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5010 said:
Depends on how the 'good' and 'evil' are defined in whatever society.
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I don't think it does actually depend on defined definitions for society. The idea I'm trying to put forth is that unfair representations of characters in our stories cause unproductive social discourse in disagreements, by making some people assume a lack of virtue with their opponent, rather than finding the actual reason for the disagreement which could have a valid point.
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5010 said:
Heros are portrayed in a desireable way and villians in a repulsive way. If good and evil are defined by behaviors that benefit/harm society, then I see no problem with this. It attracts members towards a unified set of virtues. However, if good and evil are defined by spiritual belief or physical qualities, then members are divided and generations are raised to cull genetic traits and ideologies. The extreme case: genocide. I wouldn't want to be in such a society, but that may be because I've been raised to love/hate behaviors and tolerate diverse physical and ideological aspects.
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Well said, and I agree. While that is a very related subject, that isn't actually the topic I'm trying to discuss.
Regardless of what is defined as being good of evil in a society, our society should be less prone to labeling those who take actions society don't approve of, as evil. I think the reason people might be prone to doing that, could be their heavy exposure to our society's media and stories, which often don't make an effort to portray a complete viewpoint of characters. Directors or writers seem to be fine with simply getting the idea across that a character is selfish or immoral, and then using that as why those characters take actions that result in conflict. A valid reason or motive isn't often explored. Because it isn't often explored, people disagreeing in real life may be treated more often like they don't have valid reasons or motives for their actions or beliefs, when they probably do have valid reasons that could be better heard if people weren't prone to that close-mindedness or slapping on the 'evil' or 'lack of virtue' label.
This isn't such a big issue for influencing people who are apt to critical thinking, like we are at this forum. To the masses that might not think about it though, it might make a difference.