The American Spectator

Reader Mail

(Page 5 of 8)

/p>

It sounds as though Zimbardo and his fellow researchers went to a lot of trouble and considerable mental gymnastics but failed to consider what the Bible has to say on the subject: that mankind is fallen and therefore inherently evil; not inherently good.

Recognition of this truth leads to proper thinking; denial of it leads to untold misery. Consider: democracy with its system of checks and balances implicitly presumes those checks and balances are indeed necessary. All other forms of government incorrectly presume that such checks are unnecessary, because, it is thought, mankind is inherently good and wonderful things will happen if we simply put the correct "good" people in charge of everyone else. Somehow though those "good" people wind up having names like Hitler, Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot...

p>As C. S. Lewis put it, when considering competing theories the one which most closely resembles reality is the one most likely to be correct. Another way to say that is if it walks like a duck, flies like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it's probably a duck. So again, our founding fathers presumed people inherently evil and set up our marvelous democracy. Others presume humans inherently good and set up systems the likes of which are in place in North Korea, Cuba, and Saudi Arabia, to name just but a few. And those examples are not exceptions, they are in fact the norm as one tyrannical kingdom replaced another throughout human history the world over. At what point do we concede the point the overwhelming evidence requires? br> -- R. Trotter /p> p> SORRY TO SAY br> Re: Jennifer Rubin's Learning the Hard Way : /p> p>I disagree with Jennifer Rubin's column. We don't need more apologizing, but less. If this makes us seem out of the mainstream, then remember the immortal words of Bono, "F--k the mainstream." br> --

topics:
Business, Religion, Islam, Global Warming, Law, Founding Fathers, Iran, Russia, NATO, North Korea