The rhetorical impact of evil on public policy

The concept of evil is murky, colored as it is with religious undertones and ontological ramifications. Are actions or people evil? Is it intention or outcome that matters? Evil can be understood as an intense exploitative connection with another person or a total disconnection with the humanity of others. Normally, it is limited to human actions toward other humans. The term is used to conceptually separate people designated as evil from the rest of humanity. Rhetorical use of evil is an example of sensemaking-it places the incomprehensible within an understandable framework. A designation of evil may also be used to preclude causal analysis. In public policy, its use constructs a worldview that permits, or even demands, undertaking otherwise proscribed actions to destroy the designated evil. By enabling the commission of what would otherwise be understood as inhumane actions, the rhetorical use of evil facilitates the very behavior it condemns.