Evil is Banal

"What chilled and almost cowed him was the union of malice with something nearly childish. For temptation, for blasphemy, for a whole battery of horrors, he was in some sort prepared: but hardly for this petty, indefatigable nagging as of a nasty little boy at a preparatory school. Indeed no imagined horror could have surpassed the sense which grew within him as the slow hours passed, that this creature was, by all human standards, inside out—its heart on the surface and its shallowness at the heart. On the surface, great designs and an antagonism to Heaven which involved the fate of worlds: but deep within, when every veil had been pierced, was there, after all, nothing but a black puerility, an aimless empty spitefulness content to sate itself with the tiniest cruelties, as love does not disdain the smallest kindness? What kept him steady, long after all possibility of thinking about something else had disappeared, was the decision that if he must hear either the word Ransom or the word Nothing a million times, he would prefer the word Ransom."

from Perelandra
by C.S. Lewis
Part of The Space Trilogy. They are "Out of the Silent Planet", "Perelandra", and "That Hideous Strength".

I was having a discussion about Evil today. And as we were talking about examples of Evil, like Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, etc, I was thinking about a few other things from fiction. The above being one of them.

And what strikes me as we are talking about this is the very banality of evil. It is shallow. It has no depth at all. So I thought of the above from Perelandra.

And I thought of another piece of writing by J.R.R. Tolkien from The Ainulindale, which is Tolkien's creation story in The Silmarillion. And in that story he wrote about how Melkor, the most favored of the Ainur, started the Journey to becoming Morgoth, the Dark Enemy of the World. The Corruptor.

And he wrote about Melkor thinking his own thoughts that were in conflict with his creators thoughts and introducing conflict into the great music. And the following has stuck with me for many years. And I do believe that it truly explains how banal evil truly is.

"The other had now achieved a unity of its own; but it was loud, and vain, and endlessly repeated; and it had little harmony, but rather a clamorous unison as of many trumpets braying upon a few notes. And it essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice, but it seemed that its most triumphant notes were taken by the other and woven into its own solemn pattern."

I truly believe that Evil is exactly that, a "loud and clamorous unison", while "braying upon a few notes", and how it "essayed to drown the other music by the violence of its voice".

Because when you look at people like Hitler, and Stalin, and there are many more, you can see that they constantly harped on a few things and repeatedly. They were very shallow in their ability to hold ideas. And those shallow ideas were endlessly repeated.

And they were very loud in repeating these things, as were their followers, and did every thing possible to drown out and silence other voices.

Another of the ways of evil is its very childishness. Now let us distinguish between childish and childlike.

Childish is selfish. It is always about the individual and never about the collective. Or, as we say in another context, "It's all about ME"!!!There is no empathy or compassion involved. That is why evil has enemies and not friends.

Childlike is curious. It has wonder and joy and discovery with the ability to feel for others.

And most importantly, Evil is ALWAYS RIGHT!!! It can never be wrong. Or mistaken. And, within the circle of believers, dissent is never tolerated. Questioning is never tolerated. This is especially true for the Believers. For those in the Cult of Personality of the Evil One. They will defend their leader until the bitter end no matter what. evidence, Truth, Facts, none of that matter to the True Believer.

And today we have perfect examples of this. Both at home and abroad.

Abroad the most egregious example of this, in my opinion, in Vladimir Putin. From what I can see he checks all the boxes. He is the Great Leader who is always right. There is no dissent. Especially among the believers. He hammers on a few themes over and over again. And the very volume of the noise produced drowns out most, not quite all, other voices. And he does everything that he can, including killing, to drown out and destroy opposition.

And here at home we have Donald John Trump. In my opinion. He checks all the boxes. He is the Great Leader who is always right. He tolerates no dissent at all. And neither do his followers. He hammers a very few themes over, and over, and over, again. And the volume of the noise made by him and his followers, while it does not drown out other voices, it is making it harder and harder for those voices to get fair treatment.

Another hall mark of evil is the constant lying, distortion, wholesale negation of truth. And one of the results of this is people get so confused about truth that they can no longer distinguish what is truth and what is not. I think that the following quote said it best:

"This constant lying is not aimed at making people believe a lie, but at ensuring that no one believes anything anymore.

A people that can no longer distinguish between truth and lies cannot distinguish between right and wrong. And such people, deprived of the power to think and judge, is, without knowing and willing it, completely subjected to the rule of lies.

With such people you can do whatever you want."

Hannah Arendt, German Historian and Philosopher, (1906 - 1975)

And this points to another thing that evil does that allows it to flourish, it attacks Education. It makes sure that rote learning and memorization are taught and that being able to Think, to Think Critically, is not. Because a population that can think critically is much harder to be taken in by evil.

So there we have it. Evil and what it looks like, sounds like, and acts like. It can wear many faces, and can disguise itself at times so that it does not really present like that. And, if you pay attention, you can see it.

So how can you and I put our selves into a place we can stop evil from triumphing?

1. Pay attention. Do ones best to see what is going on in the world around us. See with our own eyes what there is to see. Hear with our own ears what there is to hear.
2. Do not believe what you are told by others. No matter how "influential" or "important" they are. Investigate for yourself. Including with people and organizations that you may not believe in.
3. Believe what you see and hear. The first thing an evil person does is try to convince you that they are the only fountain or Truth. That all others, unless they agree with the Leader, are liars. Believe what you see and hear.
4. Keep your head up and stay involved. The old saying that "The only thing necessary for evil  triumph in the world is that good men do nothing" is very true. Even more so today. It will not go away by ignoring it or pretending that it doesn't exist.
5. Pick a side. Always pick a side. Neutrality only benefits the oppressor. AKA the evil one. Pick the side of good and then hold good to account to be the good.

So folks, it is time to get out of our comfort zones and go forth and do battle, however that looks for you, for the future of our Country and Humanity. For that is where we are. The very Future depends on YOU getting involved.

Because, if we don't all get involved, then our country will fall, to evil. And then the future of the Human Race is at risk. Because evil will ramp up Climate Damage and change. And they will not be afraid to throw around weapons of mass destruction.

That is where we are today. Faced with Evil that is so Banal that it is hard to believe that this is Evil in just the ordinary every day of life. Because, from a distance, it does not look that threatening or dangerous. And people like me are considered alarmist who exaggerate things in order to get attention. It can be very easy to see it like that. And comforting. And totally wrong and dangerous.

So let us be with the better angels of our nature. Let us move forth into a world where there is enough for every body. Let us move into a world that has compassion and empathy.

Or just stand still and let evil triumph.

That is our choice today.

How do you choose?