Evil in the System Or An Evil System?

Evil in the System or An Evil System?

10/19/2019

People who perceive the evil gripping the West can generally be divided in two distinct groups.

The first group believes the system has been corrupted, and they advocate for the removal of the evil forces and elements that have caused the corruption. Put another way, people in this camp believe the system is inherently good, or at least was inherently good before dark interests debased it. Purge the evil from the system, the first group argues, and the system can be saved.

The second group, on the other hand, sees the system as purposefully corrupt and evil. People in this group believe the system has been designed by evil for the purpose of creating chaos and promoting damnation. Evil cannot be purged from the system because the system itself is evil embodied. Purging evil from the system would result in the elimination of the system (which is exactly what most in the second group believe should / needs to happen).

So where do you land? Do you see evil in a corrupted but otherwise good system? Or do you see only an evil system?

24 Comments

Bruce Charlton

10/20/2019 10:59:00

I see an evil system - but I am afraid of the implications of such an insight, and so I resisted it for a very long time.

Acknowledging that the system is itself designed for evil implies it needs to be destroyed - and the system is almost everywhere now. Destroying the evil system probably means disruption (and presumably, suffering, disease, death) on a scale never before seen.

I see that as a kind of death grip that evil now has upon the world - evil holds us to ransom - at least so far as this-worldly aspects are concerned. We have a situation in which the destruction of evil will almost certainly mean triggering the destruction of our civilisation - and therefore (almost certainly) our-selves and those we love.

More accurately, I think it means making this happen earlier rather than later - because evil is parasitic and un-sustainable - so such a 'crash and burn' will happen whatever we do; but by supporting the evil system, this inevitable collapse can be delayed.

But the price of doing so escalates. It gets harder and harder to delay collapse, and we would have to give more and more to sustaining the evil system for this to happen.

The only 'answer' - which would ensure we 'did the right thing' (rather than being drawn into ever greater evil) is a really solid and motivating belief in the Life Everlasting beyond death. This is why I try to emphasise the teaching of the Fourth Gospel - it is the Christian understanding that we most need now and in the days to come.

Francis Berger

10/20/2019 18:47:14

@ Bruce - Thanks for that. What you describe at the end of your comment is the only thing that keeps me from slipping into despair.

Desert Rat

10/20/2019 15:22:27

There is no system that cannot be corrupted by the people who must implement and maintain it.

The greater the number of people involved in the system the greater the likelihood of corruption.

Lord Acton's famous quotation applies across all known systems and to date no one has been able to rein in the temptations that come with the acquisition of power.

The only organizations I know of that have managed to maintain their systemic integrity over long periods of time are the small monastic religious orders found here and there across the world. They are small because very few of us are willing to submit to the strict discipline needed to enter and maintain them.

Francis Berger

10/20/2019 18:43:40

@ Desert Rat - Those are all valid points, but I didn't say anything about expecting a non-corrupted or perfect society. Such a thing is an impossibility, for the very reasons you outline. Only communists and other deluded types believe in and fight for utopia.

Having said that, there is a huge difference between a relatively good system that has been corrupted by evil here and there and a system that has been specifically designed to be evil - that is designed to not only deny the existence of Goodness, Beauty, and Truth, but to actively and purposively work against Goodness, Beauty, and Truth.

Communism is a good example of an evil system. The system was designed to be evil. Communism wasn't bad because it became corrupt - it was bad, period. It had corruption built into its very foundations - from its pure focus on materialism to its outright hatred and rejection of the metaphysical. The people who designed, implemented, and maintained communism were evil and their system was (or should I say is) evil.

Now take the EU or any system in the West today. Are these good systems that have been corrupted, but can still be reformed/saved and turned back toward Goodness, Beauty, and Truth) or have they become inherently evil systems that actively work against Goodness, Beauty, and Truth (and therefore cannot be saved)?

That is the question I posed in this post.

Georgiaboy61

10/22/2019 04:40:13

Re: "Now take the EU or any system in the West today. Are these good systems that have been corrupted, but can still be reformed/saved and turned back toward Goodness, Beauty, and Truth) or have they become inherently evil systems that actively work against Goodness, Beauty, and Truth (and therefore cannot be saved)?"

Francis, let me attempt to answer your question. The modern EU dates back to an obscure early-mid 20th century Austro-Hungarian diplomat and nobleman named Richard Nikolaus Eijiro, Count of Coudenhove-Kalgeri. Count Kalergi was the son of an Austro-Hungarian nobleman and a Japanese mother. Kalergi's biracial origins figure prominently in his ideas, which is why I trouble to mention them.

