The morality of evil

There are a few words and phrases conservatives stubbornly use as verbal queues that they're as proud warriors of the right.

No matter they sound ignorant.

The mispronunciation of the word nuclear (nuke-cular, á la George Bush) is one; so is the intentionally unpleasant-sounding, ungrammatical, and just plain incorrect, “Democrat Party.”

The use of ‘Evil’ is another concept that separates right and left. By dismissing heinous crimes and criminals, terrorism and terrorists as capital ‘E’ Evil, the right condemns analysis, explanation, or rationale for criminal acts.

In this crowd, you’re Evil, or you ain’t… if you need to know more, you’re a pussy- (that is to say- a liberal) who probably wants to cuddle killers and encourage terrorists.

For these folks, 9-11 was not a complicated slumgullion of 14th-century religio-political orthodoxy, economic inequity, cultural isolation and oil money that begs study and investigation in order to avoid it happening again, it was simply Evil that needs to be destroyed.

Attempts to understand it, are just attempts to excuse it.

This brand of Evil, they say, is a consequence of nothing but its own Evil-tude (or maybe Satan) and that’s all you need to know.

This was a 9-11,and everything-that-came-after meme for the powers that were, and it's jumped up again like Frankenstein with the Ft. Hood massacre, where a religious fanatic with a major’s gold oak leaf who seems to have brazenly walked across the U.S. Army’s radar screens wearing a jellaba and a skull cap.

He’s Evil, and that’s that.

Michael Medved said last week that the shooting was not a “tragedy,” as President Obama called it. It was Evil, Michael opined, and the prez will hurt himself if he doesn’t publicly acknowledge that.

Evil is a theological term, and this Manichean dismissal is a neoconservative article of faith. It’s as spiritual as they get, (they're a godless bunch) but it has the added advantage of hooking the fundamentalist Christians.

We've been hearing it all week on the radio: Evil must be crushed, eliminated, exterminated- not given a lawyer and a fair trial. 

George Bush used this studied ignorance and faux religious rationale to do what he did. Rejecting such concepts as the right to a fair trial by using an arbitrary idea of “evil” to justify it is frankly terrifying.

Let us pray the powers that be choose more rational, that is, less evil ways to make decisions, and practice justice. 

(And there are a lot of us who'd like to know through criminal investigation how the fuck that guy got where he got undetected by the U.S.Army!)

Comments

[AuthenticAndrew]

The problem is that "evil" sounds cool, it rolls off the tounge. "Evul". "Eeveel".

Criminals are actualy sociopaths and psychopaths but those words sound ugly, especially when declared loudly. The poindexters who coined those terms didn't do their cause any rhetorical favors.

[joanie]

Criminals are not always sociopaths or psychopaths. They are often simply overwhelmed individuals who have shown increasing evidence of that disturbance. This guy did. There was ample evidence that he was conflicted.

Randi did an excellent show on the guy and his history. One of her references was a Dana Priest article in the Washington Post:Fort Hood suspect warned of threats within the ranks
Cited stress facing Muslims Hasan spoke at Walter Reed in 2007

I've read that psychiatrists often become despondent or depressed as a result of their work treating mentally ill patients. There are no easy answers. Timothy McVeigh or Scott Roeder: each acting out of misdirected passion. Hasan is no different. Equally murderous but just another disturbed individual.

What it is about religion and American society that creates these people?

[joanie]

Maybe it is people like chux who as a consequence of their ignorance, bigotry and bullying turn every muslim into a target and thus, in self-preservation, a weapon of hate.

One disturbed man has given chux a soapbox to blaspheme every "shit weasel in sandals" for the next century. Unreasonable? Of course. But what has chux and his ilk ever said that was reasonable?

[mrogi]

Randi Rhodes was some piece of work on Tuesday's radio program. Rhodes did everything but suck Malik Hasan's cock. She extolled the virtues of his great work enlightening the military about Muslim angst with his Powepoint presentations. Rhodes seemed oblivious to the fact that Hasan is a mass murdering scumbag piece of shit terrorist.

[Puget Sound]

"(And there are a lot of us who'd like to know through criminal investigation how the fuck that guy got where he got undetected by the U.S.Army!)"

Two words: Political Correctness.
It's coming out that Nidal Hasan was throwing all kinds of red flags out.
Not only was he allowed to continue with his anti-american screed but was promoted to Major.
I hasten to add that he was promoted not to 'district supervisor' but promoted to a field grade officer level in the US Army.

