“Morality is doing right, no matter what you are told, religion is doing what you are told, no matter what is right”(Mencken). What makes a person evil? What makes a society evil? Is it their looks? The way they sound? The way they think? My parents used to tell me there was a devil on one of my shoulders, and an angel on the other. I always have thought that was a ridiculous thing to think. I mean if they’re there, why can’t I see them? Every single person on this earth has made a mistake at least once. Most of which are from either trying to do the right thing, or thinking of nothing but ourselves. During world war two we have seen many examples of this, the appeasement made by Chamberlain was in an effort to try and protect his own people. …show more content…
People’s beliefs define a person 's way of life, how they think and what they do revolve around what they believe. The crusades killed and went to war with people merely because they thought it was in the name of god to do so. This thought made them believe what they were doing was right. Well, it’s the same with japan. During World War two Japan’s government was imperial. This means that an emperor ruled the country. The overall known and official religion of imperial Japan was shintoism(Gardon 273). This religion defines what the people of Japan believed the meaning of life was and who it should be worth dieing for. The word “shinto” literally means the “way of the kami” and these beliefs focus on the exists of the kami or god. These kami can be in many different forms like rocks, animals, people etc. The most famous god in this religion is the Amaterasu, the sun goddess. This goddess is believed to have created japan and is seen as very powerful and well worshipped. She is even the country 's flag symbol. In shintoism, mythologies describe the emperor as being the divine ancestor of Amaterasu (shinto gods). Before the emperor Hirohito came into power, this belief never really affected many people, but as the new emperor took control, he put more emphasis on the idea that he was descended from a goddess. Knowing this, the people worshipped him and still do so now. So giving up their lives was never a …show more content…
But in world war two, they weren’t the only country with camps worst than death. In even today’s world, human trafficking is a problem, women and men taken from their homes and some sold to satisfy people 's “needs”. During world war two, a woman slave or ‘comfort women’ were made to perform anything the Japanese soldiers wanted. These women were very rarely women in their 20s or older, usually these girls were as young as 13 years old and as old as 15 years old. These women could be forced into rape up to 20 or more times a day with many different men. Interviewed, Prescilla Bartonico tells her story that at the age of 17 he cousin was raped by the army in front of her then killed. They then did the same to her but kept her alive and made her family watch. She was then taken and imprisoned, forced to work, and obey any order given. At the age of only 15, Rosa Maria Henson suffered the same fate, she was abducted and imprisoned for 9 months. Many more women came forward after Henson shared her story. It was later found out that “An estimated 400,000 women and girls across Asia were abducted and forced to serve in so-called “comfort stations” by the Japanese military during World War II. A majority of these victims were taken hostage in South Korea and China, but women were captured in virtually every territory occupied by the Japanese”(Mosbergen). These women were pretty much stipped of any rights
Tanaka, Toshiyuki. Japan's Comfort Women: Sexual Slavery and Prostitution during World War II and the US Occupation. London: Routledge, 2002. Print.
This paper is a review of the book Japan’s Comfort Women-Sexual slavery and prostitution during WWII and the US occupation by Yuki Tanaka. This book was published in 2002 by Routledge. The book deals with the thousands of Japanese, Korean, Chinese and other Asian and European women who were victims of organized sexual violence and prostitution by means of “comfort stations” setup by the Japanese military during World War II.
Women were not likely to be harassed, arrested, or imprisoned when the war first started. As the war progressed, women were soon held to the same level of torture. Germans were not typically allowed to sexually assault the Jewish women because they were considered them beneath them, but many did not follow that particular rule. Women were humiliated in the streets and forced to perform dirty tasks regularly. They were often subjected to gender specific tasks, like undressing in front of German officers. Despite this type of harassment, it was typically not until the liquidation of the ghettos that women and children were subjected to the extreme violence and brutality that left even the experienced ghetto chr...
Society believes that when something is good or evil it is immutable, which is highly incorrect. A few characteristics society portrays as a clue of good can actually be greatly deceiving. Such as, appearance, reputation, and human nature. Many sources can support this, including: The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, “Serial Killers, Evil, and Us,” and the interview with Philip Zimbardo titled “Why Do Good People Do Bad Things?”
One’s morals set in place the actions they see as proper and improper in their current society. Individuals in the same socioeconomic settings tend to overlap and correspond to each other. Other times morals are nonexistent or different due to one’s upbringing and culture, this means that ‘appropriate’ decisions as seen by some people may be seen as ‘inappropriate’ to others. Evil in terms of morals can be defined as someone 's morals being so extreme or nonexistent when compared to those of modern society 's views that they can not be logically comprehended.
