the enemy as the 'other'

there are two kinds of characters in our story

Part whatever in a series...

a woman came up to me and said "I'd like to change your mind, with wrong ideas that appeal to you though I am not unkind"
They Might Be Giants

There is a quote about how your enemy is not the bad guy of the story is his or her own mind. We are a story telling creature. We love our lives as a narrative. We are each, in our minds, the hero or heroine of a special tale that takes us to be the center of the story. The center of the universe. And that exactly how the "villian" of our own story sees themselves. As the hero...

I have been involved in a discussion group about global warming the last few weeks. The people in it are pretty good about not demonizing people who think that climate change is just a load of shit. Not everyone is like that. It is easy to see those who disagree with as deluded, idiots, fools. But they are the Hero in their own story. And we are often the villian.

It is harder to see people like oil executives as not being the villian. That is why I keep thinking of the first line of the above song...

What is the villian in any story, except a potential hero that accepted an appealing, yet wrong, idea as truth? Doesn't even the hero sometimes accept mistaken beliefs that have an appeal at the time? So what is evil exactly? Is there any evil that cannot be explained this way?

But why should we accept such an explination. An explination that humanizes our "enemies" and leaves us all a mistake away from being "evil" ourselves.....

Those who battle monsters...