Which of these is the worst evil or wrong?

[TricksterWolf]

And is there anything more evil or wrong, still?

Trickster

 

[The Nihilist]

I've known a lot of people who have presumed they've known something, and none of them seemed quite as bad as a genocidal maniac.

 

[bammertheblue]

I can't pick. Genocide and raping toddlers are tied for awfulness

 

[TricksterWolf]

I've known a lot of people who have presumed they've known something, and none of them seemed quite as bad as a genocidal maniac.

Ah, but one could claim that someone committing acts of genocide is, necessarily, also presuming to know something...

Trickster

 

[TricksterWolf]

I can't pick. Genocide and raping toddlers are tied for awfulness

You should pick one of the two just so we have maximum poll results. Flip a coin: heads, commit genocide; tails, rape toddlers.

Trickster

 

[bammertheblue]

You should pick one of the two just so we have maximum poll results. Flip a coin: heads, commit genocide; tails, rape toddlers.

Trickster

Dude! I can't flip a coin on that! Aaah! No!

 

[SallyNow]

Gotta say, I also had a few I wanted to pick. I'm a fan of the "other" button.

 

[Patzak]

Hard to decide between genocide and raping toddlers for me as well. I mean, genocide is obviously much more massive and I'd say it's a more evil act; but I'd still much rather be left in the same room with Hitler than with a toddler rapist.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

All sins are equally bad, if you're talking about sins in the context of religion.

I don't really think that you can murder puppies though.

 

[TheMissus]

Presuming you know what God would want based on your personal interpretation of religious texts. It's worse, of course, if you then do something awful because you assume it's God's will. If, for example, it were God's will to end homosexuality, He would strike down the homosexuals. Since that hasn't happened, it's presumptuous to assume that's what you should do in His name.

 

[quatona]

And is there anything more evil or wrong, still?

Do I get your point correctly: Presuming to know something is the cause for doing any of those "evils" you have listed?
I don´t agree. Neither is it a necessary prerequisite for doing these things, nor does it necessarily lead to doing things we consider "evil".

 

[Emmy]

Dear TricksterWolf, all the wrongs you listed, are wrongs, and will be judged sooner, or later. By God`s Law, which might be slow, but is fair and always right, or by the Law of the Land, which tries to be as good, as it can. As for being worst, I am no judge. I say this humbly and kindly, TricksterWolf, and send greetings. Emmy, sister in Christ.

 

[DiscardedTruths]

And is there anything more evil or wrong, still?

Trickster

It's difficult to choose between raping toddlers or genocide...they both are incredibly sick.
But if I had to choose I would go with genocide....

 

[Lynden1000]

I guess I'd have to say genocide. Raping toddlers runs a close second. Murdering puppies would be third, although I think I'd rephrase it to "torturing puppies." The act of killing a puppy could be ok in certain circumstances.

 

[RealityCheck]

What about genocidal soldiers that raid a town and kill nearly everyone, rape toddlers, murder the puppies, all because the inhabitants of the town are a different religion (religious intolerance)?

 

[CSmrw]

Killing is bad, but causing suffering, to my mind, is worse. Death is an end to experience. Torture is enduring experience. So raping a toddler in my mind is worse than genocide, assuming good, clean kills.

 

[RealityCheck]

Killing is bad, but causing suffering, to my mind, is worse. Death is an end to experience. Torture is enduring experience. So raping a toddler in my mind is worse than genocide, assuming good, clean kills.

This is why I chose the toddler option too...

However, genocide is rarely "clean" - it usually involves torture, like rape, especially when being carried out by soldiers ordered on a pogrom.

 

[MethodMan]

* other:

Indifference

 

[CSmrw]

This is why I chose the toddler option too...

However, genocide is rarely "clean" - it usually involves torture, like rape, especially when being carried out by soldiers ordered on a pogrom.

It's why semantics matter. Genocide is just killing. You can kill quickly and efficiently in theory. But the point of using genocide in this thread is to denote mass killing, wiping out a culture. The point being that the question is asked in the abstract, to make a point. Obviously killing an entire ethnic group causes massive suffering in ways that are impossible to quantify. Dharfur harms me and you, causes us suffering because we are empathetic and reasonable people. But I don't think the OP is asking about that, really.

 

[Ave Maria]

I voted raping toddlers but I would have voted genocide if I had seen it. Sorry.