In concentration camps, German authorities obligated women to work under physical jobs that killed them. Jewish and Gypsy women where also used for sterilization experiments and unethical human experimentation. Most of the time, women where raped. When a Jew women was pregnant, they had to make abortions and sent to give birth to places that where not appropriate. The Germans, created brothels in some concentration camps and they ran 500 brothels for soldiers, in these women where forced to
Evil can be categorized into two forms, moral evil and natural evil. Moral evil is brought about by bad choices that stem from our free will. Natural evil is bad things that happen to people, whether they deserve them or not. The problem with evil is,
The lines that define good and evil are not written in black and white; these lines tend to blur into many shades of grey allowing good and evil to intermingle with each another in a single human being. Man is not inherently good or evil but they are born innocent without any values or sense of morality until people impart their philosophies of life to them. In the words of John Locke:
Humankind will forever allow evil to prevail over good, consciously or not. As assumed in Lord of the Flies by William Golding, humankind will always just see first impressions, they will typically go against their beliefs when challenged and will search constantly for the easy solution, all of which allows the evil in humans to gain power. Whether humans are good or evil will forever remain one of man’s greatest questions; just remember, “Our greatest evils flow from ourselves.” (Jean Jacques Rousseau).
“In the long run, we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves. The process never ends until we die. And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility.” (Eleanor Roosevelt). This is just one of the infinite examples of how human nature has been explored by so many different people. Each and every human is born with the capability of making their own choices. The decisions that they will make in the future will determine how evil they are viewed by others. Although one’s nature and nurture do affect their life, it is their own free will that determines whether or not they are evil.
The variation in the way humans perceive things is part of the intricacy of mankind. What is thought of as evil to one person can be viewed as good to another. The struggle between good and evil is a major theme in William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, when a group of innocent boys, stranded on an island, try to build a civilization from scratch. The question is: while their actions were wrong, are the boys themselves evil for committing them? The boys in Lord of the Flies were not evil, but rather driven by their fear and struggle for survival to become savages, and were inhibited by their instincts to put their survival before their morals.
In conclusion, people that believe themselves to be good have a different perspective about what is good. The people that go to war believing they are doing the right thing greatly have the wrong impression of what is good. If good is killing off thousands or millions of people, something is definitely wrong. If that is true that killing is right, then what is evil? In almost every case, people become evil when they are in a chaotic environment or if their lives are in jeopardy which is seen in history, scientist and philosophers, youth groups, and literature. The natural reaction to cause evil, in response, fear and chaos cannot be controlled therefore human beings should not be blamed for their actions because scientifically human nature is already determined.
As awareness of women’s rights is increasing, atrocities of the Japanese Imperial Army are unveiling. “Comfort women” is sexual slavery system that was utilized by the Japanese Imperial Army during World War II. Due to pervious traumatic experiences and inputs they had, the struggle of former sex slaves for their rights and justice started in 1991, which is still continuing in present times. While they are declaring that Japanese Imperial Military trampled on their rights, some Japanese officials claim that Japan did not intrude the girls in the past. Regardless of irresponsible reactions from some governors, the Japanese government should give compensations and thorough apologies to former sex slaves who were enslaved as being “comfort women” during WWII because of relationships between Japan and other damaged nations, former sex slave and women’s continuous fight for their rights, and possible repetition of this big mistake due to lack of education.
A society is an environment where different types of individuals live together in a more or less ordered community. The conception that some people are good and some are evil is what establishes a society. Evil without good has no interpretation. Likewise, good without evil has no meaning because it lacks opposition. They are inseparable; both coexist because without the dynamics of good and evil, there would be no use of heroes to guide our society. The film The Dark Knight by Director Christopher Nolan explores this notion that both good and evil coexist in order to guide society into what is morally right or wrong. Throughout the film, the goodwill of individuals seems to consistently be tested
Whether or not humans are essentially evil or sympathetic is a question that has long left many philosophers in a state of conflict. Through the evaluation of natural human qualities, many different opinions have been formed. The so called “laws” of the world attempt to define a set of uncertain rules which are to govern society in its most raw form, dictate moral rights and wrongs, and create boundaries. Every single action can be separated into any of these three categories, depending upon the action. The Bible states that it is only through baptism that a sin may be removed from the carrier. Non-religious opinions may offer a similar opinion in a sense that humans possess the capability of committing evil acts. Human beings are in constant pursuit of their basic necessities and they are without limits to what they will do to obtain them. Since humans are individualistically driven, the ultimate desires are ones for pleasure, comfort, and contact. These can usually be found in the limits of a community environment. Our desires cross paths, since the desire of sensual experiences and close human contact in the form of community correspond with the desire for individualistic advancement and success. Competition causes holes within society, and gives rise to upper and lower classes. This causes the gap between the rich and those living in means of poverty. A truly selfless society, and one without evil would share the wealth equally, creating a level playing field for all those in the community, yet this is not the case. Friction among the classes of people results in corruption, jealousy, crime, and other small offenses. Living in a community requires trust and faith in the overall nature of others to do the right th...