and destruction</a>.</p>
<p>Just as believing in evil is associated with supporting pre-emptive aggression, Palantir doesn’t just wait for people to commit crimes. It <a href="https://patents.google.com/patent/US20170293847A1">has patented</a> a “crime risk forecasting system” to predict crimes and has <a href="https://harvardcrcl.org/minority-report-why-we-should-question-predictive-policing/#:%7E:text=The%20predictive%20policing%20system%20Palantir,'t%20completely%20new%2C%20either.&text=Predictive%20policing%20tries%20to%20make,take%20steps%20to%20prevent%20it.">trialled predictive policing</a>. This has <a href="https://harvardcrcl.org/minority-report-why-we-should-question-predictive-policing/#:%7E:text=The%20predictive%20policing%20system%20Palantir,'t%20completely%20new%2C%20either.&text=Predictive%20policing%20tries%20to%20make,take%20steps%20to%20prevent%20it.">raised concerns</a>.</p>
<p>Karp’s tragic vision acknowledges that Palantir needs constraints. He stresses the judiciary must put “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zHUXGd4gJU">checks and balances on the implementation</a>” of Palantir’s technology. He says the use of Palantir’s software should be “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1zHUXGd4gJU">decided by society in an open debate</a>”, rather than by Silicon Valley engineers.</p>
<p>Yet, Thiel cites philosopher Leo Strauss’ suggestion that America <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt6qq?turn_away=true">partly owes her greatness</a> “to her occasional deviation” from principles of freedom and justice. Strauss <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt6qq?turn_away=true">recommended hiding</a> such deviations under a veil. </p>
<p>Thiel <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.14321/j.ctt7zt6qq?turn_away=true">introduces the Straussian argument that</a> only “the secret coordination of the world’s intelligence services” can support a US-led international peace. This recalls Colonel Jessop in the film, <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0104257/">A Few Good Men</a>, who felt he should deal with dangerous truths in darkness.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/9FnO3igOkOk?wmode=transparent&start=39" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Can we handle the truth?</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Seeing evil after 9/11 led technologists and governments to overreach in their surveillance. This <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jul/31/nsa-top-secret-program-online-data">included using the formerly secret XKEYSCORE computer system</a> used by the US National Security Agency to colllect people’s internet data, which is <a href="https://theintercept.com/2017/02/22/how-peter-thiels-palantir-helped-the-nsa-spy-on-the-whole-world/">linked to Palantir</a>. The American people rejected this approach and <a href="https://www.hrw.org/news/2015/06/03/us-modest-step-curb-spy-excesses">democratic processes</a> increased oversight and limited surveillance.</p>
<h2>Facing the abyss</h2>
<p>Tragic visions pose risks. Freedom may be unnecessarily and coercively limited. External roots of violence, like <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpubeco.2014.07.007">scarcity</a> and <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6309619/">exclusion</a>, may be overlooked. Yet if <a href="https://www.firstthings.com/article/2015/06/against-edenism">technology creates economic growth</a> it will address many external causes of conflict.</p>
<p>Utopian visions ignore the dangers within. Technology that only changes the world is insufficient to save us from our selfishness and, as I argue in a forthcoming book, <a href="https://oneworld-publications.com/spite-hb.html">our spite</a>.</p>
<p>Technology must change the world working within the constraints of human nature. Crucially, <a href="https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1321655/000119312520230013/d904406ds1.htm#rom904406_6">as Karp notes</a>, democratic institutions, not technologists, must ultimately decide society’s shape. Technology’s outputs must be democracy’s inputs.</p>
<p>This may involve us acknowledging hard truths about our nature. But what if society does not wish to face these? Those who cannot handle truth make others fear to speak it. </p>
<p>Straussian technologists, who believe but dare not speak dangerous truths, may feel compelled to protect society in undemocratic darkness. They overstep, yet are encouraged to by those who see more harm in speech than its suppression.</p>
<p>The ancient Greeks had a name for someone with <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403986689">the courage to tell truths that could put them in danger</a> - the parrhesiast. But the parrhesiast needed a listener who promised to not to react with anger. This <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403986689">parrhesiastic contract</a> allowed dangerous truth-telling.</p>
<p>We have shredded this contract. We must renew it. Armed with the truth, the Greeks felt they could <a href="https://www.palgrave.com/gp/book/9781403986689">take care of themselves and others</a>. Armed with both truth and technology we can move closer to fulfilling this promise.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/144016/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon McCarthy-Jones receives funding from the US-based Brain and Behavior Research Foundation</span></em></p>
What world will tech billionaires move us towards if they believe that humans are fundamentally dangerous?
Simon McCarthy-Jones, Associate Professor in Clinical Psychology and Neuropsychology, Trinity College Dublin
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/141086
2020-07-30T07:59:28Z
2020-07-30T07:59:28Z
If our reality is a video game, does that solve the problem of evil?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346114/original/file-20200707-194418-1334xzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=477%2C98%2C4528%2C3721&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/artificial-intelligence-concept-virtual-human-avatar-1068287444">Shutterstock/kmls</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Pandemics and natural disasters cause pain and suffering to millions worldwide and can challenge the very foundations of human belief systems. They can be particularly challenging for those who believe in an all-knowing and righteous God. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-god-good-in-the-shadow-of-mass-disaster-great-minds-have-argued-the-toss-137078">Lisbon earthquake</a> of 1755, for example, shook the previously unquestioned faith of many and led Voltaire to question whether this really could be the best of all possible worlds. </p>
<p>When the <a href="https://www.historyextra.com/period/20th-century/spanish-flu-the-virus-that-changed-the-world/">Spanish flu</a> struck in 1918, some chose to see it as divine punishment for the sins of mankind and looked to prayer, rather than science, for salvation. Notoriously, the Bishop of Zamora resisted calls from the Spanish authorities to close his churches and instead insisted on holding additional masses and processions.</p>
<p>From a theological standpoint, natural disasters and pandemics inevitably raise the profile of the long-standing and much-debated “problem of evil”. Here is philosopher <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galen_Strawson">Galen Strawson’s</a> take on <a href="https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/12/06/what-can-be-proved-about-god/">the problem</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We can, for example, know with certainty that the Christian God does not exist as standardly defined: a being who is omniscient, omnipotent and wholly benevolent. The proof lies in the world, which is full of extraordinary suffering…belief in such a God, however rare, is profoundly immoral. It shows contempt for the reality of human suffering, or indeed any intense suffering.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But suppose the person who was directly responsible for creating the world wasn’t God but some far lesser, far more fallible being. Someone more akin to an ordinary human engineer or scientist – or even a movie director or video-game designer. Let us further suppose that the diseases and disasters that can be found in the world are all the result of design choices, freely made by this non-divine designer of worlds. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346304/original/file-20200708-3978-1bgx34v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346304/original/file-20200708-3978-1bgx34v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346304/original/file-20200708-3978-1bgx34v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346304/original/file-20200708-3978-1bgx34v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346304/original/file-20200708-3978-1bgx34v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346304/original/file-20200708-3978-1bgx34v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346304/original/file-20200708-3978-1bgx34v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=454&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Creation of Adam - a reproduction from a section of Michelangelo’s fresco on the Sistine Chapel ceiling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-illustration/creation-adam-digital-sketch-reproduction-section-1608382417">Shutterstock/FreedaMichaux</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This may seem fantastically far fetched. But in the realm of physics just these kinds of scenarios are being played out as scientists work on the complex mathematics behind lab-created “pocket universes” and tech leaders, such as Elon Musk, explore the potential of <a href="https://www.wired.com/story/heres-how-elon-musk-plans-to-stitch-a-computer-into-your-brain/">brain-machine interfaces</a>.</p>
<p>It’s also important to appreciate that if this <em>were</em> the case then for many theists God could no longer be blamed for much of the suffering that exists in our world and the problem of evil would be very largely solved.</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/288776/original/file-20190820-170910-8bv1s7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><strong><em>This article is part of Conversation Insights</em></strong>
<br><em>The Insights team generates <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218">long-form journalism</a> derived from interdisciplinary research. The team is working with academics from different backgrounds who have been engaged in projects aimed at tackling societal and scientific challenges.</em> </p>
<hr>
<p>Why? Because for theists human beings are creatures of a very special sort: thanks to our God-given free will we have the ability to <em>choose</em> whether we act well or badly. And, generally speaking, God does not interfere with these choices or their consequences. If a free agent acts appallingly (committing murder, rape or genocide) the resulting “moral evil” is to be greatly regretted, but God should not be blamed. The fault lies entirely with the person who freely chose to act in this way. </p>
<h2>Morality and natural evils</h2>
<p>Morality and free will are deeply intertwined. If someone does something very wrong, they aren’t morally at fault if they only acted in that way because they were hypnotised or brainwashed. Similarly, if someone performs a good act (giving food to a starving child, say) but only did so because a gun was pointed at their heads, they are not morally praiseworthy. </p>
<p>Most religious believers hold that humans have the capacity to make free choices. They also believe that anyone who chooses to do the right things can expect to be rewarded by God, whereas those who act wrongly can expect to be punished. For this to be possible God has to not only provide us with free will, he also has to allow us to carry out those actions we freely choose to perform – the bad ones included. </p>
<p>This “free will solution” to the problem of evil has been a mainstay of theology since it was elaborated by <a href="http://sites.nd.edu/ujournal/files/2014/07/Peterson_05-06.pdf">St Augustine</a> more than 1,500 years ago. From the theological perspective, the so-called “natural evils” pose a far more intractable problem. These include all the vast amounts of suffering caused by diseases, earthquakes and floods along with the agonies suffered by animals. As normally construed, these sources of suffering are <em>not</em> moral evils, since they are not the result of freely chosen human actions. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344076/original/file-20200625-33569-1tbdbps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/344076/original/file-20200625-33569-1tbdbps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344076/original/file-20200625-33569-1tbdbps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344076/original/file-20200625-33569-1tbdbps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344076/original/file-20200625-33569-1tbdbps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344076/original/file-20200625-33569-1tbdbps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/344076/original/file-20200625-33569-1tbdbps.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Apocalyptic vision of giant tsunami waves crashing small coastal town.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/apocalyptic-dramatic-background-giant-tsunami-waves-154310390">Shutterstock/IgorZh</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hence the problem posed by such evils for anyone who believes that God created our world. Couldn’t a creator that is truly all-powerful, all-knowing and good have made a much better job of it? In fact, wouldn’t it have been quite easy for God to ensure that the world contains far fewer natural evils? A few tweaks to human DNA would provide <a href="https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/325178">immunity to cancer</a>. A slightly different tweak would provide immunity to viruses. When designing the animals an all-powerful God would not need to rely on the incredibly slow and imperfect method of evolution by natural selection – a process which inevitably results in vast amounts of <a href="https://imagejournal.org/article/darwin-and-the-problem-of-time/">pain and suffering</a>.</p>
<p>On the other hand, if the maker of our world was not all-powerful, or all-knowing, or as good as it’s possible to be, then it’s not surprising to find ourselves living in the sort of world we do. </p>
<h2>Alternate realities and bubbles</h2>
<p>As for why we should take seriously the idea that there can be makers of worlds who are less than divine, there is no shortage of relevant scenarios to be found in science, science fiction and philosophy.</p>
