The Three Kinds of Evil

Think of an evil person, the vilest sort of person you can imagine. Who did you think of? A serial killer, a hated politician, your micromanaging boss? Speaking in a more serious manner, you'd probably answer with some vitriolic terrorist or genocidal dictator, most likely Hitler. The conventional idea of evil holds that an evil person is someone who kills or otherwise significantly harms large amounts of people, usually for personal enjoyment or some other hedonistic purpose. While this idea is largely accurate, it overlooks an uncomfortable but significant motivation for such acts: Justice. Scroll to bottom for summary. Types of Evil Evil acts, and the people who commit them, may be sorted into into three general categories: Hedonistic or "true" evil, instrumental evil, and righteous evil. For the purposes of this post, actions will only be considered evil if the harm caused by the action is known to the actor and the action is willingly taken regardless. The first, hedonistic evil, applies when the actor harms people simply because they enjoy it. A minor example is "power-tripping": Complicating the lives of one's employees, children, and others financially or socially under your control to establish dominance, despite the widely-known ineffectiveness[1] of heavy-handed leadership. However, when considering harm beyond strained relationships, this sort of evil is relatively rare; those who enjoy harming others to an extreme degree often suffer from other severe mental and social difficulties that prevent them from attaining significant power. Such is not to say that they are incapable of ruining the lives of individuals, but they rarely attain enough power to significantly harm more than a few dozen. Despite the relative rarity of true evil, it tends to be the most widely acknowledged form of it[2], especially when considering the worst crimes and offenses. The second sort of evil, instrumental evil, occurs when the actor harms people in pursuit of some other goal[3], usually monetary gain. Think of the classic leftist's villain, an executive who underpays his employees, carelessly pollutes, and bribes politicians for profit. A tamer example includes (probably) you among other middle- and upper-middle class first-worlders who buy cheap clothing that was more likely than not made in a sweatshop when other, more expensive options are available. Such people do not enjoy immoral behavior, and may in fact squirm a little when reminded of it (I know I did), but ultimately decide that their monetary desires, career ambitions, and other pursuits are more worthwhile than being perfectly ethical. Instrumental evil is generally acknowledged, particularly by young or progressive people and entities, but not as widely as true evil. It is also quite common; most, if not all, living humans exhibit instrumental evil behaviors on a small scale, and many causing harm on a large scale do so for this reason. The final kind of evil, righteous evil, paradoxically describes acts in which the actor believed they were doing something righteous, beneficial, or good. The most prominent tropes of this sort from media are tree-hugging environmental terrorists, oppressed women and minorities who react with violence, and Thanos. These characters are almost always presented in a somewhat sympathetic manner, if not outright justified. It helps that the viewpoints of these characters happen to be somewhat similar to that of the consumers. The views of those indulging in righteous evil regarding their actions run the gambit, encompassing vengeful joy at the suffering of perceived oppressors and malcontents, discomfort with paired with perceived necessity of harm, cognitive dissonance and purposeful ignorance, and the possibility of no feelings at all; what connects them is their ultimate motivation of doing good and helping people. Righteous evil is not often acknowledged nor cited as a primary motivation for evil; however, as will be demonstrated in the following piece, it is the motivator of many of the most evil actors and actions. A Tale of Three Racists To further distinguish these three types of evil, I will explain the conduct of three influential segregationists during the Jim Crow era in America. Racism, particularly institutional racism, is one of the phenomena most often ascribed to pure evil, with sentiments that racists are hateful people who implement racist policies because they enjoy seeing minorities suffer being quite common, and not at all unreasonable, given the shockingly vile rhetoric of the time. However, the motivation of sadism was not the only, or even the most common, motivation for prominent segregationists of the time. In no way do I intend to diminish the harm caused by segregation and its proponents, nor do I intend to excuse their actions; I only hope to differentiate their motivations. The first segregationist, Senator James Eastland of Mississippi, was notable for using his position within the Senate to