When Evil Descends
A Reflection on Living in Troubling Times
The most troubling idea expressed in Douglas Murray’s book On Democracies and Death Cults, a book full of stomach-turning passages about the murder of Israeli citizens at the hands of Hamas on October 7th, comes from his brief reflection on the works of author Gitta Sereny. Sereny spent years interviewing and writing about people guilty of profoundly evil acts; people like Nazis Albert Speer and Franz Stangl as well as child killer Mary Bell, who murdered two small children in the area of Newcastle, England when she was only 11 years old. Both in the book and in a separate article for The New Criterion Murray shares this insight from Sereny:
“Despite not being in any clear sense religious, she said in a late interview that it was her belief that evil exists in the world—that it was the only explanation for the things that certain people do; that it is a force that seems almost to descend upon humanity at times.”[1]
That sentence haunts me. Evil descends upon humanity. A series of events unfold, cultural pressures emerge, important truths are lost and evil descends. A collective madness which extends beyond societal evils subsisting through generations like slavery, racism, true xenophobia, destroying the next generation before they are born through abortion, and sexual violence. Those evils tend to lurk in the shadows or find a socially tolerable level of existence where few people see them as good, yet few people are bothered enough disrupt their lives in an effort to end them. Cultural movements arise and fight prolonged battles to limit the impact of these societal evils, but they never truly go away. Despite the statues, books, and movies in remembrance of the efforts of William Wilberforce, Thomas Clarkson, Olaudah Equiano, Frederick Douglass, and Harriet Tubman, slavery remains. It has been pushed out of the more civilized nations, taken new forms, but, however reimagined, slavery remains. A pernicious hatred between people groups remains, abortion remains. Evil behavior endures. But when evil descends, people who were always capable of terrible things shed the last vestiges of their humanity and give themselves over to ungodly acts. The Holocaust, the Holodomor, the Rwandan genocide, the Khmer Rouge, the Darfur Genocide, societies become mad and commit atrocities so horrifying the people who study them often struggle with depression, PTSD, and suicidal thoughts. The knowledge of the depths of human evil changes the way people see their fellow man forever.
This isn’t a political fear that one party or the other is representative of something deeper and nefarious threatening to cast the world into darkness. It is a question of cultural character. Narcissistic personality traits are at an all-time high.[2] Anxiety and depression are increasing among children and young adults.[3] Anti-social tendencies appear on the rise.[4] Literacy rates appear to be declining.[5] Public trust in institutions like schools, newspapers, TV news, the presidency, congress, the Supreme Court, and the church is falling.[6] People may be more angry and less rested than ever.[7] Cultural battles over things as trivial as WNBA basketball players Caitlyn Clark and Angel Reese, whether or not people ought to recline their seats on airplanes, Zack Snyder’s DC super-hero movies, and zipper merging in traffic can trigger a disturbing amount of vitriol in on-line comment threads. If we can’t be civil discussing trivial things, what hope do we have discussing important issues like the divide in our country over transexual rights, immigration policy, and international relations? The recent No-Kings protests with accompanying civil unrest and riots in L.A. further demonstrated the divided nature of our nation with justifications of violence and property destruction as well as counter cries for increased use of force to quell rebellion.
We are not a healthy society.
The Calling Out
Jordan Peterson and Dennis Prager chaired a round table discussion where the topic was raised, “Would the Holocaust have happened without Hitler?” Prager expressed his view it would not. Hitler provided a unique combination of talents and profound moral faults which led to the horror of the Holocaust in a manner that no other leader could or would. Peterson pushed back, arguing the cultural forces at work in Germany at the time called out someone like Hitler. Hitler wasn’t a great man leading people in a direction they never would have gone otherwise. Admittedly, he was a charismatic communicator, but he honed his message responding to positive feedback from German audiences like a performer learning what material works. He became the man who humiliated and angry German people wanted him to be. Psychologist Carl Jung once said of Hitler:
“Hitler listens and obeys…His Voice is nothing other than his own unconscious, into which the German people have projected their own selves; that is, the unconscious of seventy-eight million Germans. That is what makes him powerful. Without the German people he would be nothing.”[8]
I asked a friend who studied fascism in college what he thought. Surprisingly, his response matched Peterson’s almost word for word. Would the Holocaust have happened without Hitler? He immediately said, “Maybe not exactly as it happened, but something terrible was brewing there. I don’t think removing Hitler would have stopped it. He wasn’t alone.”