A pioneer of European integration, Kalergi served as the founder/president of the Paneuropean Union for 49 years. His first book, "Pan-Europa," was published in 1923, and contained a membership application for the union, which held its first congress in Vienna in 1926. During this era, a cross-section of well-known Europeans belonged to the movement, including Albert Einstein, Thomas Mann, and Sigmund Freud.

Kalergi is considered the father of the European Union, and selected its theme, Beethoven's "Ode to Joy." An annual prize was created to honor those who most-benefited the cause of a united Europe, termed the Charlemagne Prize, which today is also termed the Kalergi Prize in his honor. Count Kalergi was the first recipient in 1950.

Recent recipients of the prize include Tony Blair (1999), Bill Clinton (2000), Jean-Claude Juncker (2006), Angela Merkel (2008), and Pope Francis (2016).

Kalergi always claimed to oppose National Socialism (Nazism), but his views on such subjects as eugenics and race paint a different story. Kalgeri believed that the "ideal European" of the future would be a racial hybrid between native Europeans and the darker-skinned peoples of the Third World. In other words, he was a eugenicist just like Hitler was; he just happened to believe in a slightly different variety than the German Chancellor. Old wine in new bottles...

There are those who will argue that the United Europe movement intended a bright future for Europe, and that Kalergi was a key part of it - but whatever the truth of those observations, it is now beyond question that the present-day EU has morphed into something tyrannical. An Italian friend of mine, one opposed to the EU, termed it fascist.

The dominant ideology of the EU is Cultural Marxism, just as communism is the dominant ideology of much of the globalists who spawned it. It is difficult to determine whether the project is atheistic or Islamic, since it has features of atheism, but is also obviously Islamophilic.

As can be seen, the history of the EU is intimately bound up in globalism, another movement antithetical to the traditions of western civilization.

It is no exaggeration to state that the globalist EU is at war with Old Europe, i.e., what remains of Christianity and western civilization. The demographic terraforming of western/northern Europe now happening is intended to look haphazard, accidental, a product of incompetency and happenstance. Nothing could be further from the truth; the upshot is that the Kalergi project is being implemented and is well-advanced upon its axis of invasion. And its shock troops are the soldiers of Allah, who even now cut a swath of the violence, bloodshed and terror of jihad across the continent.

N. B. Perkins

10/20/2019 20:06:00

But doesn’t it say that government is instituted by God? What do we do about that?

Francis Berger

10/20/2019 20:27:22

@ N.B - Perhaps some forms of government have been instituted by, or at the very least were aligned with God - some monarchies and theocracies - but it would take quite a stretch of imagination to believe governments like the EU have been instituted by God.

N. B. Perkins

10/20/2019 22:35:02

Should also be noted that God punished Israel by giving them bad / evil rulers. Are we getting what we deserve? Maybe we are being taken to the woodshed !!!

Francis Berger

10/21/2019 08:40:55

@N.B - The notion as God as a vengeful tyrant/father that punishes us whenever we step out of line - as represented in the Old Testament - is a rather limited view of God, in my estimation.

I prefer Solzhenitsyn's idea concerning the nature of why terrible things happen. When asked what caused all the calamaties in the twentieth century, Solzhenitsyn replied, "Because men have forgotten God." In essence, we punish ourselves.

Cererean

10/20/2019 23:37:23

The current World System? Designed to be evil, but most people building it didn't know that. Replacing the people at the top won't fix things; it needs to be torn down completely.

But I do not think that all systems must be evil. It is possible to have a ring of power that is not the ruling ring. There *could* be a pan-European organisation oriented towards the good, but the EU is not it and cannot be reformed to become it.

Francis Berger

10/21/2019 08:57:27

@ Cereran - Thanks for the comment. I agree with you - systems do not have to be evil. They can't be perfect, but they can be inherently good. Unfortunately, our current system in the West is anything but good, as you point out.

As for the people involved,

I also agree - some people in the system are rather ignorant of the evil in which they are involved; nevertheless, things are becoming so obviously black and white, that it is becoming increasingly more difficult to believe that people in the system are unaware of the evil around them.

Cererean

10/21/2019 10:44:15

Humans are very good at deceiving themselves, particularly when their livelihood is at stake.

But I think a lot of people *know* they're involved in something evil, but they're resigned to it because there isn't any obvious alternative. Much like the Narnia fanfic Carpetbaggers, where *everyone* in Narnia has taken money from the White Witch and some point (how else would they afford a sewing machine?), because without doing so there was no way to survive a century of winter, and most of what she wanted done wasn't evil in itself (e.g. construction work from the Beavers) so it was easy to justify.

The question I have is, can we forge other rings of power, not connected to the ruling ring? What prospects are there for creating Lothlorien and Imladris in this world?

