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“All it takes for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing.”
People look in the face of evil like it does not affect their daily life. Why do people stand aside while evil is in their midst? In this essay, I will show that it is unfortunately common for people to remain quiet while injustice flares up like wildfire. A good person who does nothing to help and improve on the wrongs of man is as guilty as the bad person himself. In my life I have seen time and time again the way people ignore the poor or name call people because of their race, age or ethnicity. Why do kids allow this, is it because they think it is cool when they hear their fellow classmates being made fun of and accused of crime they have not even committed? I have seen, read, and, heard of many coincidences where people let evil triumph over good, but I will first be talking about my life and how I let evil triumph over me. Then I will talk about how people ignored evil in history. After this, I will tie the quote in with what is happening today in the present world.
Why do I allow evil to triumph over the good of myself? Sometimes I just do not do anything to help those in need. I still remember a few of these stories. Once when I was in seventh grade I knew this one person. He used to wear a turban on his head. People used to do all sorts of terrible things to him, like rip his turban off, call him names such as “nipple head” and “ghandi”, and they even went so far as to call him “Ghandi’s son.” Once I witnessed with my own eyes someone running up and pulling his turban off. His hair fell down like a blanket and everyone started to laugh. No one did anything except sit there and watch, including me. Now that I think of this, I remember how foolish I was to even watch this embarrassing moment. This person is now one of my good friends.
I just now realized how much evil is flourishing around us. People think America is the land of the free and this is true. But the land of the free can also be capable of such ignorance and stupidity as to ignore evil and think what is wrong is really right.
Eile Weasel has quoted “I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, not the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.” This quote states that when you choose to remain silent when you know that something wrong is going on, you are supporting the evil side.
Evil will triumph because when there is no opposition towards evil, over time even the ethical people will become corrupt. In The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, Death states that Alex Steiner, a German citizen who is a member of the Nazi party, “[had] an itch in his heart, but he made it a point not to scratch it.” (60). Before World War II, Alex Steiner was a man who lived by good morals, however after the rise of Nazism he became corrupted by the Nazi propaganda. The “itch in his heart” reveals that he knows deep inside that his decision to support Hitler, is morally incorrect, however he is so corrupted, that he decides to ignore his subconscious (60). According to an article from The Huffington Post called “Do Good People Turn Evil?” by Adam Grant, it states, “ordinary men would inflict severe pain on others simply because they were asked to do so by an authority figure in an experiment” (Grant). Ordinary people who lived by good morals suddenly decide to cause others pain because someone is instructing them to. When principled people listen to others and let them corrupt their point of view, they make the wrong decision. In the article from The Atlantic called, “When Good People Do Nothing: The Appalling Story of South Carolina's
To conclude, Thoreau believed that people should be ruled by conscience and that people should fight against injustice through non-violence according to “Civil Disobedience.” Besides, he believed that we should simplify our lives and take some time to learn our essence in the nature. Moreover, he deemed that tradition and money were unimportant as he demonstrated in his book, Walden. I suggested that people should learn from Thoreau to live deliberately and spend more time to go to the nature instead of watching television, playing computer games, and among other things, such that we could discover who we were and be endeavored to build foundations on our dreams.
In Thoreau’s view, he felt that the government was insufficient. He didn’t need the laws to be just, he used his conscious and morality. He was compelled to do what morally was right, rather than it being based on government issued laws such as the complacent society there is today. People seem to care about justice, yet are immoral. This was the message Thoreau was trying to get across.
Demonstrating a form of protest that was more of an art form and a statement than riots and violence, in September 2011, people occupied New York 's financial district of Wall Street over issues that Henry David
If people were always kind and obedient to those who are cruel and unjust, the wicked people have it all their own way: they would never feel afraid, and so they would have it all their own way: they would never alter, but would grow worse and worse. When we are struck at w...
Thoreau was a very dedicated abolitionist. Majority of his works was for the abolishment of slavery. Thoreau even defended Captain John Brown, who was charged with treason for the uprising against slavery in Virginia. Thoreau expressed his feelings in a way that is still relevant in society today. His most radical work is his writing on “Civil Disobedience” in his essay Thoreau states, “government is best which governs not at all”(1).This powerful statement means that government is too corrupt to lead people in the right way so they need to take a step back and let society govern itself. Thoreau also explains, how without change society itself will always be the government 's machine (6). His statement iterates that government will always have power over people that do not rebel to make change; due to the fact that laws will be followed because people are often ignorant of the situation. Individuals have to understand that society can not just vote for a law and expect chang. Thoreau believed that explains to vote against their government, a simple vote is not enough(Civil Disobedience). People that rebel need to back up their vote with their actions to make a difference in
Emma's arrogance shines through when she brags that she is exceptionally skillful at matching couples. She believes that she is in control of fate and must play matchmaker in order for couples to discover their true love. Austen confirms, "The real evils indeed of Emma's situation were the power of having rather too much her own way, and a disposition to think a little too well of herself" (Austen 1). Although Emma is so spoiled and overbearing, she truly doesn't realize this fact.
“The ultimate tragedy is not the oppression and cruelty by the bad people but the silence over that by the good people.”~ Martin Luther King, Jr.
Medication Adherence Clinical Reference - American College of Preventive Medicine. (2011, January 1). Retrieved November 12, 2014, from http://www.acpm.org/?MedAdherTT_ClinRef#Statistics
Since the dawn of modern civilization the terms good and evil have been used to describe the world and the various things within it. Things ranging from the concepts of the Devil, to the kid the cut in front you in the lunch line in the third grade, evil can be defined in many ways, however, evil is generally defined as something that goes against a single set of moral principles that society has defined. This is not true because evil is something that an individual perceives that they believe will cause them harm and goes against their individual moral beliefs, not some universal concept accepted by everyone.
Evil exists in all human beings, even children. This is proven in William Golding's novel Lord of the Flies in which a group of youthful, inncocent boys are stranded without any contact with the outside world. The boys are not in the civil surrondings that they are used to, but their instincts kick in and their ultimate goal is to survive, together. The first sense of security is when all of the boys find eachother. They are given hope. Hope that is immediately lost when the division between the two born leaders, Jack and Ralph, begins. Their innocence is lost due to the lack of proper authority and consequence. They are no longer just juvenile boys under someone else's care, but survivors fighting to stay alive.
Throughout history, there have been many human beings who have been seen as either a hero or a villain. In their childhood, these people had obstacles that were in their way, causing each individual to either work harder or give up. People, however, must understand that each individual has potential in achieving their goals, but if one is mistreated or deceived due to jealousy, resentment, hatred, or ambition, it can lead to many catastrophic events. People who have pride and arrogance do not want to have equals, rather they want to see their victims suffer. These people have no difficulty in achieving their goals due to the fact that their victims have too innocent a nature to suspect the nefarious motives of their enemies.
Each year in the United States close to 26 million animals including, mice, rabbits, cats, dogs, and most commonly chimpanzees are tested both for scientific research and conventional research. Animals are tested in treatments to determine how a drug or treatment will affect a human being, and several more health care purposes. This is nothing new though, animal testing has been practiced since 500 BC. Animal testing is both morally and ethically wrong and needs to be put to a stop.
In our world today, we come across all sorts of people. Some you see do evil actions and some you see do good actions. The person doing a good action might be a psychotic killer-- you never know. The other person doing the evil action, could be a priest. Not everything you see people do shows what type of person they really are inside. These people may look one way on the outside, but the world can change the way they see the world and their ultimate actions. Regardless of how someone seems, they are consistently changing because of the evil energies of the world. Humans are all born good and pure, although as we grow up we are corrupted by the evil world around us.