The Belief in Evil (post 9)

I have hypothesized that almost all people share the same fundamental values.

1) We value our own happiness.
2) We value creating and maintaining loving relationships with others.
3) We value bringing happiness and easing pain for those we love.

Certainly, there are monsters in this world who do not share these values - psychopaths and sociopaths.  Fortunately, such people are rare.

More worrisome are all of those who share these fundamental values but still act in hateful and cruel ways to strangers and even to people they love.  And that describes a lot of us - including me.

So what is it that causes good people with these same core values to hate and want to hurt each other?

First, in an attempt to answer this question, let us distinguish it from a related but different question:
What is it that allows one person, who does not hate or desire to hurt others, to do something hurtful to another?

This question is easy to answer, and it does not violate any of the core values listed.  It is for the gain of resources.  Most animals engage in intraspecific aggression over resources.  Males will injury each other in competition for females.  Rival groups will kill one another in battles over foraging areas.

Whether or not such actions are accompanied with hatred or a desire to injure is impossible to say.  But in our own lives we can think of many instances where we are willing to injure others without any hatred for them.

A thief may take someone's wallet without any ill will for their victim - they just need or want the money.  A military commander may order a detonation that will kill noncombatants and feel terrible about it.  But he does it anyway because he believes it is the best way to meet his objective.  A business owner may fire a long time employee and friend.  She may not want to, but she does it because she believes it will help the business survive.

We all make these sorts of calculations and take actions that we know are going to hurt strangers or even friends.  We can recognize these sorts of actions because they are accompanied with guilt and/or rationalizing.

Unfortunately, if we engage in this sort of activity frequently enough, if we have a low tolerance for guilt, or if those we have injured retaliate - the guilt may turn to hatred.  We stop feeling guilty and instead feel disdain.  Eventually, we can convince ourselves that those we injure are evil and deserve what they are get.  At that point, we may enjoy hurting them and seek to do it solely for sake of doing it.

That is one way, and perhaps the most common way, it can happen.  It can also happen whenever we feel like we are the victim, or if we empathize with the victim, of a perceived injustice.  Regardless of whether the perpetrator meant or wanted to hurt anyone, we may come to label that perpetrator as evil.  And then we may enjoy devising and implementing an ongoing and unrelenting vengeance.

Either way, the path toward hating and wanting to hurt others opens whenever and wherever we start believing those others are evil.

It is the belief in evil that is the prime perpetuator of hatred and intentionally hurtful behavior.