Francis Berger

10/21/2019 11:12:34

@ C - These are good, but ultimately difficult questions, and I am uncertain as to whether I can address them properly. Simply acknowledging that one is probably complicit in the evil to some extent is a crucial first step. It takes a tremendous amount of clear thinking and courage to admit that a. the system is likely evil; b. one depends on the system to a certain extent for one's livelihood, etc. As you mention, most people are unwilling to do that and rely on justifications and rationalizations to explain their complicity.

So being aware and acknowledging is the first step. What comes next? Well, this is where it comes down to the level of the individual, his/her purpose, destiny, learning in this world, etc. Some might be able to put quite a bit of distance between themselves and the evil system; others, not so much. I believe the key lies in refusing to acknowledge that one's involvement, however slight, is something good, and by repenting wrong actions or thoughts one makes or is forced to make.

Think of Jesus. When he came into the world, the politics of his people were less than ideal, but he was not interested in changing the politics of this world - he was interested in inspiring people to follow him to life everlasting life. Dr. Charlton's comment above sheds light on what is required in these times. Our first objective should be to follow Christ.

If we are to forge any rings of power in this world, perhaps it should be by forming alliances with others who have actively chosen to follow Christ. Think of the early Christians - powerless, marginalized, persecuted - yet in the span of a a few centuries , , ,

revjen45

10/21/2019 17:29:20

Started as the first and morphed/evolved/metastasized into the second. It wasn't pure to start with, but it wasn't evil to the depths of its being. Now the necrosis is so pervasive as to constitute the basis upon which all policy making and choice of goals is made.

Francis Berger

10/21/2019 20:36:22

@revjen45 - I am inclined to agree with that assessment, especially concerning the West.

Francis Berger

10/22/2019 05:56:56

@ Georgieboy61 - Yes, I am familiar with the KP and it is quite obvious that the globalists you mention in your comment are all working toward the same goal, which is likely partially or wholly based on the KP or some other such set of objectives.

My only problem with these sorts of explanations is they tell half the story and fail fully address the spiritual factors that play into all of this - what Nietzsche referred to as the death of God. Old Europe, as you term it, emerged from its spiritual childhood some time during the Renaissance and has been stuck in a sort of spiritual adolescence ever since. Europe missed a necessary step toward further spiritual development some time in the last 200 years. Instead of evolving spiritually, Europeans have wholeheartedly embraced positivism, relativism, reductionism, and most importantly, atheism. Now some would argue that this was "forced" upon Europe or that Europeans were "brainwashed" into accepting all of this - and I suppose there is some truth to that - but I find it a little too convenient to simply exonerate Europeans from everything that is currently plaguing them and just paint them as victims of evil, globalist masterminds.

I mentioned this in another comment, but I will repeat it here - when asked what had caused the calamities of the twentieth century, Alexander Solzhenitsyn responded that it was because men had forgotten God. I think this the real crux of the matter. If men had not forgotten God, KPs and other globalist schemes probably never would have gained traction, to say nothing of evil systems such as communism.

Generally speaking, Europeans have collectively turned away from Goodness, Truth, and Beauty and, more importantly, have rejected the spiritual step they were meant to take. I believe this is the only reason why things like the KP even exist or why most Europeans are perfectly content to live under evil systems like the EU.

Ingemar

10/22/2019 20:01:28

Francis, this is a very thought-provoking post. It also gives me new eyes to see the problem in the Catholic Church.

As much as traditional Catholics will quote Matthew 16:18 until they turn blue in the face, the situation on the ground is that the current power structure in the Vatican is hopelessly evil. American Catholics deeply invested in the Church crisis should have seen this last year, when 2/3's of their bishops voted AGAINST conducting a deep investigation in the sex abuse scandal. And in the past few weeks Francis and his Curia have been goading the faithful into breaking the First Commandment.

But is the Catholic Church group one or group two? Faithful Catholics will insist it's "only" group one while the more polarized portions of non-Catholic Christianity will say it's group two.

Francis Berger

10/22/2019 21:52:04

@ Ingemar - Thanks; and thanks for the comment.

I have been a cultural Catholic my whole life. Shortly after my son was born, I felt drawn to the Church and wanted to immerse myself in it, but I couldn't maintain that. The Church is just too corrupt. I often think it is being corrupted on purpose, to drive everyone out. In any event, I now consider myself a solitary, non-denominational Christian, though I still attend Mass at the local village church and try to stay true to many of Catholicism's teachings. Regardless, I am certain the Church would consider me a heretic.

