Evil has always existed throughout history and it will continue existing. One doesn’t have to be a spiritual believer to understand this fundamental truth. And yet we don’t often hear this word today. Why? It’s because the process of rebranding evil has been going on for so long, usage of the term is becoming the endangered species of the English language. It’s eroding our understanding of how to spot the monsters who walk among us in human form.
Oh, how far psychology has moved from ponerology, which was studying the science of evil. Today – apart from the Dark Triad – they are using science as a means of absolving evil and abusers of accountability. We can split hairs all day on whether or not all abusers are evil, but we can agree that all evil acts are abusive, controlling, and highly manipulative. Regardless of what creates evil or “just abusers”, whether it’s trauma, a mental illness, neuroscience, or genetics, it does not excuse what it is. And using such excuses as a means of rebranding evil into a “suffering, misunderstood” person who doesn’t want to or doesn’t mean to abuse is how the abuser’s culture is gaining power.
What is Evil?
So, what is evil? It isn’t a man laughing maniacally with a pinky at the corner of his mouth while congratulating himself for being evil. (If only it were that simple!) We usually think of Adolf Hitler as an easy one to point at and say that’s evil. But Hitler is an example of what happens when evil is given the ultimate power. What’s the next easiest to spot? Serial killers tend to lack empathy and have an urge to dominate others – a deadly combination of human traits but necessary for those capable of such atrocities. But what of those who have these traits but don’t commit murder?
Ariel Castro, who held three women captive for eleven years, had a laughable string of excuses absolving himself of wrong-doing. From blaming his addiction to porn, blaming his victims for getting in the car with him, and even claiming that the “sex” (rape!) was mostly consensual. He even fell back on the classic woe-is-me, I too was abused in my childhood excuse and was shocked that no one pitied him. “I’m not a monster, I’m just sick,” he told the court. In other words, he was playing the mental illness card. People may have fallen for it if not for the mountain of evidence against him.
As Castro (and others mentioned) clearly demonstrates, evil has the following traits:
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- Refuses accountability because it will always find excuses that justify doing whatever it wants to do.
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- Speaks in lies and half-truths. (Gaslighting)
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- Holds its victims responsible for Evil’s choices.
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- Always sees itself as the victim. It must see itself this way so as to garner sympathy. (DARVO)
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- Has an urge to control others because it cannot control itself.
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- Believes there is no such thing as evil because Evil lacks the self-awareness to understand that it is evil.
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- Is highly manipulative.
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- Delivers itself as “special” to con others into following it. “If you’re with me, you will be special too,” Evil implies but is cunning enough to never say it. This is the classic cult leader strategy.
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- Infects its environment with toxicity.
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- Creates division among others so that they can’t see who the real enemy is. (Triangulation)
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- See also my article on coercive control, which is synonymous with domestic violence. (Here)
DARVO, gaslighting, and triangulation are in Trauma Glossary 1.
Rebranding evil as traumatized, having a mental illness, or being neurodivergent does not make it less evil. In case you’re wondering where neurodivergent came from, it’s one more way they are demanding tolerance for evil and abusers by lumping themselves in with autism. Just because science shows that Evil’s brain chemistry isn’t wired right, they get this new label. Apparently, quackery, I mean psychology today wants to destigmatize evil and abusers by stigmatizing autism. And then they lay down their behavior-leveling dogma claiming that all hurt people hurt people. So, now according to them, none of us are any better than those who commit coercive control. My article debunking this claim from our so-called “experts” is (here).
Rebranding Evil via Hijacking Movements
Evil is not able to create anything new, it can only distort and destroy what has been invented or made by the forces of good.
J.R.R. Tolkien
Consider the movements that began with such beautiful intent, but sooner or later were hijacked. Let’s start with the most obvious. End the Stigma on Mental Illness. Great beginning! Everyone should work on their mental health and no one should feel shamed for doing so. It’s great when we can let people know we are struggling with an illness and we receive compassion instead of judgement. However, when this is used as a means of controlling the trauma survivor’s narrative just because their abuser has a mental illness, the movement has become distorted and corrupted. It is stigmatizing the trauma survivor in the name of destigmatizing all mental illnesses, regardless of the abuse factor certain disorders are fully capable of committing.
