http://bonnefriesen.com/2008/01/22/definition-of-evil/ Bonne Friesen ~ Dances With Words Fri, 21 Nov 2008 18:37:58 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.3 http://bonnefriesen.com/2008/01/22/definition-of-evil/#comment-36 mom Tue, 29 Jan 2008 12:16:22 +0000 http://bonnefriesen.com/index.php/2008/01/22/definition-of-evil/#comment-36 Catching up on your blog---I think I went back to where I had left off. This is thought-provoking and I agree with it. If people are "things" you can justify doing whatever you want to them. There is no conscience involved. As a person living in a foreign country, I have had the experience of realizing in different situations that I am not being perceived as a person. It is a feeling that is hard to explain or put into words. You realize that people believe no harm is being done to you ( psychologically in this case ) because you are not being perceived as a person. I am at a loss for words to describe this experience. It creates an incredible emotional dilemma because, intellectually, you realize that the pain being inflicted is not inflicted deliberately, because you are only a "thing". Did you notice that I avoided using the word thing till now. I have not thought of these experiences in this way till now---it bears some pondering. I can only relate these experiences to having ones arms and legs bound, a gag in one's mouth---in other words---powerless. Or is it "I don't exist"... I'm also not proud to recognize incidents from my childhood, or even looking at suffering foreign people on TV and realizing that I did not perceive them as people. I am also guilty. Catching up on your blog—I think I went back to where I had left off. This is thought-provoking and I agree with it.
If people are “things” you can justify doing whatever you want to them. There is no conscience involved.
As a person living in a foreign country, I have had the experience of realizing in different situations that I am not being perceived as a person. It is a feeling that is hard to explain or put into words. You realize that people believe no harm is being done to you ( psychologically in this case ) because you are not being perceived as a person. I am at a loss for words to describe this experience. It creates an incredible emotional dilemma because, intellectually, you realize that the pain being inflicted is not inflicted deliberately, because you are only a “thing”. Did you notice that I avoided using the word thing till now. I have not thought of these experiences in this way till now—it bears some pondering. I can only relate these experiences to having ones arms and legs bound, a gag in one’s mouth—in other words—powerless.
Or is it “I don’t exist”…
I’m also not proud to recognize incidents from my childhood, or even looking at suffering foreign people on TV and realizing that I did not perceive them as people. I am also guilty.

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