The Nature of Twevil 22 October, 2009

I’ve been twittering like crazy. It’s neat to just meet people and talk to them. Yesterday I had a really great conversation on the nature of evil with a twitter friend which I would like to reproduce here. By reproduce I mean go through and turn into delicious copypasta. All the @’s after the first refer to who the tweet was addressed to.

(from @Alaksir) I could never understand some people’s pursuit of painting others as evil. Perhaps it makes them feel they’re better than everyone else.

@alaksir does this include or exclude actual “evil” people?

@silentpyjamas I really don’t believe there are actual evil people, well, unless in an MMOG of course, LOL

@alaksir really? I believe in evil people. It’s an argument I had with my brother many times, for he did not believe in evil people.

@silentpyjamas Okay, probably some people are more inclined toward evil than others, but I think everyone has similar tendencies

@alaksir I think, I guess, it is intent which means evil or not. I may be biased, however. Said brother was murdered

@silentpyjamas Oh man, I’m deeply sorry

@alaksir I don’t, however, believe the criminals in this case were evil. Whether I continue to feel so remains to be seen

@silentpyjamas You have every right to feel otherwise, I think

@alaksir oh absolutely! I think that it is whether the person is intent on pleasing themselves at the expense of others, again and again…

@silentpyjamas Thanks! That is also my opinion =)

@alaksir which is the demarcation for evil. If someone simply does not care, even if they know they are wrong, they’re leaning toward evil

@silentpyjamas Yeah, then people who are constantly pursuing to paint others as evil would actually be themselves evil

@alaksir It’s always been a big question for me and I ponder it periodically. It’s good to know I am not alone in thinking about it

@silentpyjamas It is a big question for any thinking people I think

@alaksir I can agree with that. No good can come of trying to spoil the reputation of another

@silentpyjamas Anyone who can feel empathy toward people marked as evil by others has certain virtue about them. It can be quite difficult.

@alaksir I concur. I think the answer a person arrives at is likely to strongly color their ability to empathize with “evil” persons

@silentpyjamas I think you are right. It is always much easier to blame others for our own shortcomings, even if we know what they are

@alaksir It can be difficult. At the same time, there is always the element of the fear of seeing some of them in one’s self and vice versa

@alaksir I think that’s why it’s a lot easier to Other them that way. It’s very easy to turn a blind eye to shared qualities with “evil”

@alaksir We may not all BE evil, but I have yet to meet someone who hasn’t DONE evil even once, ever in their lives

@silentpyjamas Nobody, except in fables and religious tales of course

Afterward we thanked one another for a fun convo. To be honest, I never expected to have such a great conversation with a total stranger in volleys of 140 characters or less. It was a good time and a thought-provoking chat. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

Also seen on twitter, a link to the art of one @FatChickInLA which can be seen here. This lady is talented and I can’t even pick which one of her works I like best. She’s got it going on, man. Check it out!

Please feel free to add me on twitter, I can’t say I tweet about anything terribly interesting (well maybe a little) but it’s always nice to have more people to talk to all the time.

If you’re a twitter pal, hi!

Final note before I sign off for the night, Sunday (Sunday Sunday) the completely awesome (<3) @Abbalinio is helping me to attempt to create a couple of trendig topics, so if you tweet please tweet #pepperoniday and #RobotOverlords (previously my sister @SimianMobile and I have been rocking the RO) so that these topics of mine can achieve fame and fortune. I just wanna be cool!