The lesser of two evils, is still evil
When honesty, integrity, and ethical behavior are more hindrances than virtues, we're all in big trouble.
Evil is real. All anyone needs to consider for some convincing about this is what happened in Israel on October 7, when the Palestinian Sunni Islamist terrorist group, Hamas, attacked civilian targets in Israel from the Gaza Strip. This was an unprovoked, barbaric attack notable more for its cruelty than the achievement of any military or political victory, even fleeting.
Israel has just as much of a historic claim to most of the land it occupies as the Palestinians or anyone else in the Middle East. And the rest they won in battle against opponents who should have known better. Why should I feel sorry for the ill-informed, slow, and not particularly agile who still elect to whack a hornets nest with a stick? FAFO.
I do not consider myself any type of die-hard supporter of Israel. I think that there are many legitimate grievances in the Middle East involving many parties spanning at least two millennia. It’s a complex situation. But one does not productively address political and social complexity by murdering teens at a music concert, raping women, and kidnapping or killing infants.
You just piss people off, and those people stay pissed off for a long time. I think the payback for this action by Hamas from Israel is going to leave a mark.
What happened in Israel is a reminder that evil does, in fact, exist. I don’t give a hoot in hell about what the postmodernists and moral relativists think about it either. Deliberately killing and maiming civilians for the offense of merely existing is wrong and evil. I don’t happen to believe in hell or an afterlife, but events like that which occurred on October 7 sometimes make me wish that I did. I just don’t know that sufficient retribution exists in this world.
As I have grown older, I’ve given a lot of thought to good vs. evil. Earlier in life, I lacked confidence that I could clearly discern which was which in many situations. I have far fewer reservations now. Some people are just asshats. It’s not as terribly complicated as I used to think.
We currently live in a world where honesty, integrity, and most other forms of ethical behavior are heavily disincentivized. What good does it do an honest person, for instance, to engage a liar in a dispute when most forms of arbitration are likely to rule, out of convenience and expediency, that the truth lies in between? The incentive, in this case, is for the honest person to lie to shift that determination closer to the actual truth.
The world is distressingly full of this. Why spend years in school or learning a trade when the diversity, equity, and inclusion boxes you check for a potential employer are more important than your knowledge and experience? Why not cheat to get ahead when the world seems to turn a blind eye to most of it? Why treat others fairly and well when the cost to you is unlikely to be recouped? Why “try to get by being quiet and shy in a world full of pushing and shove?”
I’ll tell you why, and this is the closest thing that you’ll ever get from me in the form of a pep talk, but it’s because ethical behavior is the glue that holds civilization together. Governments simply cannot pass enough laws or hire enough police to ensure that every human interaction goes as it should. For most of that, we are responsible for ourselves.
I think that’s the way it ought to be too.
Look, you can either despise what Hamas did or you can sink to their level, and the latter is what’s waiting at the end of the line when you abandon moral and ethical decency because it’s too hard and you’ve given up on all of it. If living in a world where people look out for and take care of one another is something you value, your part is to adhere to the best standards of personal conduct that you are able to manage. Some days will be better than others, but it is the effort that counts. Learning to turn the other cheek is valuable.
I am irreligious. No ifs, ands, or buts. I’m neither in favor of nor antagonistic towards anyone’s religious beliefs. But none of it is for me. As I’ve said many times, the hypocrisy that I see in many devoutly religious people would be funny, except for the fact that it’s not. You show me one example of religion making the world a better place, and I’ll show you ten where it did not. The get-out-of-jail-free card carried by many religious people is a convenient excuse to pray away poor behavior.
At some level, I actually think many of the religious believe the same things that I do when it comes to spirituality, or they’d behave a whole lot differently. They’re just hedging their bets.
But I get it. In a world filled with misery, unfairness, and outright cruelty, it’s beyond tempting to find something, anything, to hang onto. And when you fail to live up to your creed, that get-out-of-jail-free card is a mighty comforting thing to have. In a world filled with disorder and evil, putting your faith in something that superimposes order and righteousness on chaos, even filled with dogma that is prima facie absurd, seems the lesser of two evils.
But the lesser of two evils is still evil. I think that we have to learn to shake off the idea of succumbing to external loci of control to regulate and encourage ethical social behavior, be it law books thick enough to be measured in astronomical units or religious dogma. It’s way better, at least in my view, if we can learn to take care of this ourselves. There’s no time like right now to get started.
Associated Press and Idaho Press Club-winning columnist Martin Hackworth of Pocatello is a physicist, writer, and retired Idaho State University faculty member who now spends his time with family, riding bicycles and motorcycles, and arranging and playing music. Follow him on Twitter @MartinHackworth and on Substack at martinhackworthsubstack.com
The doctrines of moral relativism and post-modernism have brought nothing but cynicism and misery into the world. Thank you Martin for denouncing the evils committed on October 7th.