Lloyd Kaufman

EVIL: A GENETIC DISORDER?
By Lloyd Kaufman, President of Troma Entertainment, Inc. and Creator of The Toxic Avenger
with Regina Katz, with thanks to Michael Herz

While mass shootings in the U.S. have arguably become something of a pandemic, the Sandy Hook massacre, due to the age of the victims, is especially appalling. Gunman Adam Lanza brutally slaughtered 20 first graders and 6 adults. The tiny victims were perforated with as many as 11 bullets and all were shot multiple times. It is simple to say “Lanza was sick” but more difficult to see that he might simply have been EVIL. Perhaps we all need to ask ourselves: “Are there people who are inherently evil?” If evil exists per se, can it be eradicated?

To supplement spending billions of dollars on mental health medication, therapy and research, I propose that our elected officials start to invest some time and money into researching the possible existence of an “evil gene” which might signify that an individual is irreparably evil. As scientists like Oliver Sacks, the prominent neurologist¹, have shown, there is a growing movement to combine history, religion, fiction and the like with contemporary science in hopes of solving certain problems. Perhaps this line of thinking might be useful to solve the problem of “Evil”.

The media has been quick to describe the perpetrator, Adam Lanza, as “sick” and “disturbed”. Although Lanza may have indeed suffered from certain mental conditions that influenced his homicidal rampage, the media and our leaders assumed right from the start that the gunman must be a mentally unstable individual before even discovering any details about him. There has been no discussion given to the role of genetic evil in regard to this catastrophic event. Instead of blaming such tragic events on violent video games, movies, etc., perhaps the media and our elected officials should acknowledge that there might be inherent evil in this world.

The term “evil” has an almost fictional ring to it these days but nonetheless, history has provided numerous examples of pure evil throughout the years. Few would disagree that Hitler, Stalin, Idi Amin, and Pol Pot were evil² through and through. Although all of these people are of different racial and socioeconomic backgrounds they all had one thing in common: they were evil. Nothing, no amount of medicine, therapy or nurturing could change them or stop them except force or death. Perhaps they shared some sort of gene of evil. Maybe Adam Lanza was similarly evil to the core and quite possibly the DNA of individuals like him may feature an evil gene.

Lindsey Fitzharris, a medical historian at Queen Mary University of London, writes about the “medicalisation of evil” in our society in an article for The Guardian, on December 17, 2012³, and relates it to the Sandy Hook tragedy. Fitzharris explains that society’s concept of deviant behavior has changed over time, first being viewed as a sin, then a crime and now a medical problem. By “medicalizing evil” as an illness, people feel that there is an explanation and possibly a psychiatric solution. No matter how many terms or euphemisms are created, people must start to acknowledge that there may be no explanation for heinous crimes other than an evil gene and possibly no solution when it comes to evil people like Adam Lanza. Our society must face the notion that there is inherent evil in the world which cannot be treated other than by eradication.

In the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings, President Barack Obama has promised to send Congress proposals for tightening gun laws and curbing violence. He has appointed Vice President Joe Biden, a longtime gun control advocate, to lead the effort, which basically means to do nothing. In addition to spending a bloody⁴ fortune on trying to confront the National Rifle Association, etc., perhaps Obama should devote some resources to researching the notion of inherent evil in the world…Is there a gene which can predict Hitler/Lanza type evil?

The ancients for centuries believed that evil existed per se. Maybe they were on to something. If by chance a “gene of evil” is actually discovered or isolated, then, in the future, mothers will have the option to abort evil fetuses. This is not as far fetched as it may sound. Modern science has already given a woman the ability to know if her unborn child has other genetic disorders such as Down syndrome and our government has given women the right to abort these fetuses. If there was a way to predict if a baby will be born evil, women would be able to expel these fetuses before they create worlds of misery. I’m not promoting what Dr. Josef Mengele did. Obviously the above suggested research would be done in a humane way!

Society has already begun to move in the direction of “killing evil”. According to Andrew Vachss, a child protection consultant, “No reputable psychiatrist claims to be able to cure a sociopath- or, for that matter, a predatory pedophile.”⁵ In many states pedophiles are expelled from society even after they serve their time in jail. Certain people are so heinous that society bans them and does not forgive them. These criminals are not exterminated but their lives are basically over. I am suggesting we take it one step further and find out if there is a gene that causes this innate evil and then abort it.

From the obscene slaughter of innocent toddlers in Sandy Hook to the monstrous gang rape/murder of a woman in Delhi-one thing is clear: these events throughout the world might be attributed to pure evil. I would like to see this evil ejected before it is brought into the world. This is a call for action! Society must start to move in a direction committed to researching the evil gene so that we can expel it before it is born. Through a combination of the most advanced of modern science and ancient beliefs⁶, we may be able to discover and isolate the gene of evil and make the world a better place!

[1] Hustvedt, S. (2912, December 28). Shock to the senses. The New York Times. Retrieved from www.nytimes.com
[2] Except perhaps Oliver Stone.
[3] Fitzharris, L. (2012, December 17). Adam Lanza: the medicalisation of evil. The Guardian. Retrieved from www.theguardian.co.uk
[4] Pardon the pun.
[5] Vachss, A. (2002, July 14). The difference between “sick” and “evil”. Parade Magazine. Retrieved from www.vachss.com/av_dispatches/parade_071402.html
[6] Who knows maybe exorcists might even be of service.

Lloyd Kaufman speaks out about the tragedy that recently occured in Newtown Connecticut and his suggestion about how to prevent future obscenities.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 11th, 2013 at 9:55 am and is filed under News, `Roids. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.