Unwitting Observer
i buried paul
I would modify that by saying we are the only species CAPABLE of what we would define as evil. An unfortunate side-effect of sentience. Although I would question the unfortunately popular belief that evil is an intrinsic quality in man. If anything, I think it's the opposite. You can look at biology, how many animals kill they're own kind as a matter of habit, it's quite rare. All creatures have natural behavior patterns, humans are no different, although studying something inevitably changes it, and what exactly would be a natural environment for a human being is open to debate, we can extrapolate. Clearly humans must be social, cooperative animals, otherwise society wouldn't exist. If we were all as atavistic and greedy as the far right wants us to believe, largely because they themselves are, we never would've made it past the stone age. Look at the "social constants" between human socities, from Queens to Calcutta, you'll find striking fundamental similarities, division of labor, marriage, religion, and morality, these systems of morality are also remarkably similar. For instance, no society promotes indiscriminate murder as a matter of policy. There are war zones, ethnic conflicts, the United States has quite a bit of blood on it's hands, but even the most horrific episodes of destruction of human life took place within certain confines.
A society like this couldn't function, just like a society where everyone lies all of the time. Even in the United States where the crime rates are very high, proportionate to our population, it's pretty small. The worst acts of premeditated evil grow from systemic root causes, specifically, religion, unchecked capitalism, and the state.
I'd prefer to say they are a "manifestation" of power, like firearms, etc.
I like your posts.