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Joshua Wooster
Eng 111
Louis Kanyo
11/12/12
Good vs Evil
Right versus wrong, good versus evil, the just versus the unjust, a battle that is as old as
time itself. We all know dozens upon dozens of tales of good versus evil but who decides who is
right and who is wrong, or who is good and who is bad? What the majority people deem
justifiable or a good deed the government may not, or vice versa. Good and bad is all a point of
perspective. Someone that the people view as a patriot, the government may deem a terrorist.
What is a person to do if their job/ civil duty conflicts with their morals and they have to punish
someone for doing something that they personally see as an act of good or justice, but since
they are a civil servant it is their job to punish the person? Is someone bad if they believe their
actions are just but people get hurt in the process? Can you be good but be violent? These are a
few issues that this essay will bring up and look into. I will discuss all sides of these issues
throughout this essay and bring up many references from popular movies that I believe fit
these topics accordingly along with actual historical events.
How do people define good people compared to what the government deems good
people? I believe that people base good and bad on their own moral beliefs, their faith, their
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perspective, or what their conscious tells them. Someone is good if they live their lives trying to
help people, are honest and genuine, who are considerate of other people, and do their part to
better their community and family. People may be bad if they are selfish, liars, inconsiderate of
others or, don’t care about anyone else’s wellbeing but their own. An example of this is in
Eminem’s song Guilty Conscious where Eminem and Dr. Dre rap back and forth as different
people’s conscious in different scenarios. Where Dr. Dre plays the good side of his conscious
and Eminem plays the evil side. In the song Dre says “Man, don’t do it, it’s not worth it, not over
this shit, drop the biscuit, don’t even listen to slim yo he’s bad for you” (Guilty Conscious 1:141:20) Dre talks a person out of robbing a liquor store by weighing out the negatives that could
come from him being caught. In the movie Law Abiding Citizen Jamie Fox’s character tries to
talk Gerald Butlers out of doing an act that would kill people by playing to his conscious he says
“how would your wife and daughter feel about what you are doing?” (1hr 14min) Regardless of
what he said to Butler, he continued on killing people. His conscious told him that he was doing
the right thing. So your conscious can not only reflect how you see other people being good or
bad, but also how you see yourself.
The government sees a good person as someone who follows the laws, pays their taxes,
and basically goes along with what they say. The governments’ job is supposed to be to look out
for the wellbeing of the people and to protect us. I believe the government wants us to be
sheep and believe everything they say and follow their rules. In the movie V for Vendetta the
English prime minister says “the security of this nation takes total compliance.” (1hr 45min) The
government wants us all to comply with what they say and if we do we are deemed good. Take
the movie Braveheart for example, perspective comes into play in what the people view, and
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what the government views. The character William Wallace to the Scottish people is seen as a
patriot because he is fighting for something that the people themselves have never had and
that is freedom. Because he shows so much heart he gets a following of supporters who also
believe in his cause and are willing to lay down their own lives for the cause. At one point a
character comes along and says “ William Wallace we come to fight and die for you.” (1hr 9min)
Whereas, the English government views Wallace as a terrorist because he opposes the English
rule of Scotland. Wallace later says “you tell your king William Wallace will not be ruled, nor any
Scot while I live.” (1hr 46minutes) So here he shows why the English government and king view
him as a terrorist. Since he will not comply with what they say he is deemed an enemy of the
country. With those examples it is clear how good and bad can be displayed by perspective. So
who is right and who is wrong, what is fair is all perspective. “Fairness, freedom, and justice are
more than words, they are perspective.” (V for Vendetta 1hr 25min)
Often times what the majority people deem good or just the government may not.
Many acts though illegal are seen by the people as good or justifiable. What happens when
ones job affects what they think is right and wrong? What if your job is to uphold the law or to
punish those who break the law? I have a friend who has a sister who was raped as a young girl.
Everyone will agree that this as an awful act. Well the father came home to find his daughter
beat up and abused. He calls the police and the police say they will be there shortly. In the
meantime, the father finds out who the culprit was and goes and beats the man to an inch of
his life. The father is arrested and charged with aggravated assault even though the officers
would probably call the assault justifiable it is their job to uphold the law and assault cannot be
tolerated. The culprit is also arrested and goes to prison for a long time. Though the majority of
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the people see the fathers act as justifiable because what father wouldn’t do something like
that if his daughter was raped. Though the fathers act is justifiable and seen as a good act to
the people it is however still an illegal and bad act to the court system/ government. In Law
Abiding Citizen Fox’s character is a prosecuting attorney, he says to Butler who is the father
who has just murdered the two men responsible for his wife and daughters death “The world is
better without Darby and Ames, your not gonna see a tear shed from me or anyone else. With
that being said I have a job to do.”(36 minutes) Though Fox sees Butler’s actions justifiable and
even good he still has his job to do. Our jobs often come into play on how we treat good and
bad people. A defense attorney has to defend people he/she knows is a bad person and if they
win they let an evil person go back into the streets. Often times we see a violent acts as an act
of good. Not all violence is bad even if it breaks the law. In the V for Vendetta V says “violence
can be used for good” (55 minutes) In the movie V commits many murders on individuals who
have not only done him wrong but who also had done the whole country wrong. Though the
government saw him as a terrorist the people saw him as a rebel who they supported. This
same principle can also be true about the Boston tea party. Though the government of England
saw this as an act of treason or even terrorism the people saw it as a patriotic act and still to
this day we call those men patriots. Due to the governments high taxes on the people they
supported what the small group of radicals had done.
In conclusion good versus bad, comes down to just a few things. These things are your
morals, faith, and most importantly perspective. Violence is not always bad either. Often times
violence can be used for good. If its for a good cause than it is justifiable. We all have different
views on what is good and what is bad, just as the government also views good and bad
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differently. Often times the people and the government disagree on what, who is good and
bad. As I gave an example earlier about the father who’s daughter was raped. Though the
people do not see him as a bad man for doing what he did to the rapist, the government must
still punish him because he did a bad act which is against
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Work Cited
Braveheart: Dir. Mel Gibson, Perf. Mel Gibson, Patrick McGoohan, Catherine
McCormack. Icon Productions, 1995
Law Abiding Citizen: Dir. Gary Gray, Perf. Gerald Butler, Jamie Foxx. Anchor Bay
Productions, 2009
V For Vendetta: Dir. James McTeigue, Perf. Natalie Portman, Hugo Weaving, John Hurt.
Warner Brothers, 2008
Guilty Conscious: Mathers Marshall, Young Andre. Interscope Records, 1999
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the law.