Re: EVIL

[chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (chris williams)]

I wrote:
>>   I'll be kind and credit Lily with simply being deluded, rather than
>>actually evil. She may well believe that she can contact the dead, or
>>she may not even be engaged in that hateful charade, and may only be
>>advising Kate on "protecting" herself from "psychic attack."

...and bhutchin@vdoe386.vak12ed.edu responded:
>Using the word evil (ok, giving the reader a choice between evil and
>deluded) to describe someone who Kate obviously thinks of as a
>help to her seems a bit overzealous.

   If Lily *knows* that she is perpetrating a sham, then I believe
the word "evil" would be accurate. If she is mistaken, and she
believes that she posesses "powers," then she sufferes under a delusion.

   Perhaps I could find some more diplomatic words, but these are the
words that I have always used to describe these people (although I've
sometimes used stronger words.) Preying upon the pain and unhappiness
of others is one of the greatest evils in the world.

>  It's a good rhtorical technique but unfair.

   Thanks for the compliment, but I really don't believe I was being
unfair. And compared to the loathsome profession of the con artist...

> Why does it bother you so much?  If pain and grief can be gotten
>over by using these type of people, why bother arguing their worth?

   Hundreds of thousands of people yearly, worldwide are bilked out of
fortunes by scam artists, "faith-healers" and "psychics." And you ask,
what is the harm? Admittedly Kate has more money than I, and presumably
you posess, and can afford to lose more. She can probably afford to 
keep several "psychics" employeed. But that doesn't mean that I have to
like it, or the general anti-rational nature of the human race.

> We can't prove that their claims are true or false.

   We can and have. *NO* one, to date has demonstraited a contact with
the dead. Thousands and thousands of people die every single day, but
not a one of them has succeded in reaching across "the great divide."
Not even the great escape artist Harry Houdini succeeded. (BTW, Kate is
mistaken in her belief that Harry reached Bess. The "psychic" obtained
the code via subterfuge. Bess retracted her endorsement.)

>B-you're definitely inspired by your argument and are very
>skillful with rhetoric but I fear you're a bit weak on
>substance.

   Thanks again for the compliment. I am in the position of arguing
against something that a lot of people *wish* were true. Most people
would like to live forever, would like to believe that there is some
sort of life beyond death. Most people would like to believe that
humans can posess abilites beyond our senses and skills. Their desire
for these things leads them to disregard their critical facilities.
 
There is a part of myself, a part that often shows it's self in my
dreams that would like to believe these things also. A part of me
wishes that I could see my father again. But I know this is not going
to be. I had a dream a few months ago, and woke up in tears. I 
dreamed that my dad visited. He was dressed in the same suit that
we buried him in. This part of me wishes that he had really come
to visit me, but this wasn't so. It was just a part of my mind
providing something that another part needed. I would also like
to be able to stretch my arms out and fly. Neither is going to
happen. 
 
        Against entrophy, Chris Williams of
                             Chris'n'Vickie of Chicago
                               chrisw@fciad2.bsd.uchicago.edu (his)
                                 vickie@njin.rutgers.edu      (hers)
                                   katefans@chinet.chinet.com (ours)