The American Spectator : The End of Evil

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The End of Evil

It is now called empathy deficiency, and it's treatable.

In Waterloo, Illinois a man stands accused of strangling to death his wife and two small children. The accused, Chris Coleman, worked as a bodyguard for the televangelist Joyce Meyer. After work, he was diddling his wife's best friend. Prosecutors say rather than filing for divorce and risk losing his job, Coleman murdered his wife and two sons.

Entered into evidence was a selection of animal strangulation videos Coleman enjoyed watching. (I suppose the "Tootin' Bathtub Baby Cousins" YouTube sensation just didn't do it for him anymore.)

For an expert witness, the defense could do worse than recruit Simon Baron-Cohen, author of Zero Degrees of Empathy: A New Theory of Human Cruelty. While the casual observer would insist that Chris Coleman is merely evil, Baron-Cohen would contend that the sick videos prove Coleman suffers from a disability, i.e., a severe lack of empathy. Naturally, a man with "eroded empathy" cannot be found guilty of homicide. He may, however, be treated. Perhaps with a combination of hormone injections, gene therapy, and counseling.

In fact, Baron-Cohen would like us to do away with the concept of evil altogether.

The Cambridge don finds the whole idea of evil unhelpful. What's more, it is simplistic and unscientific. It smacks of the Bible and ancient superstitions. And it tells us nothing. Why is one evil? Again, it comes down to the inability to empathize or to identify with others.

To this end, Baron-Cohen has devised six degrees of empathy. His empathy spectrum would award a six to someone like Bill Clinton, who claimed to be able to feel the pain of an entire nation, and a zero to the husband who honestly answers his wife's query about whether her jeans makes her butt look big. At the peak of the bell curve stands your Average Empathy Joe who tears up at Schindler's List, but remains dry-eyed if not slightly nauseous during the Titanic.

Baron-Cohen has also devised a questionnaire to test our empathy quotient (EQ). Shockingly, I scored at the lower end (31 out of 80), which means either I am a fervent individualist or a menace to society.

BARON-COHEN BEGAN his research trying to "understand the Holocaust." In the main, he agrees with Hannah Arendt's idea about the Banality of Evil (though he would object to the term evil). Arendt found the Nazis to be bland, passionless bureaucrats, who were unable to empathize with their victims. She noted that Germans traditionally had been taught to embrace conformity and unquestioningly follow orders. ("I was just following orders," was the war criminal's standard defense.) However, both Baron-Cohen and Arendt give short shrift to the German's deep ingrained feeling of national superiority, his bitter resentment, his desire for revenge, his anti-Semitism, and the perceived rightness of his actions. Combined these made for a thick stew that fed the flames of the Holocaust. (Actually, the real lesson to be learned from the Holocaust is not that your average German lacked empathy, but rather that he should have been more distrustful of government and his political leaders.)

Baron-Cohen fingers our hormones, genes, and neglectful mothers as causes for empathy deficiency. One example: his research indicates the more testosterone you are exposed to in the womb, the less empathy you will have. (I suppose that explains the Bitch of Belsen. She had too much testosterone, poor dear.)

Naturally, if the problem is largely genetic and hormonal, as Baron-Cohen argues, it can be eradicated through gene/hormone therapy, thus setting the stage for an edenic future where Israelis and Palestinians group hug and your co-workers do not steal your bologna sandwiches from the lunchroom fridge.

Baron-Cohen's agenda is plain. Close the prisons and admit criminals to hospitals where ObamaCare can work its magic. After all, "no one is responsible for his own genes." (Now that we have done away with the concepts of evil and personal responsibility, anything else we can get rid of?)

Just one problem. What we have traditionally identified as evil is not a lack of empathy, but its opposite: the ability to keenly imagine your victim's pain, and relishing in it. I imagine Osama bin Laden understood pretty well what those Americans in the World Trade Center would go through. That was the whole point. Fortunately America didn't swallow Baron-Cohen's snake oil and sic headshrinkers on the Al Qaeda leader. Fortunately we sent in the Navy SEALS.

About the Author

Christopher Orlet writes every Thursday from St. Louis.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (44) | Leave a comment

vb| 5.5.11 @ 7:15AM

A very dangerous lack of empathy is that displayed by many do-gooders, who really are unable to crawl inside the skins of psychopaths and sociopaths to see the evil. Like the young women who fall for and abet mass murderers in prison, these do-gooders attribute to themselves superior insight and morality and put us at risk to get an ego fix.

Mr ED| 5.5.11 @ 7:56AM

"Do-gooders" = Malignant narcissists = Modern Liberals.

No matter how you do the calculation, it always adds up the same.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 11:12PM

You know, I have never met a psychopath in prison who was not also a malignant narcissist. I remember talking to a Correctional Officer captain, who shared the same experience.

