Understanding Evil

It’s about status:

I don’t understand Kim Jong-Il. He is the absolute ruler of North Korea. His people are most impoverished and least free of almost any people on the planet. Those two go together. Right across the demilitarized zone in South Korea, people with the same language and culture, are healthy and prosperous. It would be very simple for Kim Jong-il to institute policies so that his people could be as prosperous as those to the south. Why doesn’t he do it?

This is a rule we all know. If you harm someone and they can’t or don’t harm you back that means your status is higher than theirs. If you do something good for someone and they can’t or don’t do good to you back then your status is lower than theirs. Among animals it is the higher status animal that can bite and growl at the lower status animals. It is the role of the lower status animals to groom the higher status. The word sidekick comes from this rule. The dominant person in a relationship has the right to kick the lower status person whenever they want. We all know this rule and if we do not, we learn it quickly when we are in the presence of a higher status person.

The point of being evil is status. That is why evil and status go together. Evil people seek positions of power so they can do evil and thus gain status. If a powerful person does good they may be powerful but they do not have high status. They are the servant. They have low status.

That is why Kim Jong-il keeps his people poor. The more evil he does then the higher his status in the pack. It may be a small pack and a not very powerful pack but within that pack Kim Jong-il has very high status. It is also why he occasionally does nasty things outside of his own country. By doing nasty things without having other countries attacking him and putting an end to his nonsense he also increases his status. It is the way of all evil people. It is why Putin invaded the Ukraine. It is why Xi is reducing the freedom of his own people and making threats against Taiwan. All powerful dictators who put the happiness and prosperity of their people first may be powerful but they do not have high status. They have the status of a servant.

It is the way of all evil. It is why serial killers kill. When they kill they feel their status go up. It is why liars lie and seducers seduce. Evil is about status. It is why people are, and should be, very sensitive to status. A person who seems too concerned about their own status may be dangerous.

For animals and for humans who follow their animal nature, being able to do harm shows high status. Doing good shows low status.

It’s lazy:

Evil is lazy. The roots of evil are in our animal nature. Nature is lazy. It needs to be. Nature always takes the path of least resistance. It is always after the greatest self-interest at the least cost. Humans who follow their animal nature are lazy in the same way.

When evil people seek status they also seek to attain the highest status at the least cost.

• It is easier to kill a life than it is to make a life.
• It is easier to burn a forest than it is to grow a forest.
• It is easier to lie than to tell the truth.
• It is easier to steal than to make or buy your own.

Evil is lazy.

This is one of the reasons that all institutions are eventually filled by evil people. If good people want to be the head of a business or charity or church or political party they will go out and do the hard work of starting their own. Bad people don’t do that. They infiltrate already successful organizations then use their lying and manipulating skills to progress up the hierarchy.

That is why successful companies always fail eventually. Lazy, self-interested people are attracted to them. They are very good at interviewing. They know how to flatter the boss to get the next promotion. They have no qualms about taking credit for someone else’s work. With too many people whose skill is manipulating other people while putting their own self-interests ahead of those of the organization, successful organizations become unsuccessful.

In a free market it is not a problem when successful companies or charities or churches fail, other like institutions that have not been so thoroughly infiltrated will replace them. It is a problem when governments become infiltrated by lazy self-interested people. It is not so easy to replace a government. Governments are often replaced by being conquered. If the people are lucky there is a revolution first.