I don't think you can simplify these things into evil/insane etc. It's probably a cocktail of things coming together
That’s what he was like wasn’t he?David Tennant made him seem like a bit of a hoot. Good laugh down the club on a Sunday afternoon
I think our everyday use of the word 'evil' is unhelpful at best. The concept of 'evil' belongs back in medieval times. People who murder tend to either have mental health issues or severe behavioural issues, often stemming from childhood, or a toxic mixture of both. Unfortunately the span of time in developmental years is so small that if their synapses don't get chance to form in a safe and nurturing environment, that's often it; no second chance and they never form after that. Such people tend not to go on to develop the tools and skills needed to live a useful, rounded life to make a positive contribution to society. Our prisons are full of them, the experience of which sadly just reinforces the behaviours which got them there in the first place.
I wouldn't call it evil, I'd call it a dark, rarely discussed or acknowledged side of human nature. Given the right (wrong) conditioning, people can be persuaded to do pretty much anything to other human beings.HV, whilst our view on evil may be correct in terms of an explanation of an individual Having a stunted emotional growth. It doesn’t explain Nazism, the Holocaust, Khmer Rouge or other atrocities, of which there are many and are certainly not from the medieval period. Not to be argumentative but I do believe that evil as a concept, not in any biblical sense, exists.
One of the Black Mirror's was about that. They mentioned the book 'On Killing' which is about exactly what you have mentioned.The strange thing is, we ask solders to kill, sometimes in cold blood. I didn't believe some stats that showed the vast majority of solders deliberately missed with their shooting, I do tend to believe them now. Most people are not born killers.
This may be a helpful link to anyone who's unaware how ordinary people can be persuaded to do extraordinarily awful things...HV, whilst our view on evil may be correct in terms of an explanation of an individual Having a stunted emotional growth. It doesn’t explain Nazism, the Holocaust, Khmer Rouge or other atrocities, of which there are many and are certainly not from the medieval period. Not to be argumentative but I do believe that evil as a concept, not in any biblical sense, exists.