“Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.”

Why are evil people so hated? Because they do evil things?

Not quite, that is what defines why they are evil, not why people should dislike them. Sure, you could exclaim that evil deeds make them inherently negative influence on the society and that negativity is cause enough for all the hate. After all, that’s why the deeds are ‘evil’. But is the negative influence really there?

Since childhood we are taught that they are necessary for creating compelling and wonderful adventures that teach the common values of hope, respect, friendship etc. If it hadn’t been for the witch that locked Rapunzel up in that tower, she probably never would’ve met the prince or had a reason to grow her hair that long. Without Cinderella’s ‘evil’ stepsisters she would’ve remained average – the would have been no reason for magical intervention. Hadn’t Adam and Eve disobeyed, none of the stories in the Bible would have happened. Hell, why do we have those allegedly superawesome superheroes? Besides, do you think big successes like Bill Gates never got bullied at school?

Without anyone to contrast to, there would not be any ‘heroes’. After all, the main characters are usually portrayed as not very ambitious, all they want is to be left alone and not to fall down to the level of the ‘evil’ characters. Without anyone the protagonists would want to be better than, they would be nobodies.

Though there is a snag in the matter: what constitutes an ‘evil’ character or an ‘evil’ deed? For instance, can the Vogons be named the antagonists or is that title reserved for the police or perhaps Mr Prosser? None of them actually did anything ‘evil’ because they were ‘evil’. They only did what they were told, they did their jobs. They were given orders by their respective superiors. While this does not create a problem for the main point that evil people are not all that bad as the cricketmen are undoubtedly evil from the protagonist’s standpoint, it does raise a valid point – evil is subjective.

“One man’s terrorist is another man’s freedom fighter.”

For many Americans, all Muslims are evil. For many Muslims, especially those is Afghanistan and Iraq, Americans are evil. Depending on the local society and current status, different viewpoints on people means varying understandings about ‘evil’. Thus, there is no reason to claim that the witch that almost cooked Hansel and Gretel^[1] was evil or that she should be disliked for any reason. And that not just because we don’t ‘know’ whether evil people are actually evil or we are simply interpreting them as such for some probably subjective reason that may or may not be a solid and infallible argument for it – it is also because even ‘evil’ is necessary for the existence of ‘good’. Whether that contrast is actually necessary, that is another matter completely. After all, evil characters tend to be something we are supposed to fear. That may be a problem. “Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering.”

For the browncoats.