Is Everyone Possibility Of Evil

Is everyone capable of evil? Evil is described as all of the wrong doings in society, as well as the urge to do wrong (Romig). It is said that everyone has the ability to act in evil ways but don’t necessarily act upon it. Everyone has the capacity to commit evil acts, but the severity of the act and the darkness of their intent is dependent on their morals and the society they reside in.
Ordinary people have the capacity to commit extraordinarily evil acts. When people are outside of their comfort zone and away from the norm, their morals can sometimes be lost. “We face our biggest challenges not when we’re called on to behave ourselves within our family, community or workplace but when we have to apply the same moral care to people outside
our tribe” (Kluger 9). This shows that when one is outside their normal surroundings, they are more likely to lose sight of their morals and commit evil acts. This idea is also seen in places of war. When soldiers are at war, they tend to not see the enemies as humans and more like collateral damage. “But it has its most terrible expressions in wars, in which the dehumanization of the outsider is essential for wholesale slaughter to occur” (Kluger 9). Murder is an evil act, yet it is seen in battlegrounds every day. These men and women see this mass slaughter to be their duty, and not an act of evil. However, in all cases the mass slaughter of human beings is evil. Whether a person chooses to implement their morals or not comes into play in certain situations. When a person has a traumatic experience and harm comes to their loved ones, a switch is flipped and all morals can be lost.
When put in an abnormal situation where you must react quickly, it could cause one to lose sight of necessary morals.” The father went looking for the girl, calling out her name. When he heard the girls screams he ran to her and found the 47-year-old Flores molesting his daughter. He pulled the attacker off and began striking the pedophile in the head and neck, ultimately killing him” (Roosevelt 4). This is an example of a normal father, who acted in what would be considered an evil way due to the situation presented. He saw his daughter in distress while someone was attacking her in the most violent way, and he acted on impulse. He could have never committed a crime in his life, but this one situation flipped a switch and caused him to kill the man attacking his daughter. This is also seen in people who have returned home from war, where they see lots of evil every day. “He had no history of domestic violence, no pattern of abuse. He had no attempts to isolate her from her friends, family, or finances…There hadn’t been a red flag before Mark wrapped his hands around Kristi’s throat and squeezed”(Bannerman). This shows that after his deployment, he became more aggressive and his behavior changed dramatically. He was put in a situation where evil is all around for a long period of time, and when he came home he was different. He would have never put his hands on his wife before deployment, but after, things changed. Anyone can commit evil acts, even the most ordinary, depending on the situation they are put
in. In certain situations presented to a human being, a switch can be flipped and all morals can be lost. When put in an abnormal situation where one must react quickly, it could cause morals to be out of sight. This is evident in Stanley Milgram’s experiment where he had “teachers” administer high voltage shock to other people ordered by doctors. “In one study, despite the fact that many people wanted to stop earlier, 90% of the teachers complied with the “doctor” in the white coat and administered the 450 volts” (“Psychology”). This shows that when a person of authority tells someone to do something, they are likely to comply no matter the consequences. People tend to take the role placed upon them by an authority figure. This is evident in the Stanford Prison experiment, where twenty-four male students were selected at random to simulate an actual prison with real prisoners and guards. “The participants adapted to their roles immediately: the guards enforced authoritarian measures and ultimately subjected some of the prisoners to psychological abuse and, at the request of the guards, readily harassed other prisoners who attempted to prevent it” (“Psychology”). This shows that when people are given the authority to act as they feel necessary toward the “prisoners” with zero boundaries, they can ted to lose sight of humanity. Due to the fact they were given power by an authority figure, they took it and ran with it. While many people have the capacity to do these evil acts, because they are never put in a situation for it to come put, society never sees it. Although everyone is capable of being evil, it is all dependent on their situations and intent. Society has taught everyone morals, but through some situations ordinary people can flip a switch and all morals get lost in utter evil. While one ponders whether they are capable of evil, it is important to consider how situations can happen so fast and have a such deep impact, it is felt that there is only one option; fix the problem r4egardless of what it takes.