[Puget Sound]

From Time Magazine:
"As officials continue to investigate the alleged Fort Hood killer, it is looking increasingly likely that the Army missed several red flags in Major Nidal Malik Hasan's behavior. Many observers say it wouldn't be surprising if such signals had been missed, given that Hasan was a psychiatrist whom the Army desperately needed to help tend to the mental wounds of two wars. But at the same time, some members of the military are quietly discussing the more troubling possibility that the Army looked the other way precisely because Hasan was Muslim.
(See pictures of the Fort Hood shootings.)
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Army officials strongly deny any suggestion that Hasan's religion resulted in his being given special treatment. But one officer who attended the Pentagon's medical school with Hasan disagrees. "He was very vocal about being a Muslim first and holding Shari'a law above the Constitution," this officer recalls. When fellow students asked, "How can you be an officer and hold to the Constitution?," the officer says, Hasan would "get visibly upset — sweaty and nervous — and had no good answers." This medical doctor would speak only anonymously because his commanders have ordered him not to talk about Hasan, he says.

This officer says he was so surprised when Hasan gave a talk about "the war on terror being a war on Islam" that he asked the lieutenant colonel running the course what Hasan's presentation had to do with health care. "I raised my hand and asked, 'Why are you letting this go on — this has nothing to do with environmental health.' The course director said, 'I'm just going to let him go.' " The topic of Hasan's presentation, the officer says, had been approved in advance by the lieutenant colonel.

The officer says he and a colleague complained to staff at the Uniformed University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., but got nowhere: "It was a systemic problem — the same thing was happening at Walter Reed," the Army medical center several miles away, where Hasan was working as a psychiatrist. (The Washington Post reported Tuesday that Hasan gave a similar presentation at Walter Reed in which he said Muslims should be released as conscientious objectors rather than forced into combat against fellow Muslims.) But "political correctness" inside the military, the officer asserts, insulated Hasan. "People are afraid to come forward and challenge somebody's ideology," he says, "because they're afraid of getting an equal-opportunity complaint that can end careers."

A retired four-star officer says that, on the basis of the evidence gleaned so far, it was Hasan's career that should have been cut short. "They could have given him a dishonorable discharge and said what he's doing works against good order and discipline," says the general, who also requested anonymity. But rather than it being a matter of giving preferential treatment to Hasan because of his religion, "my guess is he fell through the cracks," the general says.

Whether he fell through the cracks or was cut slack because of concerns about appearing to impinge on his religious freedom will be a focus of the investigations under way. "The Army was just under such pressure that they planned to send him to Afghanistan," says Lawrence Korb, Pentagon personnel chief during the Reagan Administration. But Korb says he's perplexed by reports that Hasan received poor evaluations and still got promoted. "That tells me the Army didn't do its job," he says — though he attributes that to the unrelenting demand to keep mental-health professionals on duty rather than to Hasan's religion.

But Ralph Peters, a retired Army lieutenant colonel who now writes military books and a newspaper column, contends that Hasan's religion protected him from punitive action by the Army, a view shared privately by many in uniform. While stressing "there shouldn't be witch hunts" against Muslims in uniform, Peters insists "this guy got a pass because he was a Muslim, despite the Army's claim that everybody's green and we're all the same."

Congress is already beginning to look into why an Army psychiatrist who reportedly had to be counseled against sharing his antiwar views with soldiers back from combat could have possibly been promoted in May. Senator Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, said on Monday that he will hold a hearing next week to see "whether the government missed warning signs that should have led to [Hasan's] expulsion" before he killed 13 people on the Texas post last Thursday. Hasan's former classmate, for one, says he wasn't surprised to see Hasan's face flash across his television screen. "After the shock," he says, "the first thing that went through my mind was, Hey, I remember everything this guy said."

[Puget Sound]

and the most blatant red flag is his actual business card with SOA (Soldier of Allah)...

Wow...

[fRed]

Puget Sound, do you know if it's possible to sue the US Gov't for this? If so I would guess the lawsuits will start rollin in.

[Puget Sound]

I don't doubt that we'll see some civil suits.
The actual investigations into what happened and why action wasn't taken earlier should be telling.

[Puget Sound]

Probably one of the bravest writers in the world today.
This lady is on point.

A Female Muslim Viewpoint

I've been reading her blog for awhile. It is easily one of the best on the web IF you want to try and understand what is going on.

[fRed]

Interesting. Thanks.

[fRed]

Here's a shout-out (as our beloved President says it) to all the vets herein. Thank you all for your service to the greatest Country on the face of this earth.

