Evil Defined

What is evil?  It can be defined by example.  It is criminal, but possibly understandable, to kill someone (e.g. crime of passion, self defense, revenge, etc.).  But to kill someone and blame someone else who is innocent is evil.  Any possible rationale with regard to ultimate justice is forfeited when the innocent are falsely accused.

And so the West's condemnation of Putin is the world's greatest evil today.  It has resulted in a horrific war in Ukraine and a new arms race that threatens to destroy humanity.  The West abrogrates treaties with Russia and moves weapons close to its borders, interferes violently in its politics and in the politics of neighboring countries, all the while accusing Russia of this behavior. 

This can be seen most clearly in the scapegoating of Russia for the election of Donald Trump in 2016.  Democratic politicians worked with the Ukraine governmet to falsely demonize Russia and Putin.  Working with a foreign government to influence an election is illegal.  Accusing Trump of doing what the Democrats were themselves doing is (and continues to be) evil.

The same can be said for war crimes in Ukraine.  War crimes committed by Ukrainian partisans are blamed on Russia.  These range from the horrific (Bucha) to the absurd (Nord Stream).

Russia is a convenient scapegoat as they are remote and have no voice in the West.  But the evil can be seen in events that have nothing to do with Russia.  For example, the covid crisis resulted in Western leadership blaming Trumpers and independents for covid disinformation, while spreading disinformation about ivermectin, vaccines, lab origins, etc.  Fauci and friends not only made mistakes, but they blamed the mistakes on others who were innocent.

We need truth and reconciliation.  The world needs to come together to fight serious problems such as the arms race, the threat of pandemic, environmental crises, and, yes, disinformation.  The West wasn't wrong to want to fight disinformation, but it was wrong to blame innocent people while the leadership spread disinformation as described above.