Can Evil Be Good
To discuss a statement of this nature, it would be necessary to define the meaning of 'evil'. In my opinion, any act, which inflicts harm on another individual (or group of individuals), is evil and is to be avoided at all costs. Taking that in mind, one (usually!) restricts his behaviour to acts that do not fall under the category of being 'evil'. Following this golden rule, all is well and good - until we face a situation where 'evil' acts may (seem to) lead to good. It is not hard to think of such situations. For instance, the saga of capital punishment springs to mind at once. The 'criminal' committed a crime - he may have killed, robbed, or seriously injured someone - and so he must be punished, by taking away man's most valued possession - life. Here is an example how evil - which is killing a human being - is employed to serve a 'good' cause, which is terminating evil by abolishing it at its roots. But is the use of evil in situations like these justified??? The outcome of that evil act is presumably a good one, in the sense that justice is established and a criminal pays for his crimes. A whole new light is thrown into the matter if we see the affair from the criminal's point of view. The criminal, who may have committed t
The mission is completed successfully, and the 'good' end of this act is accomplished - but so is the evil one. His family was threatened, and his children were tortured before his very eyes to pressurize him into talking. The officer in charge had no other choice but to choose an 'evil' solution to obtain the information from him - torture. The man was put through a horrible series of physical and psychological stresses to force him to speak. It is plain from the two examples presented here that evil always brings about evil even though it may have been intended to serve a good cause. As a result, more than 500 targeted lives were saved from a terrorist attack, and many innocent individuals were saved from harm - though the man and his family were left with a psychological scar that was to last for ever. Another example of where evil is employed to serve a good cause is the acts of sabotage during war. There are often solutions other than evil. In these circumstances, one is placed between two evils, and so must choose the lesser evil of the two. For the first example, the solution is to attempt to solve the problem that led the criminal to the crime, or life imprisonment if such a solution is unattainable. I shall relate an incident that happened many years ago, which involved such a dilemma. The outcome of the supposedly 'justified' act is no longer seen as 'good', but as necessarily and predominantly evil. Life is not a bed of roses (unfortunately!), and often, the solution is not always as easy as it sounds. While many lives that may have been the victims of the arms produced in these factories were saved, the lives of the workers in the factories were not spared.
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Acceptance Essays
