Short Essay: Write a 2-3 paragraph essay (approximately one typed page)answering the following question:I’m willing to bet that everyone reading this has done some terrible things in the past, butnobody would describe themselves as “evil.” In the piece that you just read, ChuckKlosterman tries to understand what evil is, but he has a hard time pinning it down. Nobodyreally embraces evil, but at the same time, nobody really cares about strangers, at least notvery much.Late in the book, Klosterman says that a villain—an evil person—is “the one who knows themost but cares the least.”So we don’t hate someone who cares a lot even if he’s wrong (Say someone who tried tostop the Coronavirus by locking up everyone who has it in jail). That would be a terriblething, but we wouldn’t necessarily think of them as evil. Compare that to someone whoknew that a pandemic was coming, but served Bat soup anyway. We hate the person whodoesn’t care. The villain knows the most, but cares the least. I’m not saying that is correct orincorrect, but it’s interesting.So I ask the same question to you. What makes a person evil? Do they just have to doterrible things? What if they are doing it in self-defense? What if they’re doing it to serve agreater good? Was Bernard Goetz evil? Were his assailants evil? Is Batman evil if he causesmore damage than he solves?It’s kind of a two part question: 1. Does evil truly exist? 2. If so, what in particular makesa person evil? Keep in mind, almost nobody would describe themselves as evil. So what arethe rules that make someone evil? Be specific—what separates bad from evil?
