Good Vs. Evil: the Complexity of Human Actions

The Complexity of Decision Making: Good vs. Evil

"There are moments in life we should just be able to have a damn remote control, so you could pause it. Even if just for five minutes. But sometimes things happen with irreverent obscenity, and there's nothing you can do to help it." (Tokyo, Money Heist) Mankind has been filled with different instincts ever since the day they were born, but there are climaxes as to why the good and the bad are done.

The show Money Heist, a series of a mastermind who put together a group of thieves to lock themselves with hostages in the Royal Mint of Spain to take home billions of Euros, motivates the topic of inherent good or bad actions. Actions are done regardless of a good or evil outcome because it is the best option available, there is a reason why something that seems immoral must be done, and people do what they need to do in order to survive.

Tokyo's Dilemma: Survival Above Morality

People make decisions based on what is going to be best for them; after all, everyone wants to live well. In the show Money Heist, Tokyo was the most wanted woman in Spain. She killed, she stole, and she was involved in morally incorrect activities but for her own good. The Professor, the mastermind, was able to get ahold of her and recruit her as his young female robber. Tokyo was running out of time. The cops were coming, the borders were closing, and there was nowhere to run for her own safety. At this moment, Tokyo took a breath and realized that the only good option available to her in order to get out of the rest of the mess was to join The Professor and the deal for the massive heist. "I'd get 30 years. And to be honest, growing old in a prison cell is not my thing. I rather run, in body and soul. And if I can't take my body with me, at least my soul should run." (Tokyo, Money Heist). Tokyo shows mankind can do something good for themselves as their best option in order to save who they are, but in the good decisions to hope for the best lies the inherent evil one doesn't notice. It seems to be a symbol of selfishness for the better in their own world.

Nairobi's Justification: Desperation and Maternal Instincts

As humans, everyone has a justification for a certain action they do, even if it means causing evil to get to the glory; it must be done to get to where and what you need. Nairobi, a robber who was an expert in forgery and in charge of printing billions of Euros for the group, made her son her main reason for taking part in this heist. When her only son was just three years old, they took him away from her. She was caught trying to get rid of some pills, and others around her caught her and thought the absolute worse. Her son was her entire motivation because he was the only family she had. So, throughout the series, she made sure nothing could possibly go wrong because she needed to leave with her money and do whatever it took to get her son back. She was a unique woman of strong character who was professional, compassionate, and extremely tough. For her, the morally wrong choices she made to have her son taken away and now ending up as part of a robbery made her realize the good intentions she has. People are learning, and their viewpoints towards certain situations change; even if the deed is incorrect, it must be done to get to reach their objective reason, like Nairobi.

The Ultimate Sacrifice: Monica's Survival Strategy

Mankind will do whatever it takes to survive in any heated situation. Why? Because that's our human natural instinct, no matter if it's right or wrong. Monica, who was a pregnant hostage that worked as a secretary for the bank, fought and came to an agreement with one of the robbers in order to save her life. She was caught with a cell phone, about to contact authorities. Berlin, who was the captain of the robbers, ordered her to be killed by Denver immediately. Denver pointed a gun at her, and they were both crying, and he knew that killing a human was pure evil. Monica begs, "Please, don't kill me." and tells him how immorally incorrect it is to kill someone, so she begs him to shoot her thigh and hide her so it looks like a crime scene when Berlin comes in. Her courage to be able to convince Denver to shoot her thigh and put both of their lives in danger was a survival strategy. Instead of being dead, she suffered with a bullet in her thigh for 11 days. This was a clear example of how there was good in doing something evil so one could survive. Although shooting someone is never right, having someone dead is a worse immoral action, so as humans, our survival instinct will do whatever it takes to save our own life.

Good and evil exist in this world. Mankind does what is needed to be done in order to survive and be able to reach its own maxim in life. Although not everyone's maxim might not be right in the eyes of the other, it is essentially what feels right to one. Therefore, this means that peoples' view of mankind being inherently good or evil doesn't really exist. The idea of unique instincts and climaxes we are all born with pushes one to pursue a mix of pure selfishness and different social goals. At the end of the day, it's up to one to make the decisions they have to make. "Have you ever thought that if you could go back in time, you might still make the same decisions? We all make our own snowballs out of our bad decisions. Balls that become massive, like the Indiana Jones boulder, chasing you downhill only to crush you in the end." 

References:

1. Foot, P. (1977). The Problem of Abortion and the Doctrine of Double Effect. In "Virtues and Vices and Other Essays in Moral Philosophy." Basil Blackwell.
2. Stevens, P. (2016). The Survival Instinct: The Dark Side of Human Behavior. Prometheus Books.
3. Greene, J. D. (2014). Beyond Point-and-Shoot Morality: Why Cognitive (Neuro)Science Matters for Ethics. Ethics, 124(4), 695-726.
4. Haidt, J. (2012). The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion. Vintage.

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