Just can't agree with you Grey.

Evil is an all-purpose word -  the dictionary I just looked at doesn't mention anything to do with religion , or demonic possession.

After Evil tho, and following Evil doer - Eye - minded  etc - is
EVIL ONE - n. The Devil  - preceded by the.

Non-religious people use the word. I know it is a word that I use reluctantly, for the very reason that many people automatically link it to a religious concept. It is a term that encompasses all the bad that humans do.

And, just another note - your easy presumptions of others reactions to given circumstances eg  the snake after the kitty -  are erroneous, generalistic and frankly wrong. Some might see  'evil'   but most would think eeek save the kitty from danger.

As for the abused daughter rising to protect the innocent -  THAT would truly be a rare example. NOT UNKNOWN - just rare.  Obviously Jane was  tougher than the average girl.
Not helpful at all I'm afraid.

And this 'programming a fault rather than ..faulty wiring' re psychos is also highly suspect.
You are saying unequivocally that no one is born with the inherent desire to be bad.   How then does so much evil happen? Because of the Devil???   PUHlease!!!  Cop-out if ever there was one.

Not real sure what your point is -  except evil is only related to a religious perception of wrong-doing,  which - well ...just isn't so.

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Is it? The concept of 'luck' is basic to superstition. The concept of good/bad judges actions. I don't have much time for moral relativism. Chucking acid over school girls may seem like a good thing to Talibs, but that's because they're twisted f'cks. I refuse the notion that regarding women as lesser people than men is good or acceptable anywhere. Which is to say that anywhere would be vastly improved by emancipation.

Jalane, the d-evil take you, you contradict yourself in your own rantings. 

[

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I think it is  Ahhh the ripples on the pond may prove stronger than the stone and the buuterflies wings beating in the blue mountains may cause an earthquake in Guatamala.... but before we get too carried away Grasshopper, with contemplating the oneness, let's consider that the Buddha was a fat princely bastard lecturing very skinny people 

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Probable consequences, yes let's consider that. The young fella probably wouldn't have a broken leg, if he'd taken the training of the horse a bit slower and gentler. The young fellas wouldn't have been rounded up if the emperor hadn't gotten involved in a war. They're direct consequences. Bad things compound themselves and so do good ones. The acid throwing, which has happened more than once and involved more than one perpetrator, was a consequence of Islam not keeping up with modernity. It was a deliberate act to install fear in young women so that they would stop going to school. That it was THAT girl that took the brunt was bad luck, that THAT boy was spared being rounded up for war was good luck.

I've never quite cottoned on to the EAST/WEST dichotomy, surely North and South makes more sense? Anyway Asians might be less sanguine about the causes of catastrophe if they didn't have quite so many. Europe is a lot more stable than Asia, both geographically and politically. Oh sure there was the Holocaust I know and more, but compared to the genocides of Asia... 

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There's a lot to be said for the black and white view of events, there's a time to be sanguine for sure and also a time to be angry. I had a good look at Buddhism, Taoism too. I looked closely because I could see a lot of good philosophy there, I keep it 'in mind', but ultimately I'm too worldly for that.

Muso - how does Taoism have a western viewpoint??

dear me Grey - no need to get upset and be rude.tsk tsk .

The Topic is Evil - not the Devil.
I am saying that 'evil'  or  (IN OTHER WORDS) 'nasty stuff' exists without the need for reference to a superstitious belief.
Show me where it says evil is exclusively valid only in relation to religious principle.  Perhaps, that was the genesis of the concept/word?  The Bible?? .... well?   I doubt it..... Just another reality borrowed by various religions to further their credibility??

Perhaps it has 'evolved' as a word to encompass non-sectarian considerations.
I'm not asking you, I'm expressing my response. Tough if you find it dense.


For somebody who's reluctant to use it, because people (rightly) link it to religion, you seem to use it a lot AND waste everybodies time defending it. - Grey

That is both incorrect- -  and deliberately inflammatory.  But you know - I don't care ---.

 Taoist/Daoist if you want to be modern and phonetic, - philosophy would hear what you said, and shrug  -considering it unimportant - a simple example of loss ,  ...  for unnecessary disturbance, and ........YOUR problem.!!! .  

Maybe the Kitty / Snake thing wasn't you - who knows who cares - I stand by what I said.
Babies ARE innocent - no doubt. I don't buy in to the anti-christ child blah blah.

But 'nuture' CANNOT be the only cause of socio-psycho behaviour.  Happens in the BEST of families don't you know.!

Some people are wired wrong. That is plain as your BIG NOSE!

[quote  The devil is of religion, you clod 

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That's right.

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Good.


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Huh?

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You are quite mad to arrive at such assumptions.

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I will become any kind of Christian right around the time you get the contract to catwalk for McQueen during the Paris fashion week.  Rest assured that knowing you as I do I will never be upset by anything you care to spout, though I reserve the right to be as rude as is amusing to me. 

muso wrote on Jul 21^st, 2011 at 11:26am:




LOL...I usually write "NONE" - but I appreciate that it is relevant for many people in some circumstances...

As for marital status and salutation questions: pfffft - gender discrimination is bad enough but I reckon it ought to be illegal to ask the supplementaries (the generic Mr/Ms ought to be inferred from the answer to the gender question, if deemed necessary for a salutation at all)!