Posted by Frederik Leichter-Flack Why does evil attack good people? published by Flammarion. Celine Niszave Flammarion
After the earthquakes that hit the Turkish-Syrian population, the philosopher Frederik Leichter-Flack wonders about these tragedies, in which fate is merciless.
For those of us lucky enough not to know them, earthquakes can be viewed from a distance, not without fear. The last one, on the Turkish-Syrian border, hit a population already partially destroyed by years of war. Why this ruthlessness of fate? We may know that such a question only reflects our attachment to the illusion of finality, the shock remains. Because if war sends us back to the scandal of the suffering of innocent citizens, then an earthquake is something else. It is an attempt at randomness with the appearance of not controlling the height. It can be explained after the fact, but not predicted. When it does, it spreads its ravages without looking at the details, with terrifying randomness. One child is buried under the rubble of the family house, the other escapes with minor injuries. What to do with this? There is neither logic nor justice. But how do you keep meaning in the world?
In the video: Earthquakes in Turkey. a child born under the rubble, gathered by relatives
To see, as we have done for centuries, the hand of God in all that befalls us, thankfully no longer comes to mind. Most of us have become Russoists before disasters. More than ever, in the face of evil, we are more inclined to blame ourselves than God or bad luck. It was in connection with the earthquake that destroyed Lisbon in 1755 that Rousseau undertook to purge God of the existence of evil, putting all the responsibility on humans. He asserted, for example, the fact that “nature had not gathered there twenty thousand houses of six or seven stories, and that if the inhabitants of this great city had been scattered in more proportionate and weaker houses, the damage would have been great.” less and maybe zero.” His way of blaming the victims, leaving all compassion aside, is very unpleasant, but in essence it is true. in countries that have the means to prepare, build to earthquake standards, and invest in warning tools, earthquakes can be largely neutralized; A form of control, technical, can be applied to the hazard.
Behind all our “whys”. » naïve, in an earthquake or an attack, an accident or a bad meeting, there is also our legitimate need for life to have meaning and for what is important to us to be respected
Frederick Leichter-Flack
But as long as development disparities keep much of the world in peril, the scandal remains. We humans make connections, make plans, work to build our future. How can we not consider it revolting to see ourselves treated like ants crushed under the unconscious foot of a walker? Behind all our “whys”. Naive, in an earthquake or attack, an accident or a bad encounter, there is also our legitimate need for life to have meaning and respect for what is important to us. And we understand that the scandal of evil is not only the injustice of fate. nor even chance and our powerlessness to avoid it; but the incommensurability between the overwhelming pain of loss and the randomness of plague.
At the end of Shakespeare’s play, the old King Lear, torn by grief, addressing his youngest daughter, whom he holds dead in his arms, already said in the simplest words: you have life, but you have no breath? Centuries pass, we cling to the same words.
In the video, Morgan Miele. “There is a problem called women and money.”
Source: Le Figaro
