The imbalance of inflicted pain against perpetrator motive defines evil

Evidence

Those individuals who derive pleasure from the torture of children display this aspect of evil. One is struck by two things in this case: (a) the deviant and inhuman nature of the perverse impulse, and (b) the disproportion of the act in terms of the pleasure gained versus the pain inflicted. To inflict vast pain on the innocent to derive a fleeting and perverse pleasure is breathtakingly horrible. — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3870 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Evil can consist of depraved excess where pleasure gained wildly underweighs pain inflicted — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3870; The instability of pain as a concept generates both contradictions and escape routes

Broader Connections

• Evil can consist of depraved excess where pleasure gained wildly underweighs pain inflicted #corroborates (0.93) — John T. Jost and Jim Sidanius, Political Psychology, 3870