Evil Is As Evil Is, But What Is Evil?

[abigailnus <abigailnus@yahoo.com>]

No: HPFGUIDX 51598

--- In HPforGrownups at yahoogroups.com, "Cindy C. <cindysphynx at c...>" <cindysphynx at c...> wrote:
> Abigail wrote:
> 
> > In the simplest possible terms, Bad is something you do, Evil is 
> > something you are.
> 
> I can go along with this to some extent, but I would go further.  
> 
> Bad is something you do.
> 
> Evil is something you are.
> 
> The way we know you are Evil is by what you do -- whether you do Bad 
> things for Bad reasons.
> 
> If you are Good, you can become Evil by doing enough Bad acts.
> 
> If you are Evil, you can become Good by doing enough Good acts.

See, there you're diverging from my definitions.  Evil (as I defined it 
in my post and as I felt Draco was being described) is not something 
you become - Bad and Good are.  Evil is the boogeyman, the monster, 
the demon.  The thing that comes from outside ourselves.  An Evil 
person can't help being Evil, and he or she is Evil whether or not they 
commit Bad acts.  A Good person can become a Bad person and vice 
versa, but an Evil person never has a choice.  I don't believe it can be 
argued that there are any characters of that type in the Potterverse.

My problem was that I felt the Draco Is Evil proponents were using the 
ample evidence that Draco is Bad to suggest that he is Evil - that is, 
incapable of either doing Good or making the concious choice to do Bad.
So, basically, I agree with you when you say that whether or not Draco 
is currently evil (in the sense of having committed Bad acts, not in my 
own personal Evil sense) has nothing to do with whether he is capable 
of redemption.

Abigail