This dynamic comes into play with the modern social media celebrities, crafting a message and persona through feedback. Across a broad area of disciplines, the key to success is finding an audience who is pleased with both the message and the style of delivery. Mr. Beast is one of the most popular internet personalities ever, but his schtick isn’t groundbreaking. He gives away a lot of money. Could anyone be Mr. Beast? No. Is he a unique talent with a novel idea? No. Gameshows were built around this idea, people loved to watch others get money. Reality shows demonstrated celebrities and actors are unnecessary. If you give us a competition with a $1 million prize, i.e. Survivor, the audience will make the competitors celebrities. Robert Redford’s wonderfully directed 1994 film Quiz Show champions this position as a producer guilty of rigging the show Twenty-One tells the investigator from the committee on Congressional oversight that TV producers learned a valuable lesson. There was no need to rig future games, just make the questions easier or get rid of the questions altogether. It makes no difference. People tune in to watch the money. Mr. Beast, Survivor, American Idol, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, Jeopardy!, The Wheel of Fortune, etc. Certain individuals will capitalize, rise to fame, make their fortunes, but the machine rolls on. Personalities don’t create the industry of watching money change hands, cultural forces beyond individuals drive the interest. The audience wants what they want, and they call forth the personalities who can and will deliver it.
Our world is unwell. People are more anxious, more emotional, more self-oriented, less socially motivated, and less tolerant of disagreement. In 2004, future President of the United States Barack Obama was a little-known Illinois State Senator asked to give the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention. It was the speech of a lifetime, launching him onto the national stage. He was young, ambitious, and the Democratic party called him forward. By 2005, he was being sworn in as a U.S. Senator and 2009 as President of the United States. He united the Democratic party as no other, but it wasn’t because of his qualifications for national office. He was anointed the candidate of Hope and awarded a Nobel Peace Prize at the start of his career as a world leader for nothing in particular other than not being George W. Bush. A ruthless political operative from Chicago who defeated his first election opponent by getting him dismissed from the ballot on a technicality was now the man of hope and virtue. Whatever anyone thinks of Mr. Obama, this was theater. He became the man the audiences called for while hiding his habit of smoking cigarettes[9]and cussing out the White House press corps for running stories about scandals during his tenure[10] (or just his general fondness of cussing).[11] Those details were hidden because they weren’t exactly fitting the hope and change narrative. He was like any other man who held the office of Presidency, the head of his political party who pushed through legislation and pressured swing voters to toe the party line particularly as it pertained to his Affordable Care Act, but he played the public role of agent of hope exceedingly well.
In 2000, Donald Trump ran for President of the United States as the Reform Party candidate. His candidacy failed so spectacularly that when he entertained running again in 2016 liberal comedian John Oliver mocked him, daring him to run. The idea was a joke. All the people insulting Mr. Trump couldn’t see the Republican landscape had changed since 2000. Goerge W. Bush was electable, from a respectable political family, connected to traditional political powers that would bring a professionalism to the office many felt was lacking in the Clinton administration. The year 2000 was a time to bring back suits and serious people. Donald Trump’s brashness and off the cuff style, his lack of polish, hurt him. In 2016, many conservative voices called out for something new. They felt pushed around and bullied during President Obamas second term and wanted a street fighter who wouldn’t back down. They wanted someone willing to get in the gutter with the bad guys and give as good as he gets. Donald Trump bypassed traditional media by giving his message directly to his audience through Twitter, tweeting day and night. Some messages were bizarre, but some hit a nerve with his growing audience of supporters. Make America Great Again, Drain the Swamp, audiences chanting “Lock her Up!” at his rallies, referencing his Democratic opponent, Hillary Clinton. Donald Trump heard the call and answered. He attacked political opponents personally, attacked moderators at debates, attacked journalists. He defeated the Republican Party, holding massive rallies while Jeb Bush, once considered the strongest candidate, had to ask for applause from comparatively embarrassingly small crowds. He defeated Hillary Clinton and the Democrats and looked to break the system entirely just as his supporters wanted. Donald Trump was a response to a state of affairs, called out and delivering a message curated for his supporters. In 2024, abortion appeared to be a losing issue politically. He pivoted quickly and had it removed from the center of the party platform. He becomes what he needs to be to gain the office. To be clear, he is genuinely bold and brash and stubborn, but he isn’t some mastermind capable of overturning the American government’s system of checks and balances. He is the street fighter his constituents called for.