Here is the undeniable truth. A crucial piece of every trauma survivor’s healing is making sense out of the senselessness that happened to them. This means having language for it. Understanding the different types of abuses is helpful but only goes so far. Understanding that a diagnosis for their abuser exists is the most powerful lightbulb moment of all. That’s when the survivor can finally make sense out of the senselessness. The survivor needs to talk about it, both for themselves and to warn others. This is because the criteria for a Cluster B disorder (Trauma Glossary 1) includes indicators for specific behaviors that are abusive and senseless. And this is where the survivor’s story and the end the stigma movement are at an impasse.
Inclusion, Tolerance, and Anti-Bullying via Exclusion, Intolerance, and Bullying
Pushing the world into caring about each other instead of bullying and judging each other is glorious. And may I just say, it’s about time that being bad is no longer seen as “being cool”. Inclusion, tolerance, and having empathy and compassion for each other improves the quality of all lives and in so doing, has the power to save lives. Righteous anger is well used when calling out bullies and holding them accountable. When we stand up to the bully, the bully loses power. The bully’s former victim receives empathy, compassion, inclusion, and tolerance for whatever excuse the bully had for singling out its victim. In return, we feel empowered for our good deed and righting the perceived wrong. This is basic human nature in those who have empathy and compassion.
But to those without empathy and compassion, inclusion means no boundaries and that’s enticing for them. Evil and abusers despise boundaries. That’s why they hijack movements and invade other people’s spaces, all in the name of whatever movement they have hijacked. And already having so many cards to play with this constant rebranding of evil, from their victimhood – which may or may not have even happened – to their mental illness or neurodivergence, they manipulate those with empathy and compassion into supporting them. “Because if you don’t support me,” says Evil, “you are an ableist (or other character assassinations)”.
Righteous anger becomes virtue signaling. Say something and keep repeating it long enough, people start believing it. That’s just how propaganda works. Those who are so caught up in being a good person that they fear looking like a bad person will go along with it. Then otherwise good people are morally policing other otherwise good people because they have lost sight of the real enemy. This is triangulation.
Not all abusers are evil…
Everyone deserves grace and a chance at getting better. But we must consider that everyone who wants to get better must be willing to do the work on bettering themselves. This is common sense. But in today’s climate with all the division among us, we have lost our ability to discern the difference between those who are working on bettering themselves and those who are exclusively trying to feel better about who they are and what they do.
If the non-evil abusers are working on bettering themselves, then they must be willing to listen to survivors’ stories and think, “I don’t want to be that person to my loved ones.” This is what inspires change. Not wanting to be that person. However, if the abuser’s response to the survivor’s story is attacking and blaming the survivor for making them feel bad, this is clearly an abuser who is not interested in bettering themselves. This is an abuser who only wants to feel better about being an abuser.
Those who are and those who are not interested in bettering themselves
We see this in former substance abusers who choose to live clean. They do so because they don’t want to be that person anymore. Combat soldiers with severe PTSD choose to heal because they don’t want to be that person who traumatizes their loved ones. People who suffer with bipolar disorder also work on managing it because they choose to be more than their illness. Trauma survivors also want to be more than their trauma. Interesting how we sometimes hear survivor stories from those who experienced trauma at the hands of a substance abuser, combat soldier, or someone with bipolar disorder and the survivor does not receive backlash from them.
And yet, if the trauma survivor talks of their experiences at the hands of someone with a Cluster B disorder – especially if that abuser has borderline personality disorder – it’s the reverse. Cue in the hate raiding with their DARVO, stigma cards, and ableism accusations. “You just made me feel bad. Where is your empathy and compassion for my feelings?” says the Cluster B hypocrite who has no empathy and compassion for the survivor. Rebranding evil is gaslighting at its finest and thanks to this rebranding of evil and abusers, we are failing to see the hypocrisy right in front of us.
M.A.P. is on the rise
If people don’t wake up soon, the pedophiles will be next in line. Don’t believe me? Look up M.A.P. Evil is rebranding pedophilia as Minor Attracted Persons. It’s a movement for showing empathy and compassion for those who desire children. According to M.A.P., pedophilia is nothing more than a sexual preference. And this scares the hell out of me. The apologists and enablers for the abuser’s culture can’t imagine tolerating and including pedophiles. But I couldn’t have imagined living in a world where trauma survivors have to watch what they say because it might offend an abuser with a mental illness.