People are not inherently “evil.” Every human being is a complex mixture of capacities for empathy, cooperation, cruelty, and self-interest. Genetic predispositions, upbringing, and — most powerfully — the prevailing social, economic, and cultural systems powerfully nudge individuals toward one set of behaviours over another. Labelling entire groups or classes of people as “evil” essentializes them, ignores context, and opens the door to dehumanization and violence. Consider historical oppressive structures: Under slavery: Enslaved people were the oppressed, yet not every enslaved person was virtuous or incapable of cruelty. Slave-owners were the oppressors, yet not every slave-owner was sadistic or devoid of redeeming qualities. The institution itself generated and rewarded brutality far beyond what most individuals would exhibit in a different system. Under caste, feudalism, monarchy, patriarchy, or other hierarchical orders: The same pattern holds. Oppressors benefit from, and...
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