<p>Among the obstacles that <a href="https://home.cern/about">Cern</a> had to overcome when constructing the Large Hadron Collider (the very large and powerful machine which discovered the <a href="https://theconversation.com/could-the-higgs-nobel-be-the-end-of-particle-physics-18978">Higgs boson</a> in 2012) was persuading a worried public that running the collider would not create a <a href="https://home.cern/resources/faqs/will-cern-generate-black-hole">mini-black hole</a> that would escape the confines of the lab and go on to consume the entire planet. Although there was no real danger of this happening, such worries were by no means entirely groundless. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346310/original/file-20200708-47-hnx79q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/346310/original/file-20200708-47-hnx79q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346310/original/file-20200708-47-hnx79q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346310/original/file-20200708-47-hnx79q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=286&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346310/original/file-20200708-47-hnx79q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346310/original/file-20200708-47-hnx79q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/346310/original/file-20200708-47-hnx79q.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Higgs boson was detected in 2012 in the experiments, conducted with the Large Hadron Collider at CERN.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/cern-european-organization-nuclear-research-where-1287557641">Shutterstock/DVISIONS</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As long ago as the 1980s and 1990s, <a href="https://ocw.mit.edu/courses/physics/8-286-the-early-universe-fall-2013/video-lectures/lecture-1-inflationary-cosmology-is-our-universe-part-of-a-multiverse/">Alan Guth</a> and <a href="https://slate.com/culture/2004/05/the-creation-of-the-universe.html">Andrei Linde</a> (respected physicists and pioneers of the now widely accepted <a href="http://www.ctc.cam.ac.uk/outreach/origins/inflation_zero.php">inflationary cosmology</a>) raised the possibility that scientists might soon be able to create “bubble” or “pocket” universes in a laboratory. Initially sub-microscopic, the newly created bubble universe rapidly expands and soon constitutes a full-scale cosmos in its own right. These new universes create their own space and time as they grow, so they take up no room at all in our world and pose no threat to us.</p>
<p>The energy driving the expansion of the envisaged pocket universes derives from the same <a href="http://nautil.us/issue/48/chaos/the-inflated-debate-over-cosmic-inflation">inflationary field</a> that cosmologists believe was responsible for an explosive expansion in our own universe that took place shortly after the big bang. During this brief period the scale of the universe’s expansion was enormous, it got trillions of times bigger in little more than an instant. But since the negative energy perfectly cancels the positive energy of the matter being created, no energy conservation laws are infringed. As Guth is fond of remarking, the universe is the ultimate free lunch.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-how-does-an-experiment-at-the-large-hadron-collider-work-42846">Explainer: how does an experiment at the Large Hadron Collider work?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Various methods for creating universes in labs have since been proposed, including compressing a few grams of ordinary matter into a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1987/04/14/science/physicist-aims-to-create-a-universe-literally.html">very small volume</a> to create small black holes and deploying <a href="https://arxiv.org/pdf/gr-qc/0602084.pdf">stable magnetic monopoles</a> to create exotic spacetime structures. Precisely controlling the physical laws that govern the worlds created by these methods will not be easy. But physicists have <a href="http://articles.adsabs.harvard.edu//full/1995QJRAS..36..193H/0000193.000.html">not ruled out the possibility</a> of fine tuning their basic physical constants to render them more capable of sustaining the complex structures needed for life.</p>
<p>Even if creating such universes requires knowledge and technology that we do not currently possess, a scientifically more advanced civilisation could easily possess what is required. Hence Linde’s playful quip: “Does this mean that our universe was created, not by a divine design, but by a physicist hacker?”</p>
<h2>The simulation argument</h2>
<p>This is one potential route to creating an entire world. But there are other possibilities, too. Perhaps in reality humans are all characters living inside something akin to a vast multi-player online video game, running on a <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlTKTTt47WE">super-powerful computer</a>. </p>
<p>By the 1980s and 90s science fiction writers such as <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/oct/23/surface-detail-iain-banks-review">Iain M Banks</a> <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eternity_(novel)">Greg Bear</a> and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diaspora_(novel)">Greg Egan</a> had started to explore the fictional possibilities of wholly computer-generated virtual realities in impressive depth and detail. The inhabitants of these worlds might seem to have ordinary physical bodies and brains, but like everything else in these worlds, their bodies and brains were virtual rather than physical, existing only as data flowing through a computer’s innards. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/wOi9i1vqJ60?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>The 1982 Disney production <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084827/">TRON</a> was an early movie depiction of this sort of wholly computer-generated virtual world. The human protagonists are converted into data (or “digitised”) by a specially adapted laser beam, which allows them to embark on adventures in a digital virtual reality. The movie’s ground-breaking computer-generated imagery may be unremarkable by contemporary standards, but they are vastly more sophisticated than those found in the early video game <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4VRgY3tkh0">PONG</a>, one of the main <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/1982/07/04/movies/special-effects-are-revolutionizing-film.html?pagewanted=2">inspirations for the movie</a>.</p>
<p>In 2003 the philosopher Nick Bostrom published his much-discussed “simulation argument”, the upshot of which is that not only are TRON-style virtual worlds perfectly possible, there is a significant probability that <a href="https://www.simulation-argument.com">we are living in one</a>. Bostrom’s initially surprising conclusion is based on some by no means implausible assumptions regarding the computational capacity that future computers are likely to possess (<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/35023282">astonishingly vast</a>, it turns out). </p>
<p>If we do exist inside a computer simulation, then since we are all conscious (at least while we’re awake) it must be possible for a computer to generate the kinds of experiences we are enjoying right now. If consciousness required a biological brain, Bostrom’s simulation scenario wouldn’t get off the ground. But science fiction writers were not the only people to be impressed by the arrival of computers. </p>
<p>In the 1970s and 80s increasing numbers of philosophers came round to the view that conscious mentality is not essentially biological in character. Slogans such as, “mind is related to brain as software is related to hardware” seemed very plausible, not only to philosophers but to psychologists and neuroscientists too. If mentality is essentially a matter of information flow (as the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/computational-mind/#Plu">computer analogy</a> suggested) then anything could possess a mind provided it processes information in the right sorts of ways. And computers seemed at least as well suited to this task as a biological brain.</p>
<p>Less radical forms of virtual worlds are also possible and the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B70Hapf_okE">Matrix movies</a> provide a well-known example. In this scenario most humans find themselves living somewhere that seems similar to contemporary Earth. In reality, their entire environment is, in effect, a communal mass hallucination – a wholly virtual world produced by a powerful computer hooked into people’s brains via a neural interface. But it doesn’t seem like that: the virtual world seems just as real as our world. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gCZBY7a8kqE?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>Smaller scale variants of this scenario are also possible. Instead of an entire planetary population being simultaneously plugged into the same virtual world, just a few people are. Perhaps you are a 22nd-century schoolchild, enjoying a virtual lesson supplied via a tiny but highly sophisticated neural interface, spending a bit of time learning what it was like to be an early 21st-century person leading a perfectly ordinary life. In an hour or so your lesson will finish and your version of the 21st century will come to an end. </p>
<h2>A video game? Seriously?</h2>
<p>A Matrix-style brain-computer interface is capable of controlling every aspect of a subject’s sensory consciousness down to the smallest detail. If it weren’t, it wouldn’t be able to supply a completely lifelike total virtual reality experience, involving vision, hearing, smell, taste and touch. Society does not possess anything close to this kind of technology at present. But there is every reason to believe it is possible, in principle, and rapid advances are already being made. </p>
<p>The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) made <a href="https://www.wired.com/2015/03/woman-controls-fighter-jet-sim-using-mind/">headlines</a> in 2017 when one of its neural interfaces allowed a paralysed woman to control a jet plane in a flight simulator. More recently, Elon Musk’s Neuralink start-up announced that it had designed a <a href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6204648-Neuralink-White-Paper.html">neurosurgical robot</a> capable of inserting 192 electrodes a minute into a rat’s brain without triggering bleeding and experiments involving humans are expected to begin soon.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/elon-musk-says-were-probably-living-in-a-computer-simulation-heres-the-science-60821">Elon Musk says we're probably living in a computer simulation – here's the science</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The science and technology needed to undertake this kind of world-making will be more advanced than anything we possess at present, but not by enormous or inconceivable margins. These are technologies we might reasonably expect to develop within a century or so – perhaps sooner.</p>
<p>In any event, the capabilities of these world-makers evidently fall far short of the capabilities of the omniscient, omnipotent and wholly benevolent God of traditional theism. Given the world’s many and varied imperfections, if there is a creator at all, doesn’t it seem more reasonable to suppose that it is of the non-divine variety? Someone more akin to the physicist hacker envisaged by Linde, or the virtual-reality programmers envisaged by Bostrom?</p>
<p>Adopting this hypothesis does not mean the theistic God is entirely redundant – far from it. Theists can still be confident that God is the ultimate creative force in the cosmos. Maybe it was God who brought the primordial cosmos into existence and furnished it with natural laws that allowed its less-than-divine inhabitants to develop the capability of acting as world-makers in their own right, with all the <a href="https://reducing-suffering.org/lab-universes-creating-infinite-suffering/">moral responsibilities</a> this brings. Although there is (at present) no way for us to find out what this divinely created world was like, we can be certain of one thing: being far better designed, it contains far fewer natural evils than can be found in this world, and so far less death and suffering.</p>
<p>But would a benevolent God allow less-than-divine people to create their own worlds? There is at least one compelling reason to think they would. As recent history has shown (think of the suffering resulting from the actions of Hitler, Stalin or Mao) God grants people a great deal of leeway when it comes to making choices that have horrendous consequences for untold millions of innocent men, women and children.</p>
<p>The problem of evil has bedevilled monotheistic religions ever since their inception, and the idea of extending the free-will solution to encompass natural evil has always been available. But until very recently, the idea that anything other than a being possessing supernatural powers could create a world such as ours was almost impossible to take seriously. This is no longer the case. </p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=112&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/313478/original/file-20200204-41481-1n8vco4.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=140&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p><em>For you: more from our <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/topics/insights-series-71218?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Insights series</a>:</em></p>
<ul>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/the-world-needs-pharmaceuticals-from-china-and-india-to-beat-coronavirus-138388?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">The world needs pharmaceuticals from China and India to beat coronavirus
</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/what-future-do-airlines-have-three-experts-discuss-135365?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">What future do airlines have? Three experts discuss</a></em></p></li>
<li><p><em><a href="https://theconversation.com/searching-for-misha-the-life-and-tragedies-of-the-worlds-most-famous-polar-bear-137344?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK">Searching for Misha: the life and tragedies of the world’s most famous polar bear</a></em></p></li>
</ul>
<p><em>To hear about new Insights articles, join the hundreds of thousands of people who value The Conversation’s evidence-based news. <a href="https://theconversation.com/uk/newsletters/the-daily-newsletter-2?utm_source=TCUK&utm_medium=linkback&utm_campaign=TCUKengagement&utm_content=InsightsUK"><strong>Subscribe to our newsletter</strong></a>.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/141086/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Barry Dainton does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
What if the being responsible for creating our world wasn’t God, but some far lesser, far more fallible being like a scientist or video game designer?