This is the danger of a society in emotional and intellectual crisis facing heated political divide. There are people who believe the political actions of President Donald Trump justify riots and lawlessness in our cities. They characterize this as moral resistance. The argument is bankrupt of anything like clear reasoning. There are people who believe that the idiots breaking into the Capital on January 6th of 2021 were patriots defying the results of an illegitimate election. That argument is equally bankrupt, though the constant reference to January 6th by riot apologists is laughably weak. BLM/ANTIFA protests disrupted Portland, Oregon for 200 days. Seattle protestors created a Capitol Hill Autonomous Zone denying access of actual authorized public authorities and held the public space from June 8th to July 1st . The 2020 protests, civil unrest, and riots were the most costly in U.S. history based on insurance payouts.
All of this is beside the point, the danger is what and who is called out next? I wanted to provide a couple of social media posts from people who believe President Trump is a fascist (language warning):
· How many of you will be claiming, "we were just following orders" ? And how will you feel when you get no sympathy, and my fist breaking your noses? You cunts voted for this shit, and you will pay for this shit.
· Time to utilize the 2nd amendment. It was created for moments like today. These masked, cowardly feds need to be scared shitless. What side are you on? Pick one, and own it, because this ain't politics. We are fully witnessing fascist tendencies, and none of us should back down. I'm ready for it, are you?
Stipulating people post hyperbolic things on social media all the time, if this sentiment grows, then the next call to the opponents of President Trump is for someone willing to be even stronger in their opposition. Who will up the ante from “Drain the Swamp” to “Punch Nazis” and “Resist the Feds.” “Free Palestine” turns into “From the River to the Sea” ultimately to rooting for Iran to kill the “genocidal Zionists.” When Americans are rooting for Iran, things are not well. It may be the response to the response, or the response to that, but the political parties don’t matter nor does the underlying justification. Communists and socialists have proven perfectly capable of the most terrible evil, as have authoritarian nationalists. Perpetual escalation has one logical end, the naked use of power to destroy our enemies, whether real or perceived. In other words, a morally untutored and lazy culture gets caught up in their emotions and their narcissistic need to win at all costs and evil descends.
On Persons and Societies
In Kevin Costner’s western Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1, a young First Lieutenant in the U.S. military talks to a group of settlers the morning after their homes were attacked by Apache. He warns them that moving into the homeland of an existing people group will antagonize them and remaining in their land will only invite more bloodshed. When he returns to the military camp having failed to persuade the settlers to leave, his commanding officer calls him to his tent. The Colonel tells his subordinate such speeches may make the Lt. feel better, but the forces at work in the western expansion are unstoppable. The Apache wish to believe that they can salt the earth with enough blood to discourage settlers, but no army on earth can stop what is happening. It is a conjunction of irresistible forces and individual men waste their efforts in the face of such historical and cultural events. The only job left to the individual is to determine what he will do within his own conscience.
Good men and women resist evil. The best work at resisting evil will always be accomplished at the level of the individual. Reinhold Niebuhr argues in his book Moral Men and Immoral Societies that religious forces can produce effects in the lives of men that will ultimately fail to translate into larger society. Societies can be composed of moral people who seek a just life for its members, but society cannot be moral. Society includes compromise and justice and law and coercion and corruption with too many independent forces working to capitalize on the system for personal benefit and power to ever be moral in the way a person can be. Mary Anne Glendon writes in her book The Forum and the Tower, the philosopher must be uncompromising and idealistic while the politician must be realistic about what good can be accomplished. The message is similar. Societies are masses of people lumbering awkwardly toward some shared purpose and prone to getting caught up in dangerous cultural currents. The individual can resist those currents and walk with greater purpose, though it often places them at odds with the crowd. The individual must be wary of the madness of crowds.
