…and the fact that many people who embrace cruelty will bob their heads vigorously in agreement and say “Yes! Cruelty is the worst!“

The most frustrating vocation in the world must be that of the human rights advocate. Everyone claims to support human rights, but those who actually take the issue seriously are engaged in an eternal dialogue in which they struggle vainly to get people to understand what human rights actually mean.

“Rape, torture, and murder are bad,” says the human rights advocate. “We must not do these things.”

The rest of the world agrees righteously, eyes flashing with indignation.  “Damn straight,” we chorus. “No torture, rape or murder!” Then our eyes brighten slightly. “Torturers and rapists and murderers are evil! They should be tortured and raped and killed…”

“No!” insists the human rights advocate.  “No torture or rape or murder at all!”

“Yes, yes, you’re right! We must arrest and convict them first. Prison is the place for torturing and raping, and…

“No! Not even in prisons!

“Of course not, of course not. There are rules against that kind of thing in prison. We’ll just be careful to look the other way and not notice when convicted criminals are being tortured and ra…”

“NO! NO TORTURE AND RAPE AND MURDER MEANS NO TORTURE AND RAPE AND MURDER!‘”

And here the rest of the world stares with the horror and disbelief of a junkie who’s just been told what “cold turkey” actually means. “What you mean NEVER?”

It’s for this reason that I’ve grown leery of the words “good” and “evil.” Certainly I believe in the concept of evil and the concept of good. The problem is, many people apparently see these terms as applying, not to specific acts, but to mystic forces that indwell within certain individuals, like the Holy Spirit or Beelzebub. If an individual or society is inhabited by the spirit of “goodness,” what that individual or society does is by definition “good,” even if it involves funding death squads, or bombing hospitals, or ignoring the screams of a teenage shoplifter being gang-banged in a nearby cell.

As for those inhabited by the spirit of “evil,” any act committed against them is excusable or, at worst, “regrettable but understandable.”

“It’s OK,” the “good” say as they bulldoze another pile of mangled bodies into a mass grave. “We’re fighting the forces of evil.”