LMajito| 5.5.11 @ 7:26AM

it is so dangerous for humans, specially in the us, to begin thinking that because "we're doing The Lord's work" God's mandates do not apply to them.

The list is endless of characters that have fallen away believing they were doing God's work...let's begin with Saul of Tarsus (later most commonly known as apostle Paul)...

But if one takes a reading of the scriptures one of the items that will surface in the latter stages of the current human experience in this planet is going to be calling evil good and good evil...

this coleman character is proof that in his mind doing The Lord's work with Meyer was more important and thus killing his wife/children was ok.

crazy the deed doer and more so the excuser/enabler of this actions...

which brings to mind the scene at the garden, as described by Moses' first book...God confronts man about his disobedience, he blames Eve (and God himself for giving her to him...implication being if you had not made her i would never disobeyed you), then Eve, taking a clue from her mentor blamed the snake...God picking up on this stopped there and began to discharge judgements starting with the lower creature and leaving the worst hit for the first dude...

Appleby| 5.5.11 @ 7:29AM

I had a cousin who was a sociopath, and my college roommate had a son who was one. They are not like the rest of us. There is a piece very obviously missing.

Being Catholic and religious, and human, I am quite aware of evil and its influence, and I think a large percentage of the current rise in evil is due to the detachment of individuals from actual human contact. When one knows other people only through the medium of a screen between the thumbs or a laptop or iPad or *device* of some kind, it becomes increasingly difficult to imagine that these are people like oneself. Cyberbullying is easy because its just typing; there is no physical contact and no need to see the effect of what one does. During the last election campaign here in Toronto, one neighbourhood suffered vandalism including the cutting of brake lines on their cars, because of their yard signs. The vandals didnt have to think about people being killed in those cars. They never had to see those people and would be back in the basement playing World of Warcraft when the mother driving her kids to school couldnt stop at a red light and the car was crushed by a fire truck.

As the world becomes more and more detached from human interaction, no one should be surprised that criminality and evil increase. Perhaps the solution will be to deprive them of their binkies and toss them into the general prison population.

Frisbee| 5.5.11 @ 8:54PM

I heard that the genesis of some of these problems was covered in a book by Dr Stanton Samenow, "Before It's Too Late".

The crazy thing about the denial of evil is the obvious protest "if it's not evil, then why try to prevent it?"

A lack of conscience is a very serious evil, whatever its origins. A lack of empathy is just one type. A masochist would have empathy as long as he also performed sadism.

Richard Baker| 5.5.11 @ 7:37AM

Sounds like yet another "academic" who has waaay too much time on his hands.

NHLibertarian| 5.5.11 @ 7:38AM

Hmmmm! Sacha Baron-Cohen, Simon Baron-Cohen - is their a similarity here? Has Sacha (of Borat-fame) put one over on Mr. Orlet and the Intellectoids? Sure sounds like something Barat's feeble-mind might cook up! And, something devotees of the New York Times would eat up. Next we'll have interview with the 'distinguished' author Barat dressed in an tutu and conducted by the world-class journalist Ms. Katy Couric.

Doctor Right| 5.5.11 @ 7:47AM

Is this guy related to Borat??

the permanent newbie| 5.5.11 @ 3:05PM

As a matter of fact, yes. If I remember correctly, he's Sacha Baron Cohen's older brother.

Ryan| 5.5.11 @ 8:12AM

"There is none righteous, not even one..."

A point can be made here about the different views on human nature. The Christian perspective is that we are sinners from the start, that we a born in rebellion against God and need His saving hand to rescue us from our sin.

The other side states that we are good at birth, and society corrupts us somehow.

The result is what you see above of the latter.

Jacobite| 5.5.11 @ 1:39PM

The 'environmental' theory is basic to all Leftism. That their destruction of all existing morals and culture will produce "the new socialist man" is the justification for their actions. It's called Lysenko-ism. The more we find out that Human Nature exists, is innate, and is unalterable, the more pretzels Leftists have to twist into to maintain their enviro delusion.

skip| 5.5.11 @ 5:46PM

Great, so liberalism is 'intelligence and honesty deficiency', they're just born that way. Conservatives need to get off their backs about it, the real problem is that conservatism is 'empathy of 'intelligence and honesty deficiency' deficiency'.

Big Tony| 5.5.11 @ 8:40AM

Sorry Chris but is was Georgia Governor Zell Miller who claimed that Bill Clinton was the only candidate who could "feel our pain" and not a claim made by Slick Willie himself.

Renaissance Nerd| 5.5.11 @ 6:36PM

Miller was only mocking Clinton's statement at a town hall meeting. Many jounOlists took it up as a great sign in Clinton's favor, but it was the exact moment I decided against Clinton. "I feel your pain." Ugh. I didn't watch the rest of the town hall and I never could stand listening to him after that.

