My Subject Is Bigger Than Yours

You know what I’m a little tired of?

Well, besides that damn Head-On commercial.

I’m sick of the word “evil” getting thrown around all the time. Politicians like to use this word to describe”¦well, pretty much anyone who doesn’t agree with them. I don’t wanna get all post-structuralist on you, but I think that no matter how Kantian you think you are we should be able to agree that most ideologies and morals are subjective at best. One man’s evil-doer is another’s religious prophet. And my hero is another man’s morally corrupted capitalist. Ain’t that right, Diddy?

Don’t believe me that ideologies are subjective? Okay, try this: How many assclowns do you know? Okay, now narrow it down and pick the biggest assclown you know. Got’em? Now, do you think that they think that they’re an assclown? Probably not. I’m sure they believe that their bullshit is really, really smart and interesting. Take Otto for example. We recognize that he’s a macho buffoon, but does he?

Otto lives in his own little world of subjectivity. He thinks he’s a genius, but we recognize that genius as stupidity. But maybe he is a genius. And maybe we’re stupid. Oh, it’s all so subjective.

So the next time you hear some yahoo using the term “evil” to describe something, I want you really listen to them. I’ll be willing to bet that nine times out of ten the person is using the word inappropriately. Common usage connotes that good and evil are in some kind of battle, with one side determined to best the other. I feel fairly certain that this derives from a Protestant Christian point of view; which is funny, because the whole good versus evil thing is a severe misreading of the Bible.

Are you sitting on the edge of your seat yet? Good, because anyone who thinks that evil, or Satan, represents an opposing force to good, or God, simply does not understand Christianity. That erroneous interpretation derives out of Manichaeism, which was a dualistic religion. Trouble is, the Bible makes it very clear that evil is nothing more than a perversion of good, and not an opposing force. Therefore, by its very nature, evil will never be capable of overpowering good.

So you see, even the most prevalent religion in the United States is susceptible to conflicting subjectivities and evolving ideologies. What does that mean for you? I don’t wanna go all Nietzsche on you, but morality, immorality, good, evil””they’re all subjective. Well, up to a point, anyway. Actions that we label as good might be characterized as evil by our great-great-grandkids. Just so you realize that there are no absolutes, and ideologies are at the whim of cultural subjectivities.

And my subject is more right than yours.