Barry Dainton, Professor of Philosophy, University of Liverpool
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/135668
2020-05-14T13:55:03Z
2020-05-14T13:55:03Z
Popular Christian novel ‘The Shack’ finds a surprising solution to the problem of evil: Polytheism
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325527/original/file-20200405-74212-11pwnsa.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=229%2C0%2C968%2C499&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">In the movie based on William Paul Young's 'The Shack,' Mack (Sam Worthington), second from the left, meets the Trinity. From left to right: Jesus, the Son (Avraham Aviv Alush), Papa, God the Father (Octavia Spencer) and Sarayu, the Holy Spirit (Sumire Matsubara). </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Summit Entertainment, Lionsgate)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the United States, churches in at <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/right-worship-church-state-clash-over-religious-services-coronavirus-era-n1201626">least four states</a> have filed lawsuits about the banning of religious gatherings due to the coronavirus pandemic. </p>
<p>A prominent Virginia pastor died in April of COVID-19, after preaching that “<a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/04/13/virginia-pastor-church-dies-coronavirus/">I firmly believe that God is larger than this dreaded virus</a>.” One church elder, struggling to make sense of the news, reminisced: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“Our bishop always told us, even as they wheeled him into the operating room, he proclaimed that God is still a healer. … I don’t know how, but I have to say: God will get the glory from this.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Like some <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/religion/2020/05/05/bronx-church-promised-land-coronavirus-deaths/">other congregations</a> struck by the pandemic, the Virginia church was asking questions about the problem of suffering: why a good and powerful God, who is a “healer,” allows the pandemic’s suffering and death to take place. </p>
<p>These are questions that fiction has explored for years, including, perhaps most famously in recent years, William Paul Young’s evangelical bestseller <em>The Shack</em>. In 2017, the novel was made into a Hollywood blockbuster <a href="https://www.christiantoday.com/article/was.the.shack.movie.a.success/116141.htm">that grossed over US$96 million globally</a>, starring Octavia Spencer and Sam Worthington.</p>
<p><em>The Shack</em> investigates possible <a href="http://doi.org/10.1093/0195140028.001.0001">justifications for suffering and evil</a> in the world, and how these relate with popular notions of God in the Christian tradition as <a href="https://www.rep.routledge.com/articles/thematic/god-concepts-of/v-1/sections/classical-theism">all-knowing, all-powerful and good</a>.</p>
<p>My current research examines how contemporary American novels — both popular evangelical and more literary fiction — treat the theological problems of suffering and evil. In <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfaa021">a new research paper</a>, I suggest that the massive popularity of <em>The Shack</em> was due to its inadvertent polytheism. Many gods, it turns out, solve the problem of evil in a way the Christian one God cannot.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/CL0yUbSS5Eg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">‘The Shack’ trailer.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Confronting God</h2>
<p>In <em>The Shack</em> , protagonist Mack (Sam Worthington), gets the chance to question God. He wants to know why God allowed his daughter Missy to be sexually abused and murdered. </p>
<p>After a mysterious invitation, Mack travels to the site of the murder years before. The dilapidated shack in the snowy mountains magically turns into a beautiful summer cabin by a lake. There, Mack meets the <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/trinity/trinity-history.html">members of the Trinity, the three divine persons in one God</a> worshipped by Christians. </p>
<p>“Papa,” or God the Father, is played by <a href="https://www.wsj.com/articles/the-shack-review-a-test-of-faith-1488484250">Octavia Spencer</a>, the Holy Spirit is played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm3006355/">Sumire Matsubara</a> and the Son is played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1983341/bio">Avraham Aviv Alush</a>.</p>
<p>Mack spends a weekend with the Trinity, cooking, hiking and gardening as they take turns trying to “<a href="https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45718/paradise-lost-book-1-1674-version">justify the ways of God to men</a>,” to use the words of English poet John Milton.</p>
<p>But the divine beings strangely proliferate. Mack meets a Hispanic woman in a cave named Sophia (<a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/jesus-miriams-child-sophias-prophet-9780567658661/">Greek for wisdom</a>), played by <a href="https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0103797/">Alice Braga</a>. </p>
<p>When the time comes for God to lead Mack to his daughter’s body, the Father appears as an Indigenous man (<a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/graham-greene">Oneida actor Graham Greene</a> from Six Nations of the Grand River). </p>
<p>What is going on with this strange proliferation of divine beings, as they take turns deflecting and diverting Mack’s questions about the problem of evil?</p>
<h2>Back to polytheism</h2>
<p>The answer is that Young has inadvertently rediscovered the ancient Israelite polytheism of 3,000 years ago, for the simple reason that justifying the gods’ ways to humans is an easier task than justifying God’s ways to humans.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325530/original/file-20200405-74235-f8ypgh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">El, the Canaanite creator deity, bronze statue with gold leaf from 1400-1200 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikimedia Commons/Oriental Institute Museum, University of Chicago)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Over the past few decades, critical scholars of the Bible have come to realize that the ancient Israelites worshipped a <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-origins-of-biblical-monotheism-9780195167689">pantheon of gods</a>. </p>
<p>If this comes as a surprise to most readers of the Bible, this is understandable: The Bible was written by religious elites who, over the centuries, textually condensed the pantheon of gods into the single God of the Abrahamic religions.</p>
<p>A historical shift to monotheism can be traced through biblical texts: for example, what’s known as the second commandment, “<a href="https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Exodus+20%3A3&version=NRSV">You shall have no other gods before me</a>,” from the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/event/Exodus-Old-Testament">biblical book of Exodus</a> clearly presupposes the existence of multiple gods.</p>
<p>There was El, the head god of the pantheon, and <a href="https://www.eerdmans.com/Products/6394/did-god-have-a-wife.aspx">his wife, Asherah</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1106&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1389&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1389&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/325529/original/file-20200405-74225-apxqwd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1389&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baal, with right arm raised. Bronze figurine from 1400-1200 BC.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Wikimedia Commons/Louvre Museum)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There was Baal, the storm god. They were joined by Yahweh — a name which which came to be understood in Judaism as <a href="https://www.haaretz.com/archaeology/.premium.MAGAZINE-we-shouldn-t-take-god-s-name-in-vain-but-what-is-it-1.6546806">the sacred name of God</a>, “too holy to be uttered aloud.”</p>
<p>Over time Yahweh absorbed Baal’s attributes and rose to the top of the pantheon, displacing El and acquiring El’s spouse as his own.</p>
<p>The Biblical record, as well as archaeological and other textual evidence, suggests that as the centuries went on, the other gods were demoted to angels, or denied existence altogether, until <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.15699/jbl.1371.2018.342426">Yahweh reigned alone</a>. </p>
<p>Scholars continue to debate the historical development of this process, but it appears likely that the pantheon still existed during the time of the Israelite monarchy, <a href="https://www.fortresspress.com/store/product/9780800634858/The-Memoirs-of-God-History-Memory-and-the-Experience-of-the-Divine-in-Ancient-Israel">even until the Babylonian exile</a> in 586 BC.</p>
<h2>Divine niches filled</h2>
<p>So when the divine beings proliferate in <em>The Shack</em>, it is for a logical reason and a historical reason. </p>
<p>The historical reason is that when the other gods disappeared, they sometimes left niches that would eventually be filled with <a href="https://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14013.html">other divine beings</a>, such as angels — or eventually the members of the Christian Trinity.</p>
<p>The logical reason is that it’s much easier to explain the problem of evil when there are many different divine agents, who sometimes work at cross-purposes. </p>
<p>Divine conflict doesn’t occur in <em>The Shack</em>, but the multiple divine beings work to deflect questions and divert Mack’s attention. </p>
<p>Papa, the Father, explains <a href="https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/freewill/">free will</a> and the Holy Spirit talks of Adam and Eve’s “<a href="https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199596539.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199596539-e-020">original sin</a>” in the Garden of Eden, a state of “fallenness” believed to be borne by all their descendents. The Son emphasizes the importance of a relationship with God, and Wisdom describes human ignorance. But Mack never really gets a good answer about why innocent people suffer.</p>
<p>There are other literary solutions to this problem of suffering <a href="https://religiondispatches.org/fundamentalist-fiction-provides-a-window-into-the-evangelical-apocalyptic-worldview-thats-helped-bring-us-to-our-current-crisis/">besides evangelical ones</a>. Maybe God isn’t good, as in <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-unfilmable-blood-meridian-91719">Cormac McCarthy’s <em>Blood Meridian</em></a>, or isn’t interested in individuals as in <a href="https://theconversation.com/contact-and-carl-sagans-faith-85150">Carl Sagan’s <em>Contact</em></a>. But these solutions mean abandoning orthodox Christian theology.</p>
<p><em>The Shack</em> instead stumbled accidentally upon a startling solution: recovering the ancient Israelite polytheism out of which Young’s Christian tradition grew. </p>
<p>It’s inadvertent because the characters don’t present themselves as polytheistic beings but rather as different faces of one God. “<a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/1236082-we-are-not-three-gods-and-we-are-not-talking">We are not three gods</a>,” is the Father’s official position. </p>
<p>But, as <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/jaarel/lfaa021">I suggest in my new article</a>, <em>The Shack</em>’s popularity may be due in part to the pantheon that Mack (re)discovers. Perhaps we should abandon the Father’s pretence and embrace polytheism as a theologically easier answer to the problems of evil and suffering.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/135668/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Christopher Douglas receives funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the National Endowment for the Humanities.</span></em></p>
The problems of suffering and evil emerging in the coronavirus pandemic occupy popular evangelical fiction. In ‘The Shack,’ proliferating divine beings harken to a long-standing solution.
Christopher Douglas, Professor of American Literature and Religion, University of Victoria
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/124832
2019-10-08T12:00:34Z
2019-10-08T12:00:34Z
Joker makes for uncomfortable viewing – it shows how society creates extremists
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295822/original/file-20191007-121088-19dbkfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">© 2019 Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. All Rights Reserved. TM & © DC Comics</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The backlash against the backlash has begun. Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix and directed by Todd Phillips of Hangover trilogy fame, has opened to conflicting reviews and negative press. </p>
<p>Having been hailed as a <a href="https://variety.com/2019/film/news/joker-joaquin-phoenix-robert-deniro-premiere-venice-1203320139/">masterpiece</a> when it first screened at the Venice film festival (and drawing an eight-minute standing ovation), a slew of <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/evj5ep/incel-shitposts-are-making-people-nervous-about-the-joker-premiere">anxious commentaries</a> have since worried about the film’s potential to incite mass shootings and civilian violence. Since its general release, the tide has begun to turn once again in favour of the film, suggesting that the general public is far more capable of discerning the difference between social commentary and incitement to violence than some pundits believe.</p>
<p>The film takes the iconic comic book villain from the Batman series, and traces his evolution from the failed comic, Arthur Fleck, to the devilish monster, “Joker”. Despite its roots, the film is far more concerned with how evil manifests in the real world than with comic book villainy, offering a compelling portrayal of the failure of a certain ideal of white, American masculinity. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295825/original/file-20191007-121079-12rlxgd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295825/original/file-20191007-121079-12rlxgd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295825/original/file-20191007-121079-12rlxgd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295825/original/file-20191007-121079-12rlxgd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295825/original/file-20191007-121079-12rlxgd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295825/original/file-20191007-121079-12rlxgd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295825/original/file-20191007-121079-12rlxgd.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Caring for his mother.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© 2019 Warner Bros.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This ideal, witnessed in the Hollywood tradition from Clint Eastwood to Sylvester Stallone, posits an image of the successful American male as virile, violent, and economically independent. These men are agents of violence for the benefit of society, figures who protect American values against perceived threats from the outside using extreme force. </p>
<p>Having now seen the film, I think the controversy around it speaks to a certain hypocrisy around the depictions of violence – we like our violence slick and stylish, and don’t want to have to think about our role in creating the individuals who commit it. Amazingly, Joker does just this.</p>
<h2>Male violence</h2>
<p>The first half of Joker takes the viewer on a journey through the many ways Fleck falls drastically short of the American male ideal. </p>
<p>A gang beats him up; he has an ill-defined mental illness, takes prescription drugs, and sees a counsellor; his colleagues bully him. Significantly, he is feminised — he lives with and cares for his mother, in what we are invited to view as Norman Bates-esque creepiness. The viewer also watches him dancing, his semi-naked body an emaciated form put on display as it gyrates and contorts before the camera.</p>
<p>The film reflects what sociologist Michael Kimmel calls the “aggrieved entitlement” of the white American male, where the failure to procure the social status and goods you believe you deserve (money, employment, property, sex, family), leads to anger and violence at groups you blame – women, people of colour, sexual minorities.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/t433PEQGErc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>And so it is no surprise that some are troubled by Fleck’s close approximation to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/25/raw-hatred-why-incel-movement-targets-terrorises-women">incels</a> (involuntary celibates). It has been <a href="https://time.com/5666055/venice-joker-review-joaquin-phoenix-not-funny">suggested</a> that in the character of Joker, incels could find a “patron saint” who embodies many of their supposed traits: isolation, anger, lack of employment, and failure to attract women.</p>
<p>Films like Joker – and antecedents such as Fight Club, which has been taken up as an icon by white supremacist groups in the US – invite us to question the line between reality and fiction. Do such films reflect social conditions or do they, in the end, help create them?</p>
<h2>Sympathy for the devil</h2>
<p>Much of the debate around Joker’s potential to inspire “copycat” violence has centred on the film’s apparent “empathy” or “sympathy” for Arthur Fleck. <a href="https://time.com/5666055/venice-joker-review-joaquin-phoenix-not-funny">The theory goes</a> that violent-minded young loners will see Fleck and try to emulate his actions. </p>
<p>But the audience is not encouraged to empathise with Fleck. Film techniques that encourage the audience to identify with a character, such as point-of-view shots and close ups, rarely occur in Joker. Instead, we see Fleck through a range of distorted surfaces, such as windows, mirrors, and television screens.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295828/original/file-20191007-121051-1hewhjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295828/original/file-20191007-121051-1hewhjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295828/original/file-20191007-121051-1hewhjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295828/original/file-20191007-121051-1hewhjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295828/original/file-20191007-121051-1hewhjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295828/original/file-20191007-121051-1hewhjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295828/original/file-20191007-121051-1hewhjn.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Smile.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© 2019 Warner Bros.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fight Club’s main characters were buff, brawny, articulate leaders of a movement. Fleck’s body, by contrast, is a grotesque object of disgust. His skinny form as it contorts and writhes is difficult to watch, and we also witness black bruises, snot dripping from his nose, grainy and caked clown make up. His laugh, initially a curiosity, makes you writhe in your seat by the end of the film. Certainly, there are times when we pity his situation, and may feel moved to condemn the social conditions that contribute to his isolation. But we want to turn away from this man, not become like him.</p>
<p>This is where the suggestion that the film tries to incite incel violence fails. Commentators appear to have forgotten that how “we”, larger society, see people like incels and other extremists, is not the way they see themselves. Threads on 4chan (a website that hosts an incel forum) have said that comparing incels with Joker showed how wider society viewed them — as monsters. </p>
<h2>Heroes and villains</h2>
<p>People who commit acts of violence on behalf of an ideology don’t imagine themselves as lonely, depressed, unattractive, and physically weak men like Fleck – they join these movements to leave such <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/apr/08/violent-extremists-share-one-thing-gender-michael-kimmel">inadequacies behind</a>. They imagine themselves in the guise of the cowboy, the Terminator, Rambo, the American sniper — <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/social-issues/saviors-of-the-white-race-perpetrators-of-hate-crimes-see-themselves-as-heroes-researchers-say/2018/10/31/277a2bdc-daeb-11e8-85df-7a6b4d25cfbb_story.html">heroes</a> fighting the forces of “evil”.</p>
<p>And so there is a deep hypocrisy in certain responses to Joker, a film which, in the end, contains far fewer scenes of violence and death than any Tarantino film. Joker is not a satire, nor is its violence “cool”. Our witness of the dank and depressing origins of the movement overshadows everything.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295830/original/file-20191007-121092-lg5dax.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/295830/original/file-20191007-121092-lg5dax.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295830/original/file-20191007-121092-lg5dax.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295830/original/file-20191007-121092-lg5dax.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=378&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295830/original/file-20191007-121092-lg5dax.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295830/original/file-20191007-121092-lg5dax.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/295830/original/file-20191007-121092-lg5dax.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=475&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A grim depiction.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">© 2019 Warner Bros.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fleck’s story disrupts any easy distinction between “good” and “evil”, a narrative mainstay of Hollywood film from Westerns to Marvel. The problem with the heroes and villains narrative is that there is no responsibility required on the part of the viewer or the other characters — some folks are born bad and deserve what they get.</p>
<p>Fleck is evil, ugly, and cynical. But so is the world he lives in, a world whose inequality and cruelty towards the most vulnerable in society finds echoes with our own. Perhaps we condemn Joker because the elevation of a spiteful, selfish, and narcissistic caricature of a man to a state of power feels painfully, and shamefully, close to home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/124832/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Maria Flood does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
We don’t want to have to think about our role in creating the individuals who commit violence. Amazingly, Joker asks us to.
