Justice: the victory of good over evil? Lessons from Guantanamo Bay

Good and Evil locked in an eternal struggle for supremacy, is one of the deep rooted myths of modern society. How many times have we enjoyed watching our favourite hero smash the face of a heinous villain, with a deep satisfaction? Our children play cops and robbers, and in a more politically incorrect era, the game was cowboys and Indians (thankfully not Asian Indians, but Native Americans).

Somehow, we believe that if we can clearly distinguish between good and evil, then all is forgiven as long as we are on the side of GOOD! To my mind, the idea of good and evil lies at the root of violence in modern day society. Worse still, violence done in the name of "Good" is not even recognized as such. Obviously I am not the only one to ask this question, Michel Foucault, beat (pun?) me to the post. Erich Fromm, in his book, "Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" states a fact that most of us can identify with: In the history of human civilization, more people have been killed for an ideology than for greed or other forms of passion.

At one time, Adolf Hitler was the villain of the world. Then it was Osama Bin Laden, more recently Iraq had to be invaded because Sadam had "Weapons of Mass Destruction" and because his was an "Evil Regime" that had to be brought down. Since America was fighting the war against evil (a.k.a "War Against Terror".. not a war against "Terrorism"..against whose Terror?.. is Terror a state of mind, or an external act?), prisoners were no longer subject to the Geneva Convention, as long as they are held and tortured in countries outside US. The champion of human rights themselves were immune to accountability on this point. Admittedly not ALL Americans think alike, and to say that would be to commit the mistake of holding a large population accountable for the acts of a few, in a sense it allows the few to get away with murder (pun again?). Yesterday's ruling of the American Supreme Court regarding the detainees at Guantanamo Bay finally acknowledges that these people are human beings too.

Today there is a growing world coalition against Terror. I would like to know who the enemy is. What does he or she think? What battles do they fight? What do they fight for? Or, perhaps the enemy is faceless, sub-human that is to human society what malignancy is to the human body. Only one problem though, malignant cells spawn, excising the most visible site doesn't mean you have gotten rid of the disease. That requires a more systemic perpsective.

Indian mythology on the other hand (not withstanding the right wing fanatics) does not seem to have a clear separation between good and evil. Karna, The Just, who had more honour than Yudhishdra himself was on the side of the "empire of evil", Kauravas, simply because he was born out of wedlock. Yudhishtra himself is far from flawless, having used his own wife (dharma patni) as property to gamble with. In another epic, Ravana, the ten headed demon "rakshas" kidnaps Sita, yet treats her with honour befitting a lady, while her own husband, the exalted rama refuses to accept her back, even after she undergoes a trial of fire..literally (Agni Pravesh), on the grounds that she is tainted goods. It appears that good and evil depends on (1) luck and on (2) which side you are on.

Yet in India too, the rhetoric of good and evil is fast gaining ground, with politicians now clamouring for the DEATH SENTENCE for rape!