Assignment 3- Annie Varner

Annie Varner- 1st hour AP Eng

It is evident that the notion of absolute good and evil creates no progress, and only promotes a world less accepting and understanding.  Almost all actions deemed "evil" are rooted in an underlying problem, and our blindness to understand that is caused by our obsession with good vs. evil.  As much as we may hope, "innate good" does not exist and neither does "innate evil".  

This argument is now more of a nature vs. nurture argument, where modern science proves nurture right time and time again.  Studying one's nurture, we continue to see behavioral examples of people who are greatly influenced by the environment they grew up in.  One example of this, for example, is the media's portrayal of society's evil as people like thiefs or drug dealers.  Drug use has been a classic example when explaining the debate, mainly thanks to its simplicity.  If someone grows up surrounded by drug use, they are clearly more likely to become an addict or dealer themselves.  

Good vs. evil is simply rooted in our human desire to categorize, but perspective and background allow us to feel sympathy for the villain, and help those who can't.  

As we continue to deem mass murderers and bombers "evil", we prove that we lack an appropriate explanation of their actions.  Good and Evil are oversimplifications for normal human behavior.