Humility
Humility helps. Like the previously mentioned First Lt., we may like to believe we can stand on our social media soap box and be the voice of reason. The warning of the colonel is well taken. There are times when the larger forces are at play overwhelm the efforts of the pious individual. Good people may see the success of others at building an audience with hysteria, fear mongering, bluster, snark, and insult and think they can build a similar audience through counter argument with something purer. Perhaps. But perhaps those others succeed because they curated their persona to please an audience who called out for a certain message. Failure to build an audience doesn’t absolve us the responsibility to seek the perfections of our character and the true, the good and the beautiful for our neighbor. It may mean our best work in life will be done in small places with small audiences, with individuals who can truly be found by God and direct their whole being toward a moral existence.
Consider the teachings of Jesus dealing with systematic aggression in this light. Turn the other cheek, go the extra mile, give up your tunic, love your neighbor as yourself, place yourself at the foot of the table, serve your fellow man, reject hatred and anger, render unto God what is his. Perhaps doing so will make you an influential voice in a world gone mad. Perhaps if enough people do this then the world will call out for something different in response to the current tsunami of anger and self-righteousness, a more just and merciful community. Both ideals working together to balance the full needs of society, justice and mercy. Evil resisted, the needy tended, the lost restored.
If the cultural forces are inescapably driving us toward something worse, if we lose sight of important truths and embrace ungodly means to ungodly ends, then a personal dedication to representing Christ as an ambassador in a foreign land can have great effect. Casper ten Boom is one of my heroes. A Dutch watchmaker whose great contribution to the world was raising a family so devoted to Christ that in the face of a society gone mad they enthusiastically helped anyone they could. When the Nazis arrested an elderly Casper for aiding and hiding Jews, they offered to let him go home and die in his own bed. He told them if they released him, he would immediately continue to help anyone who sought his aid. He had no great audience, no public fawning over him, but he had power few of us will ever understand.
[1] https://newcriterion.com/article/the-profundity-of-evil/
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Narcissism-Epidemic-Living-Age-Entitlement/dp/1416575995/ref=sr_1_1?crid=BKSCSAL94CJY&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.B9CDMkOcHQbtaK5Qe94OGBEcNegO0-uJbBxi9hFOr6ufbmFOcSOVu37cNjblmTOvdmMJu4m9QkuO_wwRULsc4Jk0VfPWnhQP9h-0VKZTgXBuJC46YcIfjSRzprvz-JTquwdO2e5c3Fyg35czhIamKrerkpPX7FAg1qTGzybmhwtDcopsD2A4T-Y9OMo1e2rQkGekFt2r7b0LYbeTVJFTYUOVqj6RgTSePuNBzHgmT8s.IkAnkCJBnZX1RVqVDx8tSYl_a0lG4Bqj_d7gjl7Tu2E&dib_tag=se&keywords=the+narcissism+epidemic&qid=1750360097&sprefix=the+narci%2Caps%2C140&sr=8-1
[3]https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11683866/#:~:text=Adolescent%20anxiety%20and%20associated%20mental%20health%20disorders%20have%20emerged%20as,2023).
[5] https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/survey-growing-number-us-adults-lack-literacy-skills-rcna183498
[6] https://news.gallup.com/poll/1597/confidence-institutions.aspx
[7] https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/decade-of-childhood/202405/7-reasons-we-are-so-angry-all-the-time
[8] https://www.openculture.com/2024/11/carl-jung-psychoanalyzes-hitler-without-the-german-people-hed-be-nothing-1938.html
[9] https://www.washingtonian.com/2020/11/12/report-obamas-book-says-he-continued-to-smoke-in-the-white-house-a-lot/
[10] https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ann-compton-obama-profanity_n_6295890
[11] https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-fix/wp/2015/12/31/president-obamas-strong-endorsement-of-cursing/