I would raise your "Mozart was good" to "Mozart was, quite possibly, the greatest classical musician". A bit of overstatement? I guess it depends on who you ask.

With regard to this question, though: In other words, what great man would you give up in order to have had Cho/Dahmer/[insert evil man's name here] never been born?

I believe that you're creating an either or situation where one doesn't necessarily exist. You'd have to believe in some zero sum game, whereby a birth of one great person automatically leads to the birth of some Satan spawn. Suppose instead we postulate a world in which life isn't treated as such a disposable commodity. In such a world, it's quite possible that you would have fewer Dahmers or Chos. I won't get into the whole nature/nurture debate, but suffice it to say that I believe not all monsters are born that way. If there's a way to reduce the number of evil people created after birth, that would reduce the number of monsters overall, without cutting into the number of geniuses or saints being born.

I'm not giving a cause and effect here, one in which a first trimester abortion causes a guy to climb a clocktower with a scoped rifle. Instead, I'm proposing that the idea that, possibly, a couple of generations of societal coarsening could have something to do with the apparently increasing number of bad people in the world.

In any event, while I don't necessarily subscribe to Gerard's viewpoint, one which my sister echoes constantly, I reject completely the idea of a universal constant which requires an equal number of bad and good people to be born.

Unrelated comment: I love spring. All of the women come out of their wintry cocoons.

But you will also have to figure into the equation nature vs nuture.

What if Dalmer was raised in a different family? Or Hitler or Cho?

Would things have turned out differently?

It's kind of a stupid argument. Who's to say that aborting one potential Mozart didn't open up opportunities for another, better, musician to arise? Or that scraping fetal Hitler from his mother's womb didn't remove an obstacle that lets a despot who would make Hitler look like a choir boy come to power?

You can't. It's pure fantasy speculation.

I'm not backing either side of the debate here, but if either side wants their opinions to be taken seriously they should stick to facts in the existing real world rather than some possible alternate history.

I don't think I am ready to play God and make those decisions. I happen to agree with Graumagus. By making those kind of choices you are opening it up for better and/or worse.

I know what you mean 'bout "deep"... It is that kind of subject. Havin' said that, I'll trade you a Bonds for an Earnhardt. This is cool though, kinda like tradin' ball cards as a kid, except Einstein and Mozzie didn't have 'em. I think I could play that game though. Not the got game, just the tradin' game. I"d have probably put mozzie's rookie card in my spokes as a kid to make that cool motor sound on my bicycle, just like I did Mike Schmidt's.

It isn't a fair exchange at all.

Adolf Hitler is only evil when compared to someone as good as, say, Mother Theresa. Wolfgang Mozart is only good when compared to, say, David Hasselhoff. Any of those people, in a vacuum, are neither good nor bad. They just are.

"You have to take the good with the bad." It's an old saying, and it's wholly appropriate. Without evil people, good people would have nothing to be good with. Without good people, evil people would have nothing to be compared to.

It is only at the extremes of human behavior that we find anything to compare our normal behavior to.

So, no, I wouldn't exchange one single "good" person for the chance to not have any number of "bad" people.

(I wouldn't include John Kennedy on the list of "good" people, either. At the very least, he was a womanizing plagiarist who took manufactured a story of heroism to cover up his gross negligence in time of war. Doesn't count as "good" in MY book.)

I disagree: It's been scientifically proven that David Hasselhoff is evil even in total vacuum.

From Tink: I don't think I am ready to play God...

Speak for yourself. The world would be a better place if everyone studied physics, played computer games and forsook the touch of a woman...

You know, forget that I said anything.

Cool site. Thanks!!!

Good site. Thank you!!!

Good site. Thanks!

Cool site. Thank you:-)