Who Knows What Evil Lurks in the Hearts of Men?
In the context of a discussion about the Global Warming Hoax, a reader asked me what might cause so many well respected men, scientists and businessmen and politicians, to perpetuate such a fraud, with such inhuman indifference the real human suffering sure to eventuate the loss of freedom over our wealth, industry, productivity, energy use, and lives.
The ghosts of the millions dead thanks to Rachel Carson’s fraud, and the old ladies frozen and slain in midwinter who would have been saved had their been no war against petrol, are sure to haunt and torment the Greens in Hell. But here on Earth, their consciences seem utterly dull and inert.
Why? What prompts otherwise good and decent men to do and to permit such evil?
I frankly do not think it a matter is difficult. The answer will be speculation, to be sure, but some speculations are more easily confirmed than others. Perfect certainly is beyond our reach, but we can affirm what a preponderance of evidence upholds.
All I need do is look into my own heart, and I can see the motives there which impel me to my sins, and I understand that, if I had different weaknesses and shortcomings, I would do as they do.
First, most people find honesty a burden, and so they neither seek it nor uphold it. They simply do not care if someone on their team lies, because they are loyal to the team. Self importance and a sense of pride prevents them from admitting wrong when proven wrong, and so they never actually listen to evidence that questions their stance. This is pride.
Second, if they live in a materialist universe, they do not regard human free will as a real thing. They think everything is a machine with a mechanical solution. To such people, the question of whether their acts lead to a loss of human freedom and happiness simply never comes up, any more than it would come up for a horsebreeder to wonder about his horse’s mating preference, or a computer programmer to fret about his machine’s happiness. They do not feel sympathy for us, or for others. The people hurt by their actions do not matter to them if they are not in plain sight. This is sloth, indifference to spiritual reality.
Third, Darwinians and Marxists and Leftists regard life as a war without quarter. They regard all who disagree as enemies. But neither are they chivalrous. To be chivalrous requires a spiritual view of life which they, thanks to their sloth, surely lack (see above). To them, any foul and underhanded trick which harms the enemy is welcome. This is wrath.
Fourth, they are motivated by the unhappiness which makes the unhappy hate the happy. They hate successful and joyful people and therefore hate the successful and victorious outcomes of Western civilization, our industry and learning, our political freedoms and civility. So they seek to destroy them. This is envy.
Fifth, their worldview is an idol, a cheap and sleazy substitute for the Christian worldview. They abandoned Christianity because it is hard, and they want to indulge in immoral acts, usually sexual in nature, such as contraception, divorce, remarriage, aborticide. This is lust.
Sixth, they want immediate gratification, and so any mention of long term consequences, adult conversations about the logic of what is being done, or a concern for the future, they replace with shouting and sloganeering. In other words, they make a show of caring for the future, or caring for the poor, while always doing precisely those things which have the opposite outcome. This is not an innocent mistake and not an oversight. It is too regular for that. Odd as this sounds, the desire for immediate gratification is called gluttony. The word embraces more than just lust for power.
Seventh, they are motivated by a desire for unearned rewards. In Socialism, this desire manifests as a craving for another’s wealth; in subjectivism, craving for another’s reputation as a thinker; in multiculturalism, craving for another’s prestige. All these are forms of avarice.
About John C Wright
John C. Wright is a practicing philosopher, a retired attorney, newspaperman, and newspaper editor, and a published author of science fiction. Once a Houyhnhnm, he was expelled from the august ranks of purely rational beings when he fell in love; but retains an honorary title.