[sparky]

From the Rude Pundit

"Who are these fantasy liberals that conservatives create out of straw? Where do they live? Where do you see anyone not a nutzoid Muslim fundamentalist supporting Hasan? Shit doesn't occur in a vacuum. Life ain't a movie; Hasan, from the meager bit we know about him, wasn't just blankly evil. No one in the liberal camp is forgiving him, but for citizens in and out of the military, it's crucial that we understand Hasan. Skepticism and inquiry aren't ludicrous luxuries. A desire to understand other cultures isn't mere political correctness. That's a shorthand way to dismiss a crucial step forward in a world that has changed significantly in the last few decades.

And the real wimps and weaklings are the ones who resist and refuse to offer anything beyond an assertion of smug superiority. Because, as anyone in any Darwinian enterprise will tell you, they are the long-dying members of a society or species."

[fRed]

Please strive to come up with an original thought ocassionally instead of constantly parroting.

[Tommy008]

Monfort had a double tank propane bomb rigged to his stovetop burner ready to go off at a moment's notice, as he was running up the stairs to his apartment with cops following. He clearly intended to take himself and his neighbors out rather then be taken alive. Now Ron of Ron and Don and other news sources report he is partially paralyzed and cannot speak as he lies in the hospital bed in Harborview. Don had a big laugh over this repeatedly yesterday and i also feel joy and glee over this and enjoy a big big horselaugh as well. hahahahaah Monfort hahahaah Monfort bwahahahaa Monfort is evil. not disturbed-evil.

[sparky]

Now, "fRed", don't be so hard on Puts.
Usually you are fawning over him...why the change of heart? And, do you think Hillary would approve? I certainly don't. Perhaps you should "make yourself useful" and "stay on topic".
Oh, almost forgot..{smile} :)

Tommy, has there been any speculation as to whether or not Monfort is Muslim?

[fRed]

Nice deferral, as usual.

[Coiler]

Was fRed your garage band moniker?

[fRed]

Anything to avoid and evade the point.

[sparky]

I think it's Canadian.

[fRed]

I think you and your sidekick have an obsession.

[sparky]

With what?

[RobP]

Here's an original idea: Why don't we actually talk about something MEDIA RELATED on a blog that "listens to talk radio so you don't have to"?

Go ahead, talk amongst yourselves. I'll give you yet another topic:
Anita Dunn - the woman who fired the opening salvo in Obama v. Fox News - is "stepping down from her post" (double-speak for 'she was asked to leave') at the end of the month.

Discuss.

[fRed]

Because the topic of morality of evil takes on many facets and is being demonstrated within this blog at times and by those who preach a different game from the one they play. You can possibly somewhat surmise that by the bob-and-weave tactics being taken by many. So, your original idea is one of many within this area.
In regard to your post, I will comment that in listening to Dave Ross this a.m. he stated that it seems like Fox may be feuding among themselves on their criticism and posture towards the White House so is there som reciprocity possibly going on.
Thank you for a reasonable post RobP and for trying to keep us on the straight and narrow.

[fRed]

Oh and Sparky in answer to your question. You and yours seem to be obsessed with focusing more on the possible identities of anonymous posters than on the topic at hand. Realistically does it really matter what monikers are used or are you predisposed to playing the game of gotch ya and speculation.
I'm sure you must have somewhat higher standards than that. I certainly hope so if your involved in teaching our precious minds like you've stated.

[Brian]

Yes, I wonder if Anita Dunn was forced to leave over admitting that Mao was an idol of hers or if it was for starting, then losing the war with Fox news?
Either way, another Marxist leaves the White House and we are all the better for it.

[sparky]

Condolences to former Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, at the passing of her husband.

[joanie]

She extolled the virtues of his great work enlightening the military about Muslim angst with his Powepoint presentations.

She got that from Dana Priest. Weren't you listening?

Rhodes seemed oblivious to the fact that Hasan is a mass murdering

She concurred that he IS a mass murderer more than ten times. Weren't you listening two?

His powerpoint simply tried to show the conflict in the minds of Muslim soldiers who were killing their religious brethren. And a military who, like chux, lumps all muslims together to get them to kill. The military, like Rush and chux, teach hate to get people to kill. Like you, mrogi. Yet, teaching muslim soldiers to hate muslims is like asking them to hate themselves.

His powerpoint showed the discrepancy between Al Queda and the religion. Al Queda does not reflect the morality of muslims. It reflects the hate of a particular group of people. Sort of like the right doesn't reflect the morality of all Americans; just the hate generated by a small group of Americans. Like you, mrogi.

