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Intent of Evil
Friday, November 9th, 2007 by admiral In my last tirade, I happened to mention that the tyranny of good intentions never sleeps. Since absolutely nobody has asked me to explain what I meant, I will take this opportunity to fill in the blanks. What kind of stand up philosopher would I be to skip such an opportunity as has been provided to me here? As you can tell, I am writing this to avoid getting to work tonight.
The greatest temptation, even of evil men, is not the desire to do evil but the desire to do good. We have been warned that the greatest threat to the republic would come from men of zeal, well intentioned but without understanding. This applies to any republic. To the Hedonists, pleasure and happiness are the greatest good and, as I recall, they got so out of hand that even tolerant, secular Rome clamped down on them. You run into problems when you define good in evil terms.
I honestly believe that you could get massive support for reopening Auschwitz if you framed it as being ‘for the children.’ Frame your viewpoint in terms of destroying evil and popular support will form around you. People will overcome anything that stands in the way of the perceived good of destroying evil. Even if the evil is real and the solution destroys some of it, a greater evil may take its place as a result. This is why the warrior fights for and never against anything.
Support for doing good is hard to suppress. It is as natural to us as breathing. Any positive force is open to exploitation. You honestly set out to make the world a better place but the result of your actions depends on your perception of what is better. People will resist so more power in your hands is always necessary.
Even evil often starts out with a view of doing good. Evil men set out to correct injustices in the world the same way that good men do. Few men see the evil work of their own hands and plans. It is this belief in the good works being done that make it possible for such men to fight on beyond the limits of their own comforts and even desires. Even evil men make all the sacrifices that they must for the public good.