Maria Flood, Lecturer in Film Studies, Keele University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/115533
2019-04-30T10:44:09Z
2019-04-30T10:44:09Z
How a music genre known as black metal came to be related to church burnings
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/270495/original/file-20190423-175524-j7k4eh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The burnt ruins of the St. Mary Baptist Church, one of three that recently burned down in Louisiana.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Church-Fires-Louisiana/d1340d651ebc4a009666bf20a2b445fe/9/0">AP Photo/Gerald Herbert</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>When three historically African American churches were <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/05/us/louisiana-black-church-fires.html">burned down</a> recently in southern Louisiana, it <a href="https://www.poynter.org/reporting-editing/2019/rebuilding-burnt-churches-and-the-role-of-the-news-media-an-inspirational-lesson-from-1962/">evoked memories</a> of the violence of the civil rights era. </p>
<p>A 21-year-old white male, <a href="https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/holden-matthews-varg-wikernes-norwegian-black-metal-lords-of-chaos-820995/">Holden Matthews</a>, was later arrested on charges of arson. As media reports noted, Holden may have been influenced by a subgenre of heavy metal music – black metal. <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/holden-matthews-arrested-in-string-of-louisiana-church-fires">The Daily Beast</a> reported that a Facebook page “that appeared to belong to Matthews showed he was active in pagan and black metal pages.” </p>
<p>The church burnings are still under investigation. But as a scholar who studies religion’s connection with several <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/spirits-rejoice-9780190230913?cc=us&lang=en&">genres of popular music</a>, including <a href="http://california.universitypressscholarship.com/view/10.1525/california/9780520291447.001.0001/upso-9780520291447-chapter-006">heavy metal</a>, I know that a small subset of black metal came to be linked to sensational violence in its early days.</p>
<h2>History of metal</h2>
<p>Heavy metal has its roots in the 1960s. To early bands and listeners it provided what musicologist <a href="https://music.case.edu/faculty/robert-walser/">Robert Walser</a> called “<a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/book/23384">a ‘harder’ sort of hard rock</a>.” </p>
<p>The rock genre of metal distinguished itself from other genres through its <a href="https://www.ucpress.edu/book/9780520257177/this-aint-the-summer-of-love">dark worldly outlook</a>. Many of its lyrics dealt with themes of demonology and death that contrasted with the popular music of the times.</p>
<p>Some early bands like Black Sabbath explored Satanic imagery in their songs and reveled in the controversy that they generated. Many <a href="https://www.newsweek.com/2015/10/09/oral-history-tipper-gores-war-explicit-rock-lyrics-dee-snider-373103.html">parents were concerned</a> that young listeners would be seduced into evil with such songs.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0lVdMbUx1_k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Black Sabbath.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By the 1980s, metal as a genre had become <a href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1987-06-19-ca-4859-story.html">commercially successful</a> in Europe and North America. Around that time, other bands also emerged that believed metal should <a href="https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1260727">shock listeners</a> rather than seek only commercial success.</p>
<p>One such band was England’s Venom. Scholar <a href="https://www.ucl.ac.uk/ssees/people/titus-hjelm">Titus Hjelm</a> has argued that the band’s 1982 album “Black Metal” was the <a href="https://www.equinoxpub.com/home/heavy-metal/">starting point of black metal</a> as a subgenre. </p>
<p>Obsessed with Satanic imagery, Venom’s noisy and aggressive style became the <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/metal-rules-the-globe/">musical template</a> for subsequent bands.</p>
<p>The bands following Venom often combined extravagant theatricality, such as makeup and props like pentagrams or inverted crosses, with fiercely <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Extreme_Metal.html?id=j498eOosXxEC">anti-Christian lyrics</a>.</p>
<h2>Black metal</h2>
<p>Among some black metal bands that sprang up in the mid-1980s, reliance on Satanic imagery was often replaced by an interest in <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w76v8x.17?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">alternate religious themes</a> that were opposed to Christianity. These ideas took hold most deeply in Scandinavia.</p>
<p>Many of the younger Scandinavian black metal bands believed that the “purity” of their ancient Norse culture had been diluted by the influence of <a href="https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/PMH/article/view/14445">Judeo-Christian religions</a>. Many of these musicians publicly embraced religions like <a href="http://www.religionfacts.com/asatru">Asatru</a>, which worships the old Norse gods that predated the arrival of Christianity in Scandinavia. They professed admiration for <a href="https://www.academia.edu/26588672/_Sons_of_Northern_Darkness_Heathen_Influences_in_Black_Metal_and_Neofolk_Music1">Viking resistance to Christianization</a> and for the strength of Norse deities like Thor. </p>
<p>Some bands also called for purging metal of the influences of American rock. What they emphasized was shifting to a <a href="https://www.academia.edu/36272800/True_Kvlt_The_Cultural_Capital_of_Nordicness_in_Extreme_Metal">purely European</a> musical form that expressed their reverence for their culture. </p>
<p>But beyond aggressive song lyrics, there were no links to violence until this period.</p>
<h2>Ideas spread in Norway</h2>
<p>In early 1990s, these ideas caught on with a small group of Norwegian musicians. These young men often gathered at Oslo’s record shop <a href="https://www.overlandmetalhead.com/visiting-helvete-in-oslo.html">Helvete</a>, meaning Hell, for conversation and music.</p>
<p>They were attracted to the ideas of self-reliance and personal strength found in the writings of 19th-century German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.</p>
<p>More importantly, as scholar <a href="https://kennetgranholm.com/">Kennet Granholm</a> writes, they embraced the idea that <a href="https://www.academia.edu/26588672/_Sons_of_Northern_Darkness_Heathen_Influences_in_Black_Metal_and_Neofolk_Music1">strength and nonconformity thrived</a> in Scandinavia’s pre-Christian past, which “provided legitimacy both by being outside the mainstream and part of a perceived ‘authentic native culture.’” They began to contrast <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w76v8x.17?seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents">“heathen” culture</a> with what they called the weak outsider religion of Christianity.</p>
<p>To demonstrate their idea of religious irreverence, the black metal bands emerging from this scene <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/metal-rules-the-globe/">painted their faces</a> to look like corpses, wore spiked gauntlets and bandoliers, and sometimes performed with animals’ blood onstage.</p>
<h2>Black metal’s violence</h2>
<p>In the early 1990s, a small number of the musicians who regularly gathered at Helvete began plotting ways to demonstrate their desire to <a href="https://www.academia.edu/26588672/_Sons_of_Northern_Darkness_Heathen_Influences_in_Black_Metal_and_Neofolk_Music1">crush what they saw as weakness and impurity</a>.</p>
<p>This took several forms, ranging from murder to grave desecration. One of these men, for example, <a href="https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/PMH/article/view/14445">murdered a homosexual man</a> because the musician was revolted at being propositioned while walking in a park known to be a place where gay males met for sex. </p>
<p>Black metal’s opposition to Christianity also led to a series of <a href="https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/PMH/article/view/14445">church arsons</a>. In various Norwegian cities in 1992, several black metal musicians <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285066447_Musical_Style_Ideology_and_Mythology_in_Norwegian_Black_Metal">burned eight separate churches</a>, some many centuries old. <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/285066447_Musical_Style_Ideology_and_Mythology_in_Norwegian_Black_Metal">Arsons continued</a> in both Norway and Sweden through 1995.</p>
<p>Since this period of great violence and controversy, black metal continued to thrive in the form of multiple subgenres. It is important to note, however, that most black metal musicians and fans then and now <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1367549404039862">criticized physical violence</a>.</p>
<h2>Racist ideology</h2>
<p>In the mid- to late-1990s, however, some black metal bands expressed the belief that fierce <a href="https://s3.amazonaws.com/academia.edu.documents/30854931/mmp1ever3150410.pdf?AWSAccessKeyId=AKIAIWOWYYGZ2Y53UL3A&Expires=1556215535&Signature=EOPCKQKEZgojI0s2dgHsISci%2BnM%3D&response-content-disposition=inline%3B%20filename%3DTurn_or_Burn_Approaching_The_Peculiar_Ca.pdf#page=96">racist and anti-immigrant positions</a> were integral to their music. Borrowing from Nazi ideology, a small number of Norwegian musicians believed that people of European descent should return to Aryan racial identity. These ideas <a href="https://journals.equinoxpub.com/index.php/PMH/article/view/14442">found a home</a> with a small but virulent subset of U.S. black metal bands and fans.</p>
<p>In time, such views led to the emergence of a small subgenre of black metal: <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/heavy-metal-confronts-its-nazi-problem">national socialist black metal</a>, the variant of black metal that most explicitly espoused racial separatism and extreme violence. In countries like Australia, Poland, Greece and the United States, National Socialist Black Metal has maintained a steady, if highly marginal, existence.</p>
<p>While most people involved in black metal rejected these views explicitly, the genre’s sometime emphasis on ethnic and cultural purity was interpreted by extremists as having a racial implication.</p>
<p>Many of these ideas were also be embraced by the <a href="https://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/84tdt4qt9780252022852.html">American Nazi Party</a> of the mid-20th century, which in turn had drawn on <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/0031322X.2016.1243349">Odinism</a>, an explicitly racist brand of Norse paganism begun by a Norwegian Nazi sympathizer.</p>
<h2>Fun and cathartic for most fans</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271070/original/file-20190425-121233-1m6bh47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/271070/original/file-20190425-121233-1m6bh47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271070/original/file-20190425-121233-1m6bh47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271070/original/file-20190425-121233-1m6bh47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=422&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271070/original/file-20190425-121233-1m6bh47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271070/original/file-20190425-121233-1m6bh47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/271070/original/file-20190425-121233-1m6bh47.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Swedish heavy metal band Ghost B.C. performing in Baltimore.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/inVision-Owen-Sweeney-Invision-AP-A-ENT-MD-USA-/5714de4752984432a0421a6fb41d5d8d/61/0">Owen Sweeney/Invision/AP</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To be clear, heavy metal in general is as inclusive and nonviolent as the majority of rock genres. Some of the more aggressive variants of metal have actually been <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-47543875">linked by psychologists</a> to joyful attitudes. </p>
<p>And today, most fans of black metal enjoy the music in conventional ways, finding it fun and cathartic. There are also variants of black metal that promote environmental consciousness and even <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/xdv89d/fashion-se-v13n10">Christianity</a>.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/115533/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jason C. Bivins does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
When three African American churches were burned down in southern Louisiana, the man accused was said to be linked to black metal, a subgenre of heavy metal with a history of violence.
