PhiloPsycho Freedom

I just finished watching The Nightmare Before Christmas and it reminded me of something that was said in Roy Baumeister's book Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty (which, by the way, I highly recommend because  it covers the topic very entertainingly and in-depth, with a conversational tone) that says that almost anyone who commits an evil act does not perceive their own actions to be evil. Ironically, most people are trying to do a productive or good act that they think other people will enjoy and benefit from.

What ties these two things together is how Jack Skellington’s goal is to help out with Christmas and give Santa Claus a break from his yearly duties. He studies Christmas and believes he's figured it out, leading to him to kidnap Santa and attempt to take the over the job. His attempt at good behaviour - and reward for Santa - could  be perceived as an evil act (ignoring the aspects of kidnapping and impersonating) because Jack's conception of a toy is something that is rather dangerous to the average person. Their worlds are completely different, and this could easily be translated to a situation between two different cultures interacting with one another. One culture may attempt to do a good, friendly thing for another, while accidentally damaging their relationship. Much like in the 2002 film Hero, the King is attempting to amalgamate all the different regions of China, leading to an end of war between the feuding states. Sounds like a good plan! The only catch is that he will be effectively destroying each of the countries' unique culture by connecting them all and forcing them into one. This act was seen as supremely evil by many of the citizens of the different countries at the time, but is generally accepted as a good act from today's perspective; had the King failed, he would have been seen as an evil man, rather than his relatively good position of today.

There's not much everyday practicality to take away from this, but I just thought the contrast was interesting. The closest thing that's applicable is to attempt to see where someone is coming from instead of just labeling their acts as "wrong", "bad", or evil.