Pure Evil

No, I'm not talking about Hillary Clinton today, though I can understand why you might think so based on that title and on what I've written in the past.

Instead, all I want to present today is a quote from one of my favorite Kurt Vonnegut novels, Mother Night. The novel is about Howard Campbell, a man wrongly on trial for crimes against humanity (or is he wrongly on trial? It's kind of the point of the whole novel). In one of the key scenes of the novel he is face to face with an accuser, who admits that he wants to rip Campbell apart for the crimes he has committed. He says that Campbell is pure evil, and that it is his destiny to destroy him. To which Campbell replies as follows:

"There are plenty of good reasons for fighting, but no good reason ever to hate without reservation, to imagine that God Almighty Himself hates with you, too. Where is evil? It's that large part of every man that wants to hate without limit, that wants to hate with God on its side. It's that part of every man that finds all kinds of ugliness so attractive. It's that part of an imbecile that punishes and vilifies and makes war gladly."

It's been years since I read that passage. I don't think--when I originally read it--that it affected me much at all. But today it made me tired. I'm tired, tired of the war in Iraq, tired of Clinton vs. Obama vs. McCain, tired of gay marriage, tired of all the vitriol. When did we, as a species, decide that those who were of a different opinion than us are not just of a different opinion, but are evil? Why does it have to be this way? Why do people get on TV news shows and shout at each other? Why do people strap bombs to themselves and walk into discotheques? Why is there so much unmitigated hatred?

I'm tired of it all.