Myths and Evil

ἐχθρὰ δέ μοι τοῦ δῶρα, τίω δέ μιν ἐν καρὸς αἴσῃ. [...]
οὐδ' εἴ μοι τόσα δοίη ὅσα ψάμαθός τε κόνις τε,
οὐδέ κεν ὧς ἔτι θυμὸν ἐμὸν πείσει' Ἀγαμέμνων
πρίν γ' ἀπὸ πᾶσαν ἐμοὶ δόμεναι θυμαλγέα λώβην.

I hate his gifts, and I've no respect for the man himself. [...]
Not even if he gave me as many gifts as there is sand or dust,
not even so would Agamemnon yet appease my anger
until he has paid me for his bitter outrage in full.

(Akhilles ranting. Homer, Iliad IX 378, 385–7, as translated—hopefully not too badly!—by yours truly.)

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I often tell people that half the battle is to identify which myth you're in. Sometimes you're the little billy goat gruff, and the solution is to foist the troll off on your older brother; other times, you're the youngest prince, and the solution is to be brave and follow the advice of the troll's captive princess; other times, you're the youngest princess, and the solution is to sing the troll to sleep and make good your escape. Knowing which littlest-of-three you are tells you what approach you should take.

With all the horrors going on in the world, people keep wondering why my stance is that positive evil doesn't exist, and I think it comes back to identifying what myth we're in: when I look at the CIAs and CEOs of the world, I don't see great and powerful demons working towards cosmic Chaos, I see spoiled and petulant children who can't even tell right from wrong. The solution isn't to defeat them in battle—indeed, to do so is to play to their strengths and our weaknesses!—it is to educate them in their folly.

And, oftentimes, the simplest way to educate them is to let them see the consequences of their actions first-hand.