Re: May's Cottage: May L / Gwen R
"You're trying to explain evil, but I'm not sure I believe the concept truly exists in the way you mean. Evil is a religious term. There are medical terms to describe people who do what you're describing. Most people who engage in harm without empathy, and for the sake of itself, are sociopaths. But it's generally accepted that all humans have the capacity for that kind of behavior. For most people, it takes certain situations, and certain criteria must be met." She took another sip of her tea, and she tried to think up a good example. "There was an experiment conducted where a selection of students were placed into two groups. One group was designated as prisoners in a jail, and the other group was designated as their jailers. In a super short time, the jailers all began torturing or otherwise mistreating the inmates. There was no motivation for this beyond the effect of power over other people. That isn't evil, ma'am, that's just humanity. You could call it evil, but the truth exists that that ability exists in all of us."