for evil to triumph, good men should do nothing Options

[Comptine]

the topic title is a version of a famous quote by Edmund Burke.

in a show i watched, one character was about to be sent back to rwanda to be executed. he was a doctor in rwanda who was asked by military men to set up a shelter for tutsis. when his clinic was packed full of tutsis, the military men came back with even more men and proceeded to slaughter everyone there except the doctor. the doctor had let it happen and didn't do anything (tried to reason with the military men, get help, etc.)

do you think just because one individual did nothing against evil, he should have to face the consequences as if he did an act of evil himself?

[Spirited Away]

Everything exists on a scale. Nothing is definitavely (sp?) good or evil....unless everyone was equally good or evil, there will always be those two extremes in some sense or another.

... you completely missed my point, so I don't understand yours. I never said anything definites. I said they are dependents. Two completely different points.

Helping and speaking for victims is honorable, but doing nothing does not make you an evil-doer.

It doesn't make you a bad person if you don't try to help, but it does make you irresponsible. Once you're an irresponsible person, all kinds of new vices develop. Vices can easily turn into evil.

In helping others, sometimes, you're helping yourself. The example of MLK Jr I gave says it all. In speaking out for others, he gave hope to others as well as his own. In what way you ask? His posterity now live with a freedom and equality that those in that time could not imagine.

Everyone is responsible first and foremost for looking after themselves, after that, THEN feel free to go save the world if you feel the need to.

I never said anything about not taking care of yourself first, but since you addressed it, let me say I have always have that view so I agree with what you say here.

There's NO NEED to "save the world", per se, because that's so broad and close to impossible for many of us to make that kind of impact on the world. But, we can always TRY to help our neighbors when there's a need. If you don't help, the impact of their downfall may affect you anyway. In this sense, you brought evil to yourself.

What we're trying to say is, going out of your way to fight evil is a nice thing to do, but not a moral requirement.

If someone does not believe in doing good because he/she does not like obliging to moral requirements, then think of it in terms of benefits... for yourself. Talking to kids at school about the evils of crime, in general, benefits society. A society with less crime means you're that much safer.

No, it's not a moral requirement, but lets think about it this way. If you are one of these people who do not believe that evil triumphs when good men do nothing.

Tell me, what happens to evil when there's one evil and good men do nothing? My answer: Evil multiplies. What do the rest of you think?