Jason C. Bivins, Professor, North Carolina State University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/91554
2018-05-03T10:42:10Z
2018-05-03T10:42:10Z
#MeToo in the art world: Genius should not excuse sexual harassment
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217341/original/file-20180502-153884-1x2vxd8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Mosaics by artist Chuck Close on the walls of the new 86th Street subway station on the Second Avenue line in New York.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>This May, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., was to showcase the work of two famous artists: one of painter Chuck Close and another of photographer Thomas Roma. Both exhibitions, however were <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2018/01/25/national-gallery-cancels-shows-by-artists-accused-of-sexual-harassment/?utm_term=.cee4e27b1328">cancelled</a> due to allegations of sexual harassment. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/design/chuck-close-exhibit-harassment-accusations.html">public debate</a> <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1396127/Red-blooded-Caravaggio-killed-love-rival-in-bungled-castration-attempt.html">sparked</a> by the cancellations has centered around the question, is it possible to separate the value of art from the personal conduct of the artist? </p>
<p>As a <a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=7voeCdwAAAAJ&hl=enhttps://stamps.umich.edu">scholar of aesthetics and gender studies</a>, I believe, in the wake of #MeToo this is a good time to revisit the argument of Russian poet Alexander Pushkin <a href="https://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/p/pushkin/aleksandr/p98mo/">about the incompatibility of genius and evil.</a></p>
<h2>Genius and evil</h2>
<p>In his short play from 1830, “Mozart and Salieri,” Pushkin fictionalizes an encounter between the composer Antonio Salieri and his younger friend, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, in Vienna, Austria. Based on existing rumors at the time, Pushkin presents Salieri as envious of Mozart’s genius to the point of poisoning him at the meeting. </p>
<p>Pushkin’s claim in this play was that the human value of good defines genius, and hence committing a crime disqualifies one from being a genius. Based on this presentation of Salieri as evil, his reputation as a composer was tarnished. </p>
<p>After new research suggested that Mozart died from natural causes, most probably a strep infection, views on Salieri’s music also changed. With this new information, Pushkin’s argument was <a href="http://annals.org/aim/article-abstract/744666/death-wolfgang-amadeus-mozart-epidemiologic-perspective">revisited</a>, and Salieri’s reputation in the music community <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/music/2003/dec/19/classicalmusicandopera.italy">started to improve, demonstrated by recorded albums and staging of his operas.</a> </p>
<p>This goes to show how art makers and their audiences become emotionally attached to artists and composers as individuals, and not just to their music or painting. Pushkin himself identified strongly with Mozart. </p>
<p>And the change in attitudes to Salieri also supports Pushkin’s original argument that how genius is understood is strongly correlated with human values, where good and genius reinforce each other. </p>
<h2>The debate</h2>
<p>In the current debate in the art world over this issue, several experts have said that the value of art should not be associated with the personal conduct of its maker. For example, Tom Eccles, executive director of the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/design/chuck-close-exhibit-harassment-accusations.html">suggested</a> that “we can’t not show artists because we don’t agree with them morally; we’d have fairly bare walls.” An example would be be that of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/italy/1396127/Red-blooded-Caravaggio-killed-love-rival-in-bungled-castration-attempt.html">the famous painter Caravaggio</a>, who was accused of murder and whose works continue to be on display. </p>
<p>However, James Rondeau, the president and director of the Art Institute of Chicago, disagreed that museums could present their decisions about the value of the artwork as totally separate from today’s ethics. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/28/arts/design/chuck-close-exhibit-harassment-accusations.html">Rondeau said</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“The typical ‘we don’t judge, we don’t endorse, we just put it up for people to experience and decide’ falls very flat in this political and cultural
moment.” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>The #MeToo ethical challenge</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217343/original/file-20180502-153888-1lpwg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/217343/original/file-20180502-153888-1lpwg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217343/original/file-20180502-153888-1lpwg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217343/original/file-20180502-153888-1lpwg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217343/original/file-20180502-153888-1lpwg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217343/original/file-20180502-153888-1lpwg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/217343/original/file-20180502-153888-1lpwg3n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=460&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The #MeToo movement has redefined sexual harassment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AP Photo/Ted S. Warren</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This public debate has gained significant traction in the art world because the #MeToo movement has redefined sexual harassment as evil. <a href="http://www.chicagotribune.com/lifestyles/ct-me-too-timeline-20171208-htmlstory.html">Started</a> by Tarana Burke, an African-American civil rights activist in 2006 and spread by Alyssa Milano, an American actress and activist, as a Twitter campaign in 2017, the #MeToo movement has become a social media-driven collective voice. It has presented sexual harassment and sexual violence as harm serious enough to warrant recognition and social change. </p>
<p>Consequently, a number of artists have come out with their experience of sexual harassment. Five women came forward <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/03/arts/design/thomas-roma-sexual-misconduct.html">accusing Thomas Roma</a>, a photographer and professor, of sexual misconduct. In the case of Chuck Close, artists <a href="https://cargocollective.com/langdongraves">Langdon Graves</a>, <a href="http://www.deliabrown.net/Delia_Brown/Home.html">Delia Brown</a> and <a href="http://officemagazine.net/interview/julia-fox">Julia Fox</a> described in interviews and on social media platforms the anguish and self-doubt his actions had caused them as individuals and also as artists. </p>
<p>Delia Brown, for example, described how Chuck Close told her at a dinner that he was a fan of her work and asked her to pose for a portrait at his studio. <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/20/arts/design/chuck-close-sexual-harassment.html">She said</a> she was “over the moon” and excited “because having your portrait done as an artist by Chuck Close is tantamount to being canonized.” </p>
<p>However, she was shocked when he asked her to model topless, not a practice that he pursued with other famous artists. Brown refused. Explaining her anguish, she felt he saw her only as a body rather than an important artist and <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/chuck-close-sexual-harassment_us_59f877dee4b09b5c2568fd88">felt manipulated</a>. She said “a sense of distrust and disgust” has stayed with her. Other artists made similar allegations of having been invited to Close’s studio to pose for him and being shocked by his behavior.</p>
<p>Chuck Close chose to downplay the harm done to them as persons and artists by dismissing their words. <a href="https://hyperallergic.com/418322/chuck-closes-sexual-misconduct-response">He said</a> the “last time I looked, discomfort was not a major offense.” </p>
<h2>Genius redefined</h2>
<p>The point this reinforces is that if sexual harassment is wrong then the value of artwork being exhibited in a public museum is questionable.</p>
<p>Scholar <a href="https://www.cla.purdue.edu/facultystaff/profiles/new/newfaculty-14/Gay._Roxane.html">Roxane Gay</a>, the best-selling author of the essay collection <a href="http://www.roxanegay.com/bad-feminist/">“Bad Feminist,”</a> sums up why it is so evil, when <a href="https://www.marieclaire.com/culture/a16105931/roxane-gay-on-predator-legacies/">she explains the cost to women. She says</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“I remember how many women’s careers were ruined; I think of those who gave up their dreams because some ‘genius’ decided indulging his thirst for power and control mattered more than her ambition and dignity. I remember all the silence, decades and decades of enforced silence, intimidation, and manipulation, that enabled bad men to flourish. When I do that, it’s quite easy for me to think nothing of the supposedly great art of bad men.”</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This debate has also shown how the definitions of evil in Pushkin’s “genius and evil” argument are also subjective and depend on human values at a particular time. #MeToo has changed the public view on sexual harassment. Indeed, the public debate surrounding the decision by the National Gallery of Art to cancel two exhibitions has been as much about the value of human beings as it has been about the value of art.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/91554/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Irina Aristarkhova does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
In his short play from 1830, ‘Mozart and Salieri,’
Russian poet Alexander Pushkin proposed that genius and evil are incompatible. Here’s why this argument is worth revisiting in light of #MeToo.
