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Is Evil more powerful than Good? Why or why not? (reddthat.com)

submitted 1 year ago by WtfEvenIsExistence@reddthat.com to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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Lets say there are 2 factions at war. One Evil and One Good.

Evil people can just ignore international laws and commit war crimes, Good people will have to abide by laws. Evil people can use torture to obtain information, while Good people aren't gonna use torture (because then they are no longer good by definition). Evil people can use chemical weapons and just attack indiscriminately, Good people have to make sure they don't accidentally attack civilians.

Good people are going to be against Nuclear Weapons, but Evil people doesn't care.

It seems like Evil is just more powerful. Do you believe that Evil is more powerful than Good? Why or why not?

I mean, we could have the "Good" faction starting to use Evil tactics, but then they aren't "Good" anymore, so the best we can get is a shadow of Grey, because truly Good people would just lose every time.

See Example:

Country A: Good

Country B: Half Good Half Evil

Country C: Evil

Country A would oppose nuclear weapons, while Country B builds them reluctantly (remember, they are only half Good), Country C builds them without any hesitation whatsoever. The result is Country A is doomed to fail, and an arms race between Country B and Country C. Good people always lose.

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[–] Zuzak@hexbear.net 2 points 1 year ago

If you are too attached to abstract ideas of "Good," to the point of standing on principle even if it means defeat, then you may get defeated and replaced by someone worse, and things may be much worse for everyone if you did whatever was necessary to win.

However, if you are too attached to the evil approach, then you may become too caught up in self-indulgent antihero fantasies and lose sight of what actually works. For example, no actionable information was acquired through the use of torture during the War on Terror. Movies and TV shows almost always depict it working because that self-indulgent antihero fantasy sells, but that doesn't mean it's true. Violating international law could also (depending on the rest of the factions in this hypothetical) cause diplomatic repercussions such as sanctions or even another faction joining the war on the other side. Evil doesn't always get away unpunished.

Every faction, (as well as every person), has a variety of different approaches that they could apply, and what determines which of these approaches work and don't work is the system in which they exist and their position in it. "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the ones most adaptable to change."