Was Howard Good or Bad?
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SingleServingJack — 9 years ago(January 24, 2017 03:28 AM)
Bad per se?
He kidnapped and killed another girl, that was obvious. He crashed into Michelle on purpose, probably wanting to imprison her as well, but circumstances (aliens) changed plans.
Howard was a dangerous psychopath.
Laura:You left a dead prostitute buried alone in the desert?
Kyle:She's not alone. -
osubuckeye420 — 9 years ago(June 20, 2016 11:55 AM)
I'd agree with this.
He seemed more mentally deranged/unstable than truly evil.
He had the opportunity to kill Emmett long before Michelle showed up, and he allowed him to live until he felt "betrayed".
He also had the opportunity to do terrible things to Michelle before he uncovered her plot, and didn't do any of those things.
That being said, it's pretty clear that he did some truly horrible things before the start of the movie, and I think that if you took a poll, many would say that he was deserving of his ultimate fate. -
himalayangourmet — 9 years ago(July 04, 2016 11:12 PM)
Our courts recognize a level of insanity that makes a defendant incapable of understanding what they have done. The mentally ill excuse is invalid as a defense 99% of the time.
Pedophiles are sick/mentally ill, but their actions are calculated and 100% morally wrong. Yes they have a sickness that LED to their actions but they are conscious of their behavior. Just like Howard was. He's evil. Plain and simple.
Pretty much every sick criminal has some level of mental illness but that excuse is garbage. People will be held accountable for the actions they are conscious of. -
bluemagicmist — 9 years ago(July 08, 2016 08:03 PM)
The courts don't recognize those diagnosed with one of the 4 Cluster Bs, which includes, Anti-Social Personality Disorder (psychopath/sociopath)and Narcissistic PD, as a valid excuse for crimes committed by them. They're defined as mental disorders in the DSM but not a 'get out of jail free, card' nor, are they considered for a stay in a psych unit. All four know right from wrong which is the determining factor.
People with NPD do not live in reality and are prone to delusions but are not schizophrenic. -
EdwardVe — 9 years ago(July 09, 2016 03:59 PM)
The question is whether or not one can be unintentionally evil. If you for instance look at Hitler; he was convinced the world would be a better place without the Jews among others. Does his evil deeds then make him evil, when he himself believe it's for the good of the world? We're all evil in the eyes of someone. The word evil should be reserved for fairy tales, while we in the real world look at the complexities of the human mind. The word evil is just a copout for people who fail to acknowledge what a human being can rationalize and get itself to do.
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andromache3 — 9 years ago(July 14, 2016 09:05 PM)
The question is whether or not one can be unintentionally evil. If you for instance look at Hitler; he was convinced the world would be a better place without the Jews among others. Does his evil deeds then make him evil, when he himself believe it's for the good of the world? We're all evil in the eyes of someone. The word evil should be reserved for fairy tales, while we in the real world look at the complexities of the human mind. The word evil is just a copout for people who fail to acknowledge what a human being can rationalize and get itself to do.
Are you joking? Just because Hitler convinced himself that the world was better off without people he considered undesirable, doesn't mean that he wasn't evil. Are you seriously going to justify mass murder, amongst other crimes and accept warped belief systems? Evil most certainly exists in this world. Stop trying to intellectualise the criminal acts of vile people.
"You have bewitched me, body and soul, and I love, I love, I love you." Mr Darcy -
chopperman — 9 years ago(July 16, 2016 10:22 PM)
i'll certainly agree the term "evil" is ridiculously overused and is thus devalued but true human evil obviously exists in people who can feel no remorse nor empathy with people they kill. and such people who must keep killing to satisfy a compulsion. hitler didn't see jews as fit to live, he fits that category. so would someone like ted bundy or john gacy. you can say it's just sickness and not evil, but this is a degree which cannot be corrected. no matter what you do, you could not fix those men from being compelled to end fellow humans lives just for their own satisfaction. they were evil.
Larry Gaylord: "a billion people come in on a day off, and they don't flip out!" -
EdwardVe — 9 years ago(July 19, 2016 02:51 PM)
I don't try to justify horrible actions. I'm just saying that evil doesn't exist. Psychopaths for instance aren't evil, as they can't understand the pain the inflict. If you don't understand that, how can it be evil? I don't accept warped beliefs, I'm saying that they can still be "pure" beliefs, even if it leads to horrible actions. I'm quite sick of people trying to distance "normal humans" from people who do horrific things, when people who do horrific things are just normal people with a malfunction. Like how we use the word "inhuman", when in fact the things we call inhuman are just horrific examples of what humanity can be. The biggest problems in the world will never get any closer to being solved if we just see everything as black and white, and accept that "some people are just evil".
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sean-van-der-smythe — 9 years ago(August 10, 2016 07:57 PM)
You've outed yourself as an ignoramus. Psychopathy does not necessitate doing harm to anyone. You clearly don't know what psychopathy is. Here's an example https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/jun/03/how-i-discovered-i-have-the-brain-of-a-psychopath
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registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 05, 2016 03:11 PM)
Psycopat by itself doesn't need to do harm. They just don't feel feelings and don't care for other living beings. They do what they wanna do, if for that it takes doing harm to othes, so be it.
If some living being is blocking a psycopat of achieving something she wants, and she's capable of killing him, she just takes the opportunity and do it.
Some of them feel pleasure torturing or watching somebody die. It may be sexual pleasure, or the feeling of power on taking somebody's life. It's interesting that the high value they see on a life is what may make them like to take it. -
registers-944-48791 — 9 years ago(December 05, 2016 03:01 PM)
I'm no psycologist, but I understand that they actually unerstand the pain.
Psycopats are unable to feel emotions and empaty, but they are able to understand and simulate emotions. They are so good at lying that even specialists are mistaken by them. It's very interesting how they don't feel but simulate so well.
And it's very common that they feel pleasure when torturing, killing and inflicting pain. It's not like somebody that doesn't feel pain and doesn't know what they're doing when hurting other living beings. They do know what they are doing, and they feel pleasure or have benefits on that. They just don't care. Also, psycopats don't feel sorry even for themselves, when they are in jail and are provoked to talk about their situation they don't feel sad even for themselves. -
mamporrero — 9 years ago(July 25, 2016 07:53 AM)
Hitler would be considered one of history's greatest heroes had Germany survived the war. Comparing the state of the country before and after he took power, he very clearly had a beneficial effect on the quality of life, pride and happiness of the German people. Because he ended up losing, his legacy turned out a disaster. But that's politics, judged in retrospect. It has nothing to do with good or evil. A politician is good if his actions have a net positive effect on the people he is ruling, and bad otherwise. Any other consideration is meaningless. Trying to bring morals to the discussion of politics is like trying to discuss theology using the scientific method. They belong in different fields entirely.