He wanted the military to make it possible to opt out as conscientious objectors if one's religion (muslim in this case) created conflict impossible to deal with. Hearing soldiers returning from combat spout hatred for muslims must have had its effect on hiim- a muslim.

But mike's commentary is saying that simpletoms like you don't get that. And you never will.

I remember my mother hating "all japanese" at one time. She got over it. And I remember my neighbors hating all catholics at one time. They got over it.

And it was Saudi's that blew up the Twin Towers

You seem to forget that. For you and chux, it is kill, kill, kill no matter who they are.

I think fred is duffman.

Notice my long post sans one outside quote. It is called thinking: synthesizing and evaluating for yourself. If I want to read Time Magazine, I'll buy it.

[fRed]

Nice touch Sparky and I would simply add my condolences to all the families and friends of vets who have given life and limb on behalf of this Country.

[joanie]

I wish she were still on the bench. I bet she does, too.

[joanie]

I would simply add my condolences to all the families and friends of all the muslim women and children who have given life and limb because of American greed, hate and hegemony.

[fRed]

Such originality. I agree Joanie you do seem to be one who has original thoughts and formulations. Unfortunately however, you are wrong most of the time.

[joanie]

Ah, say it ain't so. You're still funny, duff. And a little full of it.

BTW, you don't sell maps, do you?

[Coiler]

Bugliosi' new movie comes out soon about his idea to prosecute Bushler for war crimes. It will be fun to watch.

[joanie]

On-line movie or theatres?

[Coiler]

You can watch the trailer on line now. I suspect it will play at the independent movie houses first and then probably go onto IFC and dvd later on.

[fRed]

In her dreams.

[joanie]

Ed is honest. He just said he's willing to lose friends over his comments about Obama He's a populist and he's good for this country. I wish some of you would listen to him.

Yes, I used to call him Bubba. I felt a bit superior. But, he's earned my respect. He's for single payor He just said DeMint is proffering that term limits might be in order. Ed said go for it. Term limits might mean that Congress will start doing the work of the people instead of the work that enriches them for life.

Ed is tired of Congress. He's a good man with a good head. And he says it well.

He's better on radio than TV. He's like me. He is a long thonker. The fast-paced sound-bite model TV needs isn't Ed. He's a Tom Paine Common Sense guy. He tells the truth. And in a civil way. He's got it down, like Randi. But he's a populist.

He's giving Clinton hell right now. Good for him.

[joanie]

Thonker?

Make that thinker. That's a funny one!

[fRed]

Freudian comes to mind.

[joanie]

Haha, I imagine it would for you.

[joanie]

Ed said he had Peter someboy of OMB on and that he admitted that this bill will result in 40 million more customers for insurance companies.

Well, it will put some people back to work. I guess it is a good unemployment bill.

[fRed]

That would be Orszag Joanie, not someboy or home boy. Do you have something against Jews?

[Coiler]

Duffman is not curable, he needs to be banned like the other 2 crazy right-wingers before him.

ty

[fRed]

Do you have something against Jews Coiler. How do you feel about the oppresion of women in the Muslim world. Can you think for yourself, can you possibly come up with answers that you formulate yourself instead of getting them from talking points on the blogs you frequent.
Who is Duffman and why is he/she relevant to anything. Again you seem possessed with anonymous id's and unable to handle direct questions or logic.

[Coiler]

"Again you seem possessed with anonymous id's"

Never said anything about anonymous id's, did I, nor did I mention your new name along with "duffman"

You would know since you wrote the same line last time.

Busted!

I have something against the GG and Duffman's of the world who try to game the blog with stupid emoticons and a new ugly, persona each week. okay?

[chucks]

I see where Obama has seen one of the many errors of his way and will be interviewed by Fox News.
Major Garrett will be conducting the interview in China this coming week.
It is said that Obama has recognized that he can no longer ignore the independent thinkers that watch Fox for fair, honest reporting. He can no longer rely on MSNBC and CNN to carry the water for him as pretty much, nobody watches them.
I guess Anita Dunn just didn't work out.
On another vein, joannie, why do you think that all Muslims are terrorist's and shitweasals? Most of them are not either. You should really open your mind a little.

[fRed]

Just don't get it do you Coiler.

[fRed]

Coiler and or Sparky or Joanie. Do you regard the way the Muslims oppress women as falling within the definition of morality of evil.
A very simple question, now don't panic but try to give an honest and thoughtful answer to that question. If you can.

[joanie]

Watching another hour of Fixed News chuckie?

You guess a lot. Too bad you don't know a few facts. But emotion doesn't need facts. Just Fixed News.