Irina Aristarkhova, Associate Professor, Penny W. Stamps School of Art & Design, University of Michigan
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/88521
2017-12-04T23:55:23Z
2017-12-04T23:55:23Z
Why history education is central to the survival of democracy
<p>Canadians are at war over their history. </p>
<p>The CBC series <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/2017/canadathestoryofus/share-your-thoughts-about-canada-the-story-of-us-1.4075568"><em>Canada: The Story of Us</em></a> caused outrage in spring 2017 with the <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion/new-series-the-story-of-us-is-not-the-story-of-canada/article34554022/">choices made for its historical storyline</a>. Critics called the series <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/cbc-apologizes-after-canadian-history-series-sparks-uproar-in-quebec-maritimes/article34666160/">anglocentric and said it omitted the roles of the Acadians and Mi'kmaq people</a>. </p>
<p>Statues and names of prominent Canadians have also been the centre of vigorous debate across the country this year. One of these debates has focused on <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scotia/cornwallis-statue-halifax-protest-removal-1.4206909">the statue of Edward Cornwallis in a public park in Halifax</a> — the military officer who founded Halifax for the British in 1749, but also offered a cash bounty to anyone who killed an Indigenous person. They have also included calls from the the Elementary Teachers Federation of Ontario (EFTO) to <a href="https://globalnews.ca/news/3693078/sir-john-a-macdonald-controversy-canadas-first-prime-minister/">remove so-called “architect of genocide” Sir John A. Macdonald’s name from elementary schools across the province</a>. </p>
<p>Amid debates over the <a href="https://theconversation.com/instead-of-renaming-buildings-why-not-truly-improve-indigenous-lives-83116">renaming of public buildings across the country</a>, our public history is being hotly contested. And Canada is not alone. As protests and counter protests about the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/graphics/2017/local/charlottesville-timeline/?utm_term=.f3ca977e30b4">public commemoration of Civil War figures in the United States demonstrate</a>, <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/08/nazis-racism-charlottesville/536928/">history is a significant public concern</a> in many places around the world. </p>
<p>For history educators like myself, the good news is that the public obviously cares about history very much. The bad news is that we can’t seem to talk about it without resorting to name calling, vitriol and sometimes — as evident in <a href="https://theconversation.com/charlottesville-white-educators-need-to-fight-racism-every-day-82550">recent events in Charlottesville</a> — violence. </p>
<p>I believe the teaching of history to be more important than ever. History — if funded and taught well — can teach a tolerance for ambiguity. It can provide people with strategies to help them think through complex issues. </p>
<p>War, and war memorials in particular, are central to collective memory. Taught well, war offer windows into the construction of personal and national identity.</p>
<h2>Between virtue and evil</h2>
<p>Our public discourse has become dangerously polarized — making democratic deliberation about collective memory, history and the common good almost impossible. </p>
<p>Reflecting on the <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/03/macron-le-pen-france-presidential-debate-170321004856853.html">2017 French election</a>, <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/after-shocking-campaign-french-face-profound-choice-to-upend-status-quo/article34907627/">French political scientist Nicole Bacharan described the worry and stress</a> resulting from, “the division of the country and the hatred that came out of groups of people who can’t discuss anything, can’t understand each other, can’t talk.”</p>
<p>Bacharan is just one of many voices lamenting the poverty of civic discourse in democratic jurisdictions around the world. The debates about public history installations are one manifestation of that wider trend. I think they illustrate an important aspect of this toxic polarization — a seeming inability to handle nuance. </p>
<p>Citizens want things kept simple. In their view, historical figures or events represented in public memorials are either iconic representations of virtue and progress that should stand for all time, or they are manifestations of evil and should be torn down. There seems to be no room for complex alternatives. </p>
<p>The trouble is, life is complicated and full of nuance. We like the dividing line between our heroes and villains to be clear but as Russian novelist Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn points out in <a href="https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/The_Gulag_Archipelago">The Gulag Archipelago</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>“If only there were evil people somewhere insidiously committing evil deeds, and it were necessary only to separate them from the rest of us and destroy them. But the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?” </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Teach history, teach complexity</h2>
<p>I am convinced that contemporary approaches to history education can help citizens develop the tolerance for complexity and ambiguity necessary to engage effectively in civic life. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"847252183502405633"}"></div></p>
<p>Over the past half century there has been an explosion in theoretical and empirical research related to the teaching of history, and there is a growing consensus around the world about what constitutes effective teaching and learning in the field. Some key elements of that consensus include:</p>
<p>• History education must move beyond the transmission of <em>what historians know</em> to include attention to historical method — <em>how historians know</em>. This is often referred to as historical thinking.</p>
<p>• History education must include attention to historical consciousness, or how history and memory work to shape how we think about ourselves, our communities and our place in the world. </p>
<p>• There are many places where history can be learned, including classrooms, historical sites, museums, patriotic ceremonies and family events. </p>
<p>• History education must engage students in thinking about what constitutes evidence about the past and how we assess and construct accounts about the past.</p>
<p>• <a href="https://books.google.ca/books/about/Researching_History_Education.html?id=-1evGQAACAAJ&redir_esc=y&hl=en">Research evidence</a> makes it clear that students, even those in primary school, <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/teaching-history-for-the-common-good/oclc/52750060">can learn to think in sophisticated and complex ways about the past and its relationship to the present and the future</a>. </p>
<p>• Effective history education requires well-educated and skilled teachers. </p>
<h2>History as educational priority</h2>
<p>While this consensus exists among researchers and many history teachers around the world, conditions in the classroom or lecture theatre are often very different. </p>
<p>One key issue is that education in social studies — and history education in particular — has diminished as a priority area in public education in Canada and around the world. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197650/original/file-20171204-22986-fvdura.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/197650/original/file-20171204-22986-fvdura.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197650/original/file-20171204-22986-fvdura.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197650/original/file-20171204-22986-fvdura.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197650/original/file-20171204-22986-fvdura.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197650/original/file-20171204-22986-fvdura.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/197650/original/file-20171204-22986-fvdura.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The figure of Canada Bereft, also known as Mother Canada mourning the loss of her children, overlooks the Vimy Ridge at the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Traditionally social studies was considered one of the core areas of the curriculum, but the policy changes in the past 30 years — <a href="http://leg-horizon.gnb.ca/e-repository/monographs/30000000049266/30000000049266.pdf">in New Brunswick</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/government-should-expand-student-placements-into-social-sector-86192">across Canada</a> <a href="https://www.intellectbooks.co.uk/journals/view-issue,id=3181/">and globally</a> — has been toward subjects considered more immediately useful for fostering employment, <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-there-too-much-emphasis-on-stem-fields-at-universities-86526">particularly in technical fields</a>. </p>
<p>There are several other key factors limiting the implementation of effective history education. These include a persistent focus on nation building rather than developing critical skills, and assigning teachers with little or no history background to teach courses in the area. </p>
<h2>War and collective memory</h2>
<p>Colleagues and I at the <a href="http://www.unb.ca/fredericton/arts/centres/gregg/">Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society</a> at the University of New Brunswick have developed a <a href="http://www.warandthecanadianexperience.com/">broad program in history education</a> to complement the Centre’s well-established work in history. </p>
<p>Central to this initiative is collaboration between historians, history educators and teachers — to develop materials and approaches that implement the consensus on effective history education described above. </p>
<p>We believe the theme of war and society offers a potentially effective way to do this for several reasons:</p>
<p>• Topics in the area are often presented as iconic and, as Canadian historian Margaret MacMillan points out in <a href="https://youtu.be/9aTRrcMPUw4">The Uses and Abuses of History</a>, part of the purpose of teaching history is to challenge and investigate icons.</p>
<p>• War and war memorials are often central to collective memory and they provide a window into the construction of personal and national identity.</p>
<p>• War shows up in school curricula, museums, family lore and community memorials. This provides the opportunity to bring the community into the classroom, as well as consider relationships among the past, present and future. </p>
<p>• Virtually all elements of the study of war and society, including community memorials, are contested. This provides opportunities for students to examine diverse historical perspectives. </p>
<p>• The issues involved are multilayered and complex. As historian Tim Cook points out <a href="https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/book-reviews/tim-cooks-vimy-reviewed-how-the-battle-became-a-national-touchstone/article34627572/">in his recent book about the Canadian memorial</a> at <a href="https://www.vimyfoundation.ca/learn/vimy-ridge/">Vimy Ridge</a>: “Vimy, like all legends, is a layered skein of stories, myths, wishful thinking and conflicting narratives.” </p>
<p><a href="http://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.3102/0002831208316951">Research from around the world</a> shows that <a href="https://thepoliticalclassroom.com/">fostering the abilities of young citizens</a> to grapple with these complex and difficult questions lays a foundation for <a href="http://iccs.iea.nl/single-news/news/iccs-2016-reveals-increase-in-students-civic-knowledge-with-persisting-gaps-across-and-within-coun/">enhanced civic discourse</a> in the future. </p>
<p>We do not want to end debates about our history; we do hope to make them more substantive and fruitful.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/88521/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alan Sears receives funding from The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p>
In a time of populism and political polarization, children and young adults need to learn to think critically, with complexity and nuance. History, as a subject, is more important than ever.
Alan Sears, Professor of Education, University of New Brunswick
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/75176
2017-05-18T00:49:24Z
2017-05-18T00:49:24Z
What witch-hunters can teach us about today’s world
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169612/original/file-20170516-11929-vpwk9z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How do leaders find authority as discerners of evil?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wellcomeimages/30054570064/in/photolist-MMPwAu-G91GBB-MMCwhp-MMCwqR-NyzcQn-H4spQn-5TSa2d-cGBhHd-AbTPHU-7c7jzK-AddsSK-zVGzyR-AaSGHo-pWqebF-AoNSZ-zgjtvp-zVCSuc-Ae2LfT-knZuT-zVzhgZ-Ac2xkh-zg7kqG-zg7x27-JZZ51i-AaRf5A-xx6gs8-H1tewU-GV6JrN-GDhU2w-GDhyyo-GDhxE9-GDhy9W-MrhzWE-H4spta-GDhUEf-GDhwpy-H1tf69-NM45CZ-NAJ5W9-NHMKxo-LHF5f2-sjr57m-ph8g9H-bs8Nnd-9aMx8E-8SNQ49-8SNPDJ-7eEr4j-5ygDdh-5qb49P">Wellcome Library, London.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>It is hardly a new observation that political leaders seeking populist appeal will exacerbate popular fears: about immigrants, terrorists and the other.</p>
<p>President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/09/donald-trump-and-the-politics-of-fear/498116/">plays to fears of immigrants and Muslims</a>. Benjamin Netanyahu <a href="http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/04/israel-abbas-netanyahu-rhetoric-fear-dialogue-hope-peace.html">inflames Israeli fears</a> by constantly reminding citizens about the threats around them. And many African leaders bring up <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/1999/aug/12/1">fears of satanism</a> <a href="http://ghanapoliticsonline.com/npp-agents-satan-ghana-akua-donkor/">and witchcraft</a>. In earlier times, too, American and European leaders <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-history-reveals-about-surges-in-anti-semitism-and-anti-immigrant-sentiments-74146">invoked threats</a> of communists and Jews. </p>
<p>Such observations explain how leaders use fear to create popular anxiety. But this focus on fear and evil forces, I believe, does something else as well – it could actually contribute to a leader’s charisma. He or she becomes the one person who knows the extent of a threat and also how to address it.</p>
<p>This path to leadership takes place in much smaller-scale situations too, as I have studied in my own work. </p>
<p>In my book “<a href="http://press.princeton.edu/titles/8135.html">Evil Incarnate</a>,” I analyze this relationship between claims to discern evil and charismatic authority across history, from European and African witch-finders to modern experts in so-called satanic ritual abuse. </p>
<h2>How charisma works</h2>
<p>In popular parlance one calls a person charismatic because he or she seems to possess some inner force to which people are drawn. </p>
<p>Social scientists <a href="http://www.bu.edu/anthrop/files/2011/09/charisma.pdf">have long perceived</a> this ostensible inner force as the product of social interaction: Charisma, in this interpretation, arises in the interplay between leaders and their audiences. The audiences present their own enthusiasms, needs and fears to the leader. The leader, for his part, mirrors these feelings through his talents in gesture, rhetoric, his conviction in his own abilities and his particular messages about danger and hope.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169613/original/file-20170516-11941-1so6yru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169613/original/file-20170516-11941-1so6yru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169613/original/file-20170516-11941-1so6yru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169613/original/file-20170516-11941-1so6yru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=479&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169613/original/file-20170516-11941-1so6yru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169613/original/file-20170516-11941-1so6yru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169613/original/file-20170516-11941-1so6yru.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=602&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Witch doctors in Africa resting between dances.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/owi2001028718/PP/">Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In sub-Saharan Africa, over the course of the 20th century, charismatic witch-finders swept through villages promising the cleansing of evil. In both Africa and Europe, communities had <a href="http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/E/bo3641171.html">long been familiar</a> with witches and their modes of attack in general. It has been common in many cultures throughout history to attribute misfortune to witches, who are both a part of society and also malevolent. Misfortunes can thus seem to be the product of human malevolence rather than some abstract divine or natural cause.</p>
<p>Witch-finders, as I see it, have offered four new elements to the “basic” image of witches: </p>
<ul>
<li>They proclaimed the immediacy of the threat of witches.<br></li>
<li>They revealed the new methods witches were using to subvert the village or afflict children.<br></li>
