Beware the Evil of "Necessary Evils"

Why does scripture tell us to “deviate” from evil?

 

Lots of folks think that by doing something bad for the "greater good,” they're somehow doing something good.

They're not. They're doing something bad.

In fact, doing something bad for a "greater good" agenda isn’t just bad. It’s very, VERY bad. Worse than those well-meaning folks could ever imagine.

A "necessary evil" is still evil. The “necessary” modifier doesn’t make it any less evil. In fact, it's far worse than regular "unnecessary" evil.

The very notion of “necessary” evil means that its perpetrator is indifferent to regret, compunction, and healthy human conscience. Instead of being just a garden-variety wrongdoer, s/he is now behaving as an incorrigible and irredeemable evil doer.[1]

Evil perpetrated under the veneer of supposed moral duty is in fact the darkest form of evil.[2]

The most egregious and barbaric crimes against humanity in history were all committed under the pretense of “necessary evil.”

To my liberal friends, those who still accept the “morality” of vaccine mandates:

You surely concede that forced medical procedures without informed consent are morally troubling. However, when “public health” is a stake, you reason, then compulsory vaccination is a “necessary evil.” Please understand that “necessary evil” is still objective evil. Evil is evil however you slice it.

Please heed the Psalmist’s earnest warning: “סור מרע – Stray from evil.” [3]

You might wonder: why does scripture need to caution us repeatedly to stray evil? Isn’t that obvious? Hasn’t the Torah already admonished us to choose good and reject evil?

Furthermore, why does the verse employ the term “stray from evil” (and not “desist from evil” or “depart from evil”)? “Stray” is an odd word to use, since it means to deviate or veer off a median (and hence ideal) trodden path. Why the negative connation? What could possibly have been ideal or middle ground about evil?

Answer:

Scripture is exhorting us: if something is evil, eschew it at all costs. Even if it appears to be for a greater-good purpose. Even if the middle-road mainstream endorses its necessity.  Even if the evil act is purported to be for the victim’s own benefit.

Even if you’ve been selflessly devoted to promoting public well-being all your life and sincerely believe that this evil act will further your idealistic cause for the alleged good of humanity, STRAY from this path of perceived necessity. Veer away from evil policies that claim to be virtuous and/or necessary. Evil is evil. There can be NO justification for evil. Not EVER.

Friends, please heed my urgent plea.:

Compulsory vaccination is evil. It’s morally repugnant to force, pressure, blackmail an individual to submit to any medical procedure, especially one that carries well-documented, formidable risks, even if it’s allegedly to protect them from some other statistical risk.

I understand that society has indoctrinated you to perceive medical freedom as deviant. That’s okay. It’s precisely in such a scenario of moral opacity that scripture enjoins you to deviate from evil.

My friend, please wake up. You are teetering perilously on the precipice of colossal moral failure. Yes, the Holocaust is a legitimate comparison. In Mengele’s mind, it was appropriate (and even altruistic) to sacrifice a minority for the greater good. Experimenting on children yielded benefit for humankind, he reasoned. He undoubtedly viewed torturing his non-consenting child subject as a necessary evil.

Humanity has suffered enough from the scourge of “necessary evil” and its perverse rationale.

Evil is never necessary. Stray from this perceived necessity. Stray from evil in all its forms.

At a time of widespread evil, complacence and compliance are tantamount to complicity.

Don’t be an evil doer. And don’t be complicit with evil.

The only thing that’s truly necessary now is noncompliance.

In our current moral crisis of epic proportions, defiance is a moral obligation.

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[1] While the former may be described as an incomplete rasha (wicked person), the latter is akin to the rasha gamur, a completely wicked person. See Likutei Amarin Tanya, end of chapter 11.

[2] Called “קליפת עמלק,” or Amalekite evil. The wickedness of Haman the Agagite.

[3] Psalms 34:15, 37:27; Proverbs 16:6,17.