Denver Todd| 5.5.11 @ 8:43AM

In the entire time since 9/11, I have heard the cause of this to be connected to evil only just a few times. It is hard for the media to affirm the existence of evil because it naturally leads to the existence of God.

C. S. P. Schofield| 5.5.11 @ 8:50AM

Evil has always been treatable, it's just that the corrects treatment is terminal.

Maddox| 5.5.11 @ 8:55AM

Baron-Cohen is suffering from a disease himself, the disease of "liberalism" which is only treatable with a stark dose of reality. Unfortunately, the rest of us have to suffer from the reality of its damage for a few liberally infected individuals to realize they need help.

Frisbee| 5.5.11 @ 8:56PM

Bingo!

JP| 5.5.11 @ 8:58AM

But if Cohen is correct about Good-Evil, one may then ask, "Why is empathy at all desirable?" Once you enter the world of subjectivity all bets are off. Nature used to be the standard that philosphers judged things. If Values have indeed replaced Good and Evil, who says Coleman's values are any worse off than Cohen's.

We've entered the Nietzschean world where the Last Man rules. It is a world where Evil has been replaced with therapeutic protocols. With a little gene therapy and a lot of meds, we can cure about anything. But, we will no longer be human.

Frisbee| 5.5.11 @ 8:57PM

Very well said. But I disagree with the very last sentence. We would still be human, but evil humans.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 10:55PM

JP,

reputable psychiatrists do not attempt to cure psychopathy. There are no medications for it, or psychotherapy that works.

Bill| 5.5.11 @ 9:36AM

I hope that any judge who is offered a chance to hear the "diminished empathy" argument offered as some sort of insanity or diminished capacity defense to criminal behavior will respond to it by holding that the entire criminal justice system was designed to determine just who among us suffers from this defect and punish the daylights out of them.

mejamom| 5.5.11 @ 10:11AM

Religion aside, I always believed people who could do murder or even harm others with a shoulder shrug were obviously mentally ill to some degree.
Hospitals, drugs,other therapy; fine. IF and when they are cured, which means they understand what they have done is wrong, they can continue on to the next step of their rehabilitation; prison.
Not a perfect system, there is cost to consider. But if we are religious Christians we want to follow scripture. And that teaches loving our neighbor, treating him well, forgiveness, etc.

Petronius| 5.5.11 @ 10:24AM

We went through this before with B. F. Skinner and determinism. Any person not predisposed to engagement in conflict, mayhem, bloodletting, or unwarranted interference, displays natural empathy towards his neighbors by being productive, discreet, minding his own business, and therefor, no burden to anyone. It's character deficiency stupid!

fmm| 5.5.11 @ 11:45AM

If genetics are responsible for antisocial behavior including murder, that is the best argument for the existence and application of strong death penalties. Think about it.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 11:10PM

Fmm,

I theoretically support the death penalty. My problem is in the application of it, in many cases (OBL was guilty as sin, and deserved the bullet, no mistake...let's talk about the typical situation. RCV, you are not among those included in the following conversation's generalizations---obviously, you are welcome to comment).

I have worked with many judges and attorneys as an expert witness. The vast majority of them I would not trust to pour piss out of a boot; in addition, there are far too many of them with severely defective characters, particularly judges, who have more unchecked power than anyone else in our society.

I do not trust the system generally with that power, therefore. I have seen the sausage being made. However, I also don't believe in parole for murderers. That is how I live with myself.

One of the things I used to do was participate in discussions regarding recommending psychiatrically ill inmates as being acceptable for parole.

james wilson| 5.5.11 @ 12:37PM

The way to get more sociopathic behavior out of sociopaths is to grant them understanding. That is elementary. The Cambridge don is a borderline sociopathic intellectualoid who clearly lacks empathy for victims.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 10:52PM

Indded, James Wilson. Sociopaths use your empathy to manipulate YOU.

The idea that there is a treatment for sociopathy is ludicrous given the state of our knowledge at this time. I speak as a former prison psychiatrist.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 10:54PM

Again. The central deficit in psychopaths, the central core of the diagnosis, is LACK OF EMPATHY. And there's NO way to give it to them or develop it.

It's like trying to teach a shark not to eat fish.

edwin rutsch| 5.5.11 @ 1:00PM

May I suggest a further resources to learn more about empathy and compassion.
The Center for Building a Culture of Empathy
The Culture of Empathy website is the largest internet portal for resources and information about the values of empathy and compassion. It contains articles, conferences, definitions, experts, history, interviews, videos, science and much more about empathy and compassion.
http://CultureOfEmpathy.com

Also, we invite you to post a link to your article about empathy to our Empathy Center Facebook page.
http://Facebook.com/EmpathyCenter

Wayne | 5.5.11 @ 1:13PM

I suggest that you watch Clockwork Orange.