<li>They offered new procedures for interrogating and eliminating witches.</li>
<li>And most importantly, they proclaimed their own unique capacity to discern the witches and their new techniques to purge them from community.<br></li>
</ul>
<p>The witch-finder could show people material evidence of witches’ activity: grotesque dolls or buried gourds, for example. He – rarely she – could coerce others to testify against an accused witch. Often, he would present himself as the target of witches’ active enmity, detailing the threats they had made against him and the attacks he had suffered. </p>
<p>The witch-finder’s authority over – and indispensability to – the growing crisis of threatening evil <a href="https://www.academia.edu/3232086/Open_the_Wombs_The_Symbolic_Politics_of_Modern_Ngoni_Witch-finding">shaped his charisma</a>. People came to depend on his capacity to see evil and on his techniques of ridding it from the land. An uncleansed village felt vulnerable, awash in malevolent powers, one’s neighbors all suspect; while a village that a witch-finder had investigated seemed safer, calmer, its paths and alleys <a href="http://www.worldcat.org/title/witchcraft-and-society/oclc/57791996">swept of evil substances</a>.</p>
<h2>Witch hunts, satanic cults</h2>
<p>Of course, in order for a witch-finder to be successful in activating fears, there were many extenuating circumstances, both historical and social, that had to work in his favor. These could be catastrophes like the plague, or new ways of organizing the world (such as African colonialism), or political tensions – all of which could make his identification of evil people especially useful, even necessary. Also, he had to come off as professional and he had to have the ability to translate local fears in compelling ways.</p>
<p>Indeed, there were many situations in both Europe and Africa when such claims to authority failed to stimulate a sense of crisis or to legitimate witch-finders’ procedures.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169614/original/file-20170516-11956-1k7bd0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/169614/original/file-20170516-11956-1k7bd0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169614/original/file-20170516-11956-1k7bd0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169614/original/file-20170516-11956-1k7bd0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169614/original/file-20170516-11956-1k7bd0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169614/original/file-20170516-11956-1k7bd0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/169614/original/file-20170516-11956-1k7bd0z.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">St. Bernardino of Siena.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/paullew/17269033793/in/photolist-sj1j6X-Hvstut-9dFpNf-9dCFgZ-9dCvP4-9dCFRr-ggY3zx-9dCHQV-9dFuFY-9dCBFK-9dCGix-9dFu8S-9dCBct-9dFt29-9dCCQp-9dFB1N-9dCCqe-9dCH6D-9dFsyj-9dFHdJ-9dCvia-9dCoer-9dFCVY-9dCwPk-9dFkH1-9dFmSA-9dCfQp-9dFo6d-9dCfhX-9dFpcN-9dCwgF-9dCufx-9dFtyY-9dC8UH-9dFxcL-9dC9tt-9dFBt7-9dFoEh-9dCrqk-9dFris-9dC4aK-9dFHKq-9dFeVW-9dC7x6-9dFg7y-9dCmXR-9dFwCU-9dFCrq-9dCzQe-9dCmuK">Fr Lawrence Lew, O.P.</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>For example, in 15th-century Europe, the Franciscan friar Bernardino was able to instigate horrific witch-burnings in Rome <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=fswxYJDBLygC&q=section+24#v=onepage&q=bernardino&f=false">but failed to persuade the people of Siena</a> of the dangers witches posed. </p>
<p>But there are times when this pattern has come together and witnessed outright panic and ensuing atrocities. As historians <a href="http://www.history.qmul.ac.uk/staff/profile/4563-professor-miri-rubin">Miri Rubin</a> and <a href="http://history.psu.edu/directory/rxh46">Ronald Hsia</a> have described, various such <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14006.html">charismatic discerners of evil</a> in medieval and Renaissance Northern Europe (often Christian clergy and friars) <a href="http://yalebooks.com/book/9780300047462/myth-ritual-murder">promoted false charges</a> against local Jews that they hungered for stolen Eucharists or for the blood of Christian children. </p>
<p>These charismatic leaders organized hunts through Jewish houses to uncover signs of mutilated Eucharist or children’s bones – hunts that swiftly turned into pogroms, as participants in these hunts <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14006.html">felt a conspiracy of evil</a> was emerging before them. </p>
<p>The contemporary West has in no way been immune to these patterns on both large and more restricted scales. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, the United States and the United Kingdom found themselves <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521620826">facing a panic</a> over <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14006.html">satanic cults</a>, alleged to be <a href="http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/bookdetail.aspx?bookid=SKU-000010141">sexually abusing children and adults</a>. </p>
<p>In this case, a number of psychiatrists, child protection officers, police and evangelical clergy were styling themselves as experts in discerning the abuses of satanists both in daycare centers and among psychiatric patients. Many people came to believe in the urgency of the satanic threat. Yet no evidence for the existence of such satanic cults <a href="http://www.iuniverse.com/bookstore/bookdetail.aspx?bookid=SKU-000010141">ever came to light</a>. </p>
<h2>Needs of an anxious culture</h2>
<p>In many ways we can see a similar interplay between charisma and the discernment of evil in those modern leaders that seek a populist appeal.</p>
<p>For example, in his campaign Trump insisted that he alone could utter the words “<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/world/when-a-phrase-takes-on-new-meaning-radical-islam-explained.html?_r=0">radical Islamic terrorism</a>” which assured members of his audience that only Trump was calling out “the terrorist threat.” In Philippines, President Rodrigo Duterte threatened publicly to <a href="http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2017/04/25/philippines-duterte-terrorist-threat-liver-sot-vo.cnn">eat the liver of the terrorists</a> there. These leaders, I believe, are trying to convey that there is a larger threat out there and, even more, they are assuring people that the leader alone understands the nature of that larger threat. Trump’s several <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/06/politics/trump-travel-ban-iraq/">attempts to ban</a> Muslim visitors since his election have made his supporters <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/01/30/politics/travel-ban-supporters-trump/">feel understood and safer.</a></p>
<p>As my work on witch-finders shows, an anxious culture may invest itself in a leader who, it feels, can discern and eliminate a pervasive and subversive evil. Perhaps, in today’s world, the terrorist has become the new “witch”: a monstrous incarnation of evil, posing a unique threat to our communities and undeserving of normal justice.</p>
<p>Do our leaders provide <a href="http://www.upenn.edu/pennpress/book/14285.html">the charismatic leadership</a> for this current era?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/75176/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>I received an NEH grant in 1992
</span></em></p>
Witch-finders of early modern Europe and modern Africa made themselves indispensable by showing people a threat of a growing crisis of threatening evil.
David Frankfurter, Professor of Religion, Boston University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/31895
2014-09-23T20:40:47Z
2014-09-23T20:40:47Z
Unique evil, death cults and War on Terror: do these labels help?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59645/original/bkyvqq3w-1411347671.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Hear no evil? Many politicians have labelled Islamic State 'evil', but what does that really mean?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">See-no-hear-no-speak-no-evil monkeys/Shuttterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><blockquote>
<p>Our time, this decade even, has shown us that man’s capacity for evil knows no limits. – Then United Nations’ Secretary-General <a href="http://legal.un.org/icc/general/overview.htm">Kofi Annan, 1997</a></p>
</blockquote>
<p>Over the past few weeks leading up to <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-23/us-begin-air-strikes-in-syria-pentagon-says/5762848">the US-led bombing</a> of Islamic State <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4089012.htm">(IS, also known as ISIS or ISIL)</a> targets inside Syria, we have heard the term “evil” many times from our political leaders. </p>
<p>IS fighters have been called savage, barbaric, valueless – but what do these words mean to us? Why do people commit evil acts? Does evil have a real meaning or use in helping us understand human behaviour? </p>
<p>These questions and more have fascinated humankind for centuries and we are still struggling to find answers.</p>
<h2>Explaining evil in real terms</h2>
<p>I believe evil exists. Having studied the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Valhallas-Warriors-History-Waffen-SS-1941-1945/dp/1608446395/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&sr=8-4&qid=1411176403">war crimes of the German SS</a> in the second world war, I would argue that evil is a realistic concept to describe abhorrent human behaviour. </p>
<p>This is not religious or abstract, but grounded in a sociological or criminological approach to explaining evil acts. I don’t believe in evil people. Rather, as <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Men-Reserve-Battalion-Solution/dp/0060995068/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411176276&sr=8-1&keywords=christopher+browning">Christopher Browning showed</a> in his study of the Nazis’ “final solution” for the Jews, I believe there are ordinary humans who are capable of committing acts of extraordinary evil. </p>
<p>Realistically speaking, they do this for a variety of rational or non-rational motives. Group pressure, self-interest and the demands of authority influence every decision people make, including those termed <em>evil</em>. </p>
<p>History and social science experiments (for example the experiments of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Obedience-Authority-Experimental-Perennial-Classics/dp/006176521X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1411183288&sr=8-1&keywords=obedience+to+authority">Milgram</a> and <a href="http://www.google.com.au/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCQQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.prisonexp.org%2Fpdf%2Fevil.pdf&ei=UvIcVJaRLIrj8AX6-IKQAg&usg=AFQjCNF2U8gzDlWBm_yoAECs34XF8EA5Dg&bvm=bv.75775273,d.dGc">Zimbardo</a>) have shown that the overwhelming majority of us are capable of committing evil acts under the right circumstances and pressure. This I call “interactive causation”.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59622/original/rtmqhsjw-1411193632.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Model of interactive causation of evil acts.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Terry Goldsworthy</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So what form does this type of evil take? What is the nature of evil? As author Adam Morton poses in his excellent <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Evil-Thinking-Action-Adam-Morton/dp/0415305195/ref=tmm_pap_title_0?ie=UTF8&qid=1411176580&sr=8-2">review of the concept of evil</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>How should we think about the atrocities around us? What concepts do we need, if we are to know how to explain and how to react?</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Wrong, bad and evil</h2>
<p>Evil is a useful concept to categorise acts that go beyond merely wrong or bad on a continuum of wrongdoing. We tend to use the term evil when acts contain one or more <em>emotive elements.</em> These three elements include:</p>
<ul>
<li>the perceived senselessness of the act </li>
<li>the perceived innocence of the victim </li>
<li>the uniqueness of the act.</li>
</ul>
<p>The <a href="http://www.icc-cpi.int/en_menus/icc/legal%20texts%20and%20tools/official%20journal/Pages/elements%20of%20crimes.aspx">International Criminal Court</a> has recognised the need to elevate punishment in cases where the victim was particularly defenceless or the crime was carried out with particular cruelty.</p>
<p>Certainly the recent actions of IS fighters against Western hostages and the mass executions of Iraqis would seem to fit easily into evil actions, due to the non-combatant status of the victims and the public and barbaric nature of the killings.</p>
<h2>Going to war against IS</h2>
<p>It has been the aspect of <em>evil</em> in the actions of IS fighters – particularly the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/david-ignatius-obamas-correct-approach-to-battling-the-evil-islamic-state/2014/08/21/4fdef9ea-296a-11e4-958c-268a320a60ce_story.html">highly-publicised executions</a> of Westerners and other atrocities – that has in no small way galvanised the reaction of Western powers. Politicians including the <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-29195872">British Prime Minister</a> and <a href="http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/09/10/remarks-president-barack-obama-address-nation">US President</a> have described the movement and its actions as evil. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/59552/original/4d3sv2v4-1411110250.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">F-18 Super Hornets have now been deployed by Australia to combat IS forces.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Defence Department, Australia</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>US Secretary of State <a href="http://www.thewire.com/politics/2014/08/watch-obama-to-deliver-statement-on-isil-video-of-james-foley/378849/">John Kerry</a> described IS and its actions in the following terms:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is evil in this world, and we all have come face to face with it once again. Ugly, savage, inexplicable, nihilistic and valueless evil. ISIL is the face of that evil, a threat to people who want to live in peace, and an ugly insult to the peaceful religion they violate every day with their barbarity.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Australian <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/abbott-declares-war-on-the-islamic-state-death-cult-20140914-3fol3.html">Prime Minister Tony Abbott</a> has used the term on several occasions to describe IS:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>This death cult is uniquely evil in that it does not simply do evil, it exults in evil … This death cult has ambitions way beyond those of any previous terrorist group.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Are we ‘waging war on evil’ or ‘lending humanitarian aid’?</h2>
<p>While the labelling of the IS actions has been clear, the language around the international coalition’s response has been confused, to say the least. </p>
<p>US President Barack Obama was roundly criticised when he said he had <a href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2014/08/28/obama-isil-situation-room-meeting/14741057/">no strategy to deal with the IS threat</a>. This was rectified to some degree with the announcement of a strategy to <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/sep/10/john-kerry-baghdad-obama-isis-strategy">degrade and destroy IS</a>, primarily through military force. </p>
<p>Australia has become a partner in this strategy, but there is confusion as to what to call the operation Australia is undertaking. Abbott initially insisted it was a <a href="http://www.news.com.au/national/tony-abbott-almost-says-australia-is-at-war-with-isis-sort-of/story-fncynjr2-1227063688534">humanitarian mission</a>. Conjecture in the media then turned to what humanitarian aid an F-18 is capable of delivering. </p>
<p>Australian politicians, <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/7.30/content/2014/s4088221.htm">including Defence Minister David Johnston</a>, have deliberately <a href="http://www.smh.com.au/federal-politics/political-news/tony-abbott-national-security-statement-to-parliament-20140922-10kccx.html">avoided the use of the word “war”</a>. In contrast, Kerry had no hesitation in labelling the military action an <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/09/14/john-kerry-war-isis_n_5818554.html">“act of war”</a>.</p>
<p>Despite this indecision, Australia is effectively at war with IS, on the home front and overseas. Having named them as <em>evil</em> so often and so emphatically, the government can hardly turn away from the conflict.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/31895/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Terry Goldsworthy does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Our time, this decade even, has shown us that man’s capacity for evil knows no limits. – Then United Nations’ Secretary-General Kofi Annan, 1997 Over the past few weeks leading up to the US-led bombing…
Terry Goldsworthy, Assistant Professor, Criminology, Bond University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26918
2014-05-28T20:15:16Z
2014-05-28T20:15:16Z
What is Pope Francis on about with all this talk of Satan and evil?
