Bad vs. Evil

Ever since Abby said in class on Friday "I'm not sure I get the difference between bad and evil" I have been bothered. I thought I understood that, but then it slipped away from me again. I hate to be defeated, so back I went to those parts of the text to try to work it our again.
I think I have a tenuous grasp again. It is all about perspective: who's making the statement? whose eyes are we seeing through? Since nobles define "nobility" and "good-ness" as themselves, all things not noble are "bad." I believe we can relate that to similar experiences of the 'haves" and "have nots" in our culture today. In America, the "goodness" and "nobleness" of someone is closely tied to their financial status (rather than their bloodline). I didn't realize how much I had these biases myself until I had one of those lightbulb moments. When my husband and I bought our first house, we were really proud. It had an unfinished upstairs and it needed a little work but we were assuming that that was "good," that we would earn the added value our house would get by putting in our own "sweat equity." We had used every penny we had to buy the house, and bought an "affordable" house--the bank easily approved our loan. But when we went to start putting in our "sweat" we realized we had a problem: sweat alone didn't cover the wood siding; one needs a good paint to do that, and paint costs money, as does brushes and buckets, etc. To our shock, we realized we couldn't do much at that time to improve on the house. It would have to wait until we had a little more money. When I walked out of the house after that, I didn't feel proud--I felt embarrassed at how it didn't look as nice as I thought it should and I worried about what people would think when they saw our "shabby" house. Not long after that, I was driving through a poor and not safe neighborhood downtown, and then noticing what it was that made me think that about this particular block. I realized it was the "shabby" houses, and I thought of my own house. And I thought, for the first time in my privileged life: "oh--maybe it isn't that these people are "bad" or "lazy" or "dangerous". Maybe they don't have enough money to buy paint, just like me!" I have not looked at life the same since that day.

But what about "evil"? Nietzsche only uses that term to describe what the aescetic priests say about the nobles. The priests are trying to guide (or some might say "whip up") the mob." Only when one is the "victim, like the lamb, can one see the "bird of prey" acting on its own instincts, as "evil." The interesting tie here is to the warrior/noble mentality vs. the aescetic priests who deny their own nature, and in not letting it out, they stuff it down, turning the violence in on themselves.

whew!