Purple Lips| 5.5.11 @ 1:35PM

Wow. Empathy in 212 Easy Steps. And for $19.99 they will throw in a free subscription to AOL.

Wayne | 5.5.11 @ 1:10PM

What I have found is that people who preach empathy, seem to have precious little of it. For example Obama has no empathy for citizens who oppose his plans. He does not understand people who do not think like him, nor does he seem to care.
I would bet that this Simon character also lacks empathy. That is why he wants to impose his will on all of us. Our feelings do not matter.

Francis W. Porretto| 5.5.11 @ 2:24PM

Sigh. It seems to be the hardest of all things for an "intellectual" to accept that there are people who do evil because they actively and consciously desire the deaths and downfalls of others.

Not every great villain is an emotionally stunted individual. Hitler was not just "working though some issues." Some villains do their villainies because they enjoy them, and for no other reason.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 11:03PM

Dear Francis:

Hitler was a very emotionally stunted individual. Review his relations with women.

Look, most psychopaths can separate good from evil. But they have a defect of understanding---a lack of empathy. This does not mean that they are not evil, reprehensible swine who must be punished. Indeed, it is the external correction which IS necessary because there is NO internal governor.

Or, as the song "Rawhide" put it so well:

"Don't try to understand them, just rope them up and brand them..."

At our current level of knowledge we have no cure or adequate consistent treatment for Anti-social Personality Disorder.

MarkinIdaho| 5.5.11 @ 3:18PM

Baron-Cohen forgot the most important factor in lack of empathy - that of choice. A person chooses to be empathetic or not. The choice determines actions and attitudes, which lead to more choices about empathy. A person can choose to become evil; it is a bargain for power. Choosing to be good is much more difficult, it requires the death of one's self and redemption by a Savior.

believer| 5.5.11 @ 6:36PM

Those who dont believe in the God of the Bible have to come up with another reason why theres so much wickedness in the world, Gods plan is to repent, mans plan is to explain away evil with stupid ideas.Go into the ghetto at night and preach empathy and then be prepared to run for your life.

Osamas Pajamas| 5.5.11 @ 9:18PM

Those who attack the concepts of good, evil, and morality have an axe to grind --- they're evil and they don't like being called-out for being evil.

Occam's Tool| 5.5.11 @ 10:58PM

Mr Orlet, you are incorrect on one point. Mr Bin Laden's failure to empathise with infidels is what allowed his psychopathy, not an abundance of twisted empathy. I have worked with thousands of psychopaths.

jbspry| 5.6.11 @ 7:31PM

"Evil" is a word and, as with all words, it means different things to different people. I myself am an atheist and so the word doesn't carry the connotation of "Satan-inspired" that it might for a godly person. Still I don't reject the word as meaningless.
Those who perpetrate cruel acts for pleasure have a positive illness that causes them to derive positive pleasure from inflicting pain on others and watching their agonies. You could engage in facile semantics and call it "empathy deficiency"; I would reply that empathy is "other-feeling" and cruelty is empathy but of a diseased kind - that it is evil.

Dee See| 5.8.11 @ 12:52AM

ALLL of it, from Jim and Tammy to 'Star Trek',
to Gloria Steinem and POP, and Billy Graham,
and Phil, and Joel Osteen and Oprah,
and pornography -------we mean ALLLLL of it
has now been revealed to be capstone funded,
engineered, set-up and promoted.

The aims?

Discrediting genuine culture and religion
with special focus on eradicating traditional American
Christianity, what 'they' term Calvinism.

Standardization (ie franchise slumming)
and destruction of the traditional family unit.

Worship of technology, discreet promotion
of EUGENICS and INTER-nationalism all
under the management of 'experts'.

Photo-shop or delete ALLLL references,
much less exposes, of the ever unfolding
RED Chinese Halocaust.

AGAIN, take a good deep look.

NOW, take a good deep breath, hurl those
TVs and radios. If you can possibly do it,
get rid of or curtail you cellphone use.

Get those eavedropping and surveillance tool PCs out of your private spaces.

Then catch your breath and start thinking:

HUAC meets NUREMBERG 2012

March on the Masonic, ultra-tich tax-free
EUGENICS driving and driven 'benny violent'
foundations AND the New York office of the
illegal Federal Reserve this July 4th.

SPREAD THE WORD ---------------------FAST

单人操作分析仪| 5.27.11 @ 9:28AM

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Christian Louboutin| 6.23.11 @ 5:59AM

Entered into evidence was a selection of animal strangulation videos Coleman enjoyed watching. (I suppose the "Tootin' Bathtub Baby Cousins" YouTube sensation just didn't do it for him anymore.)