<p>Pope Francis’ discussion of the devil (or Satan) has been <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/world/pope-francis-gets-old-school-on-the-devil-20140512-zr9sj.html">greeted with surprise</a> by many. Why would a “progressive” Pope speak about an “old-school”, passé topic like the devil? Has not the Catholic Church left behind its fear tactics and does not this pope represent its modern face?</p>
<p>The Catholic Church, along with other religious traditions, believes that human life is a drama in which human choices have eternal consequences, as they determine our character. In this regard, Francis has been formed by the Jesuits, with a long and developed spiritual tradition, especially for spiritual discernment. Francis is <a href="http://www.news.va/en/news/pope-francis-satan-exists-in-the-21st-century-and">speaking about the devil</a> because he is concerned about the spiritual lives of people and sees the unrecognised influence of evil in them:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Firstly, his (the devil’s) temptation begins gradually but grows and is always growing. Secondly, it grows and infects another person, it spreads to another and seeks to be part of the community. And in the end, in order to calm the soul, it justifies itself. It grows, it spreads and it justifies itself.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Before examining Francis’ teaching here, it is important to clarify: what is a spiritual life? Do all people have it? The spiritual life of a living being refers, broadly, to the non-material life of that being – that is, the conscious operations that are not motivated by material ends.</p>
<p>In other words, when a human person thinks or feels in a way that is unrelated to the material sustenance of their body they are engaged in a spiritual activity. The life of the human person is very much a spiritual affair: most of our lives are taken up with non-material activities – activities that are not primarily concerned with eating and drinking – such as listening to music, watching TV, talking with friends, learning at school or engaging in worship. </p>
<p>Even the activities that involve satisfying material ends (such as eating) can be united with spiritual activities when, for example, we commune and converse with others over a meal, or saying a thanksgiving “grace” to God. When humans converse they are engaged in a non-material operation: the sharing of meaning, through language, that builds friendship.</p>
<h2>How does evil work?</h2>
<p>Evil is essentially concerned with the distortion of our spiritual activities – the activities of meaning and desiring that allow humans to flourish together – so they are turned away from friendship and into discord and violence. In this regard, Pope Francis often uses the example of gossip. Gossip distorts the goodness of language and conversation by using them against others.</p>
<p>Language is a good – it allows us to share our lives with others through meanings. However, gossip is parasitic off this good and twists language into a weapon that discounts the whole of a person’s character and judges them in an absolute and unjust way. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49448/original/6wdr4j6f-1401087897.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/49448/original/6wdr4j6f-1401087897.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49448/original/6wdr4j6f-1401087897.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49448/original/6wdr4j6f-1401087897.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49448/original/6wdr4j6f-1401087897.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49448/original/6wdr4j6f-1401087897.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/49448/original/6wdr4j6f-1401087897.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1130&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Pope cites gossip as an example of how evil works.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">MicroWorks/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Gossip is ultimately motivated by distorted desire: by envy, resentment or hate in which we unite our desires with others against another. It involves scapegoating that gives a certain titillation and satisfaction, which covers over our own individual or collective problems. This is exemplified in celebrity gossip: it takes us out of our own problems, broken relationships and ordinariness into a world of projection where we can unite with others in voyeuristically judging others. </p>
<p>French philosopher <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/girard/">René Girard</a> calls the process by which we unite our desires in scapegoating others <a href="http://www.iep.utm.edu/girard/#SH5c">“satanic”</a>. “Satan” in Hebrew refers to the accuser; in contrast, Jesus refers to the Holy Spirit as the “Paraclete”, that is, the defender (for example, of the victim). </p>
<p>According to Girard, human violence arises as our desires are distorted into an irrational contagion against others – in which we lose control but from which we gain great satisfaction.</p>
<p>There is a synergy in the descriptions of Girard and Francis. For example, in the case of gossip: jealousy or resentment arises in one person, through rivalry with another; words are spoken; distorted desire is spread; and verbal or physical violence is unleashed. We believe that we are doing the right thing – whereas in fact we are destroying the life of another, and ultimately harming ourselves by distorting the goodness of our relationships.</p>
<h2>Why do we choose evil over good?</h2>
<p>Still, we need to ask: why do we do violence against others, rather than love them? We can point to reasons for why people commit evil – such as envy or greed – but we are still left with the question: why choose evil over good?</p>
<p>The devil is a part of answering this question, but one should be careful about jumping to definitive conclusions. Ultimately, evil is irrational and not completely understandable. Evil involves humans losing control of themselves and losing sight of their ultimate good, as their desires and thoughts become distorted. </p>
<p>We may be able to think of examples in our own lives or others’ lives when we do, think or feel evil things in ways that shock us and seem inexplicable. Where did that thought come from? Where did that desire emerge? Why did I hurt that person? One can find oneself acting or thinking irrationally, almost in a fog of rage, resentment, greed or hurt. </p>
<p>Alongside the strange manifestations of evil in our lives, Pope Francis emphasises that the descent into evil definitively involves human choice. The Catholic Church is not looking to give any support to superstition (remember Jesus died in a very human way). </p>
<p>The Catholic Church’s long experience of evil leads it to acknowledge the possibility of different sources for evil, but it does this to assist humans in their freedom to choose good. It also does this with the assurance that God is defeating evil and helping us – that evil and death have been overcome with Jesus. </p>
<p>There are other philosophical and theological arguments concerning the devil, but Francis is concerned with the practical implications of evil in people’s lives. Francis points out that evil, especially the devil, works through our normal ways of living (for example by distorting our freedom or language) and tries to ensnare us. Evil can also take on a life of its own that appears like a personal force that becomes harder and harder to resist. </p>
<p>These temptations are a constant struggle. Francis is seeking for us to recognise them and overcome them, with God’s help. Hiding from evil only feeds evil. As philosopher Edmund Burke <a href="http://quoteinvestigator.com/2010/12/04/good-men-do/">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men [people] do
nothing.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Francis wants us to be realists: there is evil in our lives; we need to face it. The Catholic Church offers ways to help, by affirming that evil is never equal to the power of good, of which God’s love is the powerful source.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26918/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Hodge does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
Pope Francis’ discussion of the devil (or Satan) has been greeted with surprise by many. Why would a “progressive” Pope speak about an “old-school”, passé topic like the devil? Has not the Catholic Church…
Joel Hodge, Lecturer in Theology, Australian Catholic University
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.
tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/26911
2014-05-22T20:20:23Z
2014-05-22T20:20:23Z
Does evil exist and, if so, are some people just plain evil?
<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48848/original/c4k8b8r8-1400476679.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Plenty of extreme wrongs are performed by comparatively ordinary people.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Danny O'Connor</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>You would have to be naïve to believe that evil exists, right? If you were asked to come up with examples of evil villains, you might think of the Emperor from Star Wars, Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter, or even Dr Evil from the Austen Powers films. Evil characters belong in horror movies, fantasy fiction and perhaps also in religious texts, but surely not in the real world.</p>
<p>This kind of scepticism about evil also crops up in serious disagreements over morality. When US President George W. Bush denounced the September 11 terrorists as evildoers, many people rolled their eyes and dismissed his claim as simple-minded and out-of-date. The philosopher <a href="http://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Myth_of_Evil.html?id=3VwaEmkd2aMC&redir_esc=y">Phillip Cole</a>, the psychologist <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/simon-baroncohen/science-of-evil_b_2831311.html">Simon Baron-Cohen</a> and the historian <a href="http://www.australianbiography.gov.au/subjects/clendinnen/interview12.html">Inga Clendinnen</a> have suggested that we ought to drop the concept of evil. </p>
<p>These thinkers are not sceptical about morality as a whole. They are not suggesting “it is all relative”, or that morality is some kind of sham or illusion. Their scepticism is focused on the category of evil in particular. Are they right to say that there is no such thing as evil?</p>
<h2>What do we mean by evil?</h2>
<p>In answering this question we must survey the claims people make about evil, and ask what these people take evil to be. While it is true that the word “evil” can be used to refer to a malevolent supernatural force, many of us use “evil” without intending it to have any supernatural connotations.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48852/original/j79cz627-1400477075.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">wstera2</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We might say the sadistic torture carried out by members of the US military at Abu Ghraib was not merely wrong but evil, and that serial killers such as Dennis Rader and Ted Bundy are not merely morally flawed or corrupt, but are evil. Hannah Arendt <a href="http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article7278.htm">famously declared</a> that the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann revealed the banality of evil. While there is some disagreement about what Arendt meant by this, no-one thinks she was suggesting that Eichmann was possessed by a banal demon.</p>
<p>In judging that something is evil, we are making a distinctive kind of moral judgement, rather than committing ourselves to a contentious supernaturalistic worldview. Believing in the reality of evil is like believing in the reality of greed. </p>
<p>When we say that greed exists, we don’t think there must be some free-floating force called greed that can enter someone’s body and control his or her actions. If there are any greedy actions or greedy persons, then greed is real. Similarly, if there are any evil actions or evil persons, then evil is real.</p>
<p>You might grant this point, but remain sceptical nonetheless. You could claim that when people judge that something is evil, they make moral assumptions that are not only mistaken but dangerous. </p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=830&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48854/original/qm9zmsx2-1400477217.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1043&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ted Bundy.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While there is clear evidence that some actions and some persons are greedy, there is no evidence that anything or anyone is evil, or so the argument goes. But what exactly do we assume when we judge that sadistic torture is evil, or that Ted Bundy is evil?</p>
<p>Many contemporary philosophers agree that if an action is evil it must be morally extreme. It is morally wrong to shoplift, or to tell a lie to avoid jury duty, but to call those actions evil would be hyperbolic. Moreover, philosophers agree that if an action is evil the person who performed that action should not have done so, and is responsible and blameworthy for having done so. </p>
<p>There are interesting disputes to be had over whether violent psychopaths are morally responsible for their actions, or whether they are mentally ill and hence not blameworthy for what they do. If psychopaths aren’t responsible for their actions, then they are not evildoers. But, even if we agreed that psychopathy counts as an excuse, this would not give us grounds to deny the existence of evil actions. </p>
<p>Plenty of extreme wrongs, including atrocities committed during war, are performed by comparatively ordinary people rather than by psychopaths. Since there are many examples of inexcusable extreme wrongs, we ought to conclude there are many evil actions. In this sense, evil is real.</p>
<h2>Encountering evil in person</h2>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/48849/original/229wn994-1400476758.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=522&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Recuerdos de Pandora</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The question of whether anyone counts as an evil person is more difficult to answer. Consider an analogy: not everyone who performs an honest action counts as an honest person.</p>
<p>If someone is an honest person, honesty is part of his or her character. He or she can be relied upon to be honest when it counts. Someone who tells the truth on some occasions might nonetheless be a characteristically dishonest person. </p>
<p>Similarly, not everyone who performs an evil action counts as an evil person. In judging that Hitler was not only an evildoer but an evil person, we assume that evil was part of his character. That’s is not to say we assume he was innately evil, nor that he had no choice but to do evil. Rather, it is to say he came to be strongly disposed to choose to perform evil actions.</p>
<p>In calling Hitler an evil person, we suggest that he could not be fixed, or made into a good person. Once someone has become an evil person, he or she is a moral write-off. That’s why some philosophers are sceptical of the idea that any actual person is evil. If everyone can be redeemed and made good, then no-one is evil.</p>
<p>I think it’s overly optimistic to think that we could have fixed Hitler, or Ted Bundy, or Dennis Rader, so I conclude that evil persons, as well as evil actions, are real.</p>
<p><br></p>
<p><em>Luke Russell’s book <a href="http://www.oup.com.au/titles/academic/philosophy/philosophy/9780198712480">Evil: A Philosophical Investigation</a> is published by Oxford University Press in June. He is <a href="http://www.swf.org.au/component/option,com_events/Itemid,124/agid,4034/task,view_detail/">speaking at the Sydney Writers’ Festival</a> on the topic of evil on Saturday, May 24.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/26911/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Luke Russell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>
You would have to be naïve to believe that evil exists, right? If you were asked to come up with examples of evil villains, you might think of the Emperor from Star Wars, Lord Voldemort from Harry Potter…
Luke Russell, Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, University of Sydney
Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.