Michael

1/30/2020 01:54:26

I truly believe that the system was not designed to be evil. As has been the case throughout all of history, there are people who work for the good of others and those who only work for their own concerns.

Today, we see so many of our systems corrupted in an effort to control people. Either by financial ends or political means. The current turmoil in our government is what happens when we, the people, gather behind a leader who does not need the financial gain from corrupting the system but is making an effort to fight back and return control back to the people, where it was originally intended to sit.

The question is, do the people care enough to recognize the struggle and are they willing to accept the responsibility to keep any control that is returned to them or have they been so mind numbed by "government cheese", their i-phones, and Netflix to care?

The same applies to the banking system and the laws that have been developed to keep us confused and beaten down. It is a struggle to learn how we have been cheated and how the majority of attorneys and judges have allowed themselves to be corrupted and swayed by the allure of the money involved.

To fight this, we must find and develop new solutions and approaches to the law. This is not easy or simple! Many will give up and drop off along the way, having been beaten down by the struggle. The only thing I can say to this is to remember, the pioneers ALWAYS take the arrows! When you find a crack in their system, share it and help others regain their self respect and dignity.

Francis Berger

1/30/2020 09:06:20

@ Michel - Thanks for the comment.

Yes, I agree. Evil by design is a weak conception and is also a bit of a red herring. Nevertheless, I believe it is an error to believe the system has merely been corrupted because then any perceived evil could simply be chalked up to folly, error, or bad decision-making - and there certainly is a lot more at play in today's system.

Let's say the system has been commandeered by and is used for evil intentions. That might also better fit the fine examples you raised in your comment.

Roy Derksen

1/30/2020 18:30:03

What is the best format for a society of men on the earth? How can we put effort out that is effective in improving it?
I just returned from a visit to the Phiiippine Islands, where there are thousands and thousands of small businesses. Little stores, motorbike shops bakeries etc line the roads in towns and are periodic on the back ways. This makes for a stable economy. There is very little welfare, though there are state hospitals where care is free. There are also private hospitals where care is better,
America was formed under the principles that each individual had the right of a King over whatever kingdom he was able to put together. All the kings hired some public servants to protect their right to life, liberty and property. They wrote the constitution to keep these servants from getting out of hand, and set up a grand jury system as the ultimate overseer of public servants and kings who violated the rights of other kings.
Grand Jurys are made up of law abiding kings who should have an comprehension of the principles of liberty. Taught in government schools, right? Ha.
If we were to form a new government, with liberty, I don't think it would be far off from what our forefathers accomplished.
One thing I would love is to have grand jury process to impeach any public servant who blatantly violates their oath to uphold the constitutional tenants of liberty and property.
Lincoln was first in operating as emergency government. He needed to because there was no quarum. But those evergency powers, and the corporate monster that was created as USA INC. is a problem.
However, a free society is only workable for a Christian one. ONe of the founders said that.
People have forgotten God in our society, and we suffer. Although, there always is a balance, with a portion of the population becoming Christians in fact rather than ritual and tradition.
And, we can look at things from an eternal perspective, keeping in mind that God is in control, and Jesus Christ won the ultimate battle for our souls!!! We can rejoice!

Francis Berger

1/30/2020 20:01:49

@ Roy Derksen - Thanks for the great comment.

"However, a free society is only workable for a Christian one. ONe of the founders said that.
People have forgotten God in our society, and we suffer."

That's what it comes down to in the end, as far as I'm concerned. Solzhenitsyn once remarked that all the suffering in the 20th century stemmed from men having forgotten God. No deification of liberty or the state can fill the void left by society that collectively turns away from the divine.

Roy Derksen

1/31/2020 16:18:09

Deification of liberty...…. Hmm, the concept is not one I considered.
Deification of political correctness going on now?
Trump the heretic.....lol.
I define the term liberty, as freedom of action within the boundaries God set.
The term freedom maybe doesn't have the limitation. So could there be deification of freedom?

Francis Berger

1/31/2020 20:50:37

@ RD - Freedom and liberty are much-abused concepts. Freedom is a vital part of our existence in this world. Without freedom, we would be automatons - cogs in a machine; and God would be a cold dictator. God granted us freedom to allow us to make the choice between good and evil.Not everyone chooses good. Not everyone chooses to live according to God's plan. Many choose freedom from God rather than freedom for God. There's a big difference between the two. Choosing the former amounts to the deification of freedom.

Berdyaev argues that God has no control over our freedom. If He did, we would not be free. Nevertheless, God is still paramount. But many forget God, or value freedom and liberty above God. Freedom and liberty become idols, much the same way they did during the French Revolution. Much the way it is today.

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.

Evil in the System or An Evil System?

Leave a Reply.

Archives