PLN Post 2: "The Good in Bad"

Again, I haven't read enough of my current novel to answer the guiding question relating to my novel, but I will try to compare the question with a previous novel I have read.


"Why do good people do bad things?"

In the book, "Catching Fire," by Suzanne Collins, (a previous book I have read) the Hunger Games and the contestants in it help represent why good people do bad things. There is a difference between bad and evil. For example, if a person accidentally commits man-slaughter, that is a bad thing. If a person commits homicide, that is an evil thing. Neither of them are good, but the intent of both of them are entirely different.

In Catching Fire, the Hunger Games that are played are run by the Capitol. If you did not read the series, the Hunger Games is a game played forcibly by tributes between the ages of 12-18. These tributes must fight savagely for their lives in order to gain the title of the Games, and their lives.

As you can tell, none of this is good. But there are some things to point out. The Capitol is obviously evil. The Capitol is forcing young teenagers to, without will, destroy the innocent lives of other tributes, and their family and friends, just to be able to keep surviving like they originally could if it wasn't for the Capitol's government. And they call that entertainment. That is extra bad; evil.

But the tributes aren't evil. They are good citizens of the twelve districts controlled by the Capitol, having to fight in the game. But you're probably asking, "Isn't it evil if they are killing other tributes in order to stay alive themselves?"

My colleague invented a table (originally used for Christianity purposes) to classify what is good, bad, and evil. Please note: I have slightly modified this chart to not include any religion and to fit with this discussion. This table represents what is good or bad, and why.

To do something good, you must have a good action, and a good intent. If you do a bad action, but with a good intent (or an accident) it is still bad, but it is not evil. If you do something good, but with a bad intent, then you have made it bad (mostly involves selfishness). But if you do something bad with the intent of it being bad, then it is evil.

If this makes any sense to you reader, then it should explain that those tributes are doing something bad, but not with a bad intent, to leave it with a good one, then it is bad, but absolutely not evil. If the Capitol is doing something bad, in order to gain power (selfishness) which is a bad intent, they are nothing but evil.

So why do good people do bad things? Because it depends on the action and the intent of what that person does. If a good person does something bad, it is not entirely evil, one side of it must be for the good. A good person isn't automatically evil for doing something bad, for no one good can do evil or be evil by being good.

Thank you for reading this blog entry. I try to do my best in describing and answering the question. If you are confused or have any questions or comments, you know where to find it!

 - Matt