The Devil's Advocate
I remember it as it was yesterday. There was silence in the court when the prosecutor almost lost it, stood up and passionately gave his speech:
What kind of animal do you have to be to defend the devil? The devil, literally the devil. The personification, if person it can be called, of pure evil. With nothing redeemable, we should be proud of condemning it from the start. I’m not advocating to think once instead of twice. I’m suggesting not thinking at all and letting your eyes and your heart be judges. Pure evil deserves no defense. Why are we even talking about it? We are wasting resources, time, money and space in our own minds on something that could have been easily dismissed weeks ago. There is no presumption of innocence with pure evil, so I don’t have to listen to…
Then the devil’s lawyer stood up. The loud noise of his chair falling backwards startled the prosecutor, who gasped with most of the audience.
Isn’t that convenient! - He yelled
The judge, already worn by a surreal trial involving supernatural entities, tried to ask for order but no words came out. The devil was looking straight at her and the look was mesmerizing.
Isn’t pure evil the most convenient excuse one can find to get away with any kind of despicable behavior? The idea that something can be judged based on its moral composition instead of its actions is at best stupid and at worst malevolent.
You claim that pure evil deserves no defense, but answer me this: How do you define pure evil? Is it the people we don’t like? Those with whom we vehemently disagree? How would we stick that label on someone in an unbiased way? If we were to create a committee with the only task of defining evil, even if all the people on that committee were trustworthy, how would we guarantee that the system would stand in the future?
And even if we were able to define pure evil, why would that even matter while trying to reach the truth? Should we accept that someone labeled as pure evil will always commit the crime they’ve been accused of? Wouldn’t that create the perfect scapegoat to use every time someone wants to get away with any kind of criminal behavior? Wouldn’t there be an incentive to accuse people of being pure evil instead of proving their guilt beyond any reasonable doubt?
We need a good defense for the worst kind of monsters, not because we want them to get away with murder, but because we can’t risk making mistakes blinded by hate. Because being a terrible being doesn’t make us automatically guilty. Do you want to talk about evil? How about wanting to put in people’s minds that their goal is to eradicate evil instead of reaching the truth? There’s nothing more evil than what people can do when they believe to be on the side of good.
End in sight, the devil smirked.