On evil
I am protesting the notion that “we are all capable of evil.” That’s the same victim blaming argument as “do you condemn Hamas?” There is a clear difference between violent defense against occupation and the violence of occupation. One is in reaction to dehumanization, and one is the act of dehumanization.
I argue that evil is a choice at the personal level to dehumanize people, and that this choice is a deal with the devil that forfeits one’s humanity.
Human innate goodness excludes humans from evil. To say that we are all capable of evil is to blame the victim by saying they could potentially become a perpetrator. This logic is used by Israelis to kill children who may grow up to become terrorists, or women who may give birth to terrorists, or old people who may donate to terrorists.
A person becomes evil by engaging in dehumanization. The act of dehumanization applies to the perpetrator, not the victim. The victim is a human and remains human even as they are subjected to inhumane torture. But the perpetrator is someone who has descended from what humans naturally incline towards: mercy, love, compassion.
It is impossible for a baby to want to torture or kill, and that nature remains in place even if it is nurtured out temporarily. Nurture is the source of evil, not nature. Evil begins with parenting. Some parents in Israel and elsewhere force their child to watch or participate in war crimes and torture. The larger society may promote propaganda and public celebrations of atrocities. But evil only depends on the free choice of the person to believe in evil, to see evil as good, inverting and denying all reality. A crime of passion and a crime of hatred are not the same: one excludes the possibility of repentance.
Dehumanization is an act of the heart with obvious signs: celebrating evil, reveling in the power to harm another. Not every in the colonizing army is evil. A IOF soldier may repent and become an activist, that’s happened before. But the fact still stands: anyone who dehumanizes another becomes less than human, a demon. A human can stop being evil by repentance and atonement. But demons only respond to force.