Modern Evils of the 21st Century: An In-Depth Analysis - Winter 2018

This essay delves into the concept of evil and its manifestation in the 21st century, exploring various social evils such as poverty, trafficking, and inequality. It examines the root causes of these evils, including unjust legal systems and corrupt human nature, while also considering the role of individual conscience and social orientation. The essay further discusses potential solutions, emphasizing the importance of education, character building, and moral education to foster a more harmonious and just society. Ultimately, it argues that eradicating evil requires a collective effort from human beings to create a better world for each other. Desklib provides students access to similar essays and study tools.

Running head: EVIL AND HUMANITY
Evil and Humanity
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Author’s Note:

1EVIL AND HUMANITY
There are different categories of people who reside in the world as a part of society.
Every society has its own distinct characteristics. It should however be noted and understood that
no particular society is perfect in any sense. There are evils and disadvantages in every society.
Some societies might experience a relatively lesser number of problems than other societies but
the fact of the matter is that there are existent evils in each society. These evils are deadly and
have a profound negative impact on the people of the world around us. This is because of the
reason that evils create negative energy which engulfs people. Society needs to be freed of all
evils to emerge as the winner as a whole. Therefore it is to be understood that the social evils
need not be feared but understood and eradicated (Corstjens & Umblijs, 2012).
Social evils have the power to disrupt the normal flow of lives of the people and might
also disrupt the social life to a large extent. These evils have the power to cause problems and
disturbances in the lives of the people and also create a huge impact on the individuals inhabiting
the society and their norms, customers, values, perceptions, religious and other daily practices
and so on. Social evils include poverty, slavery, trafficking, the financial inequality, the great
demarcation between the haves and the have nots. The rise of he selfish, self-centred and self
absorbed individuals of the present day world and the concepts of crime, corruption, addiction
are all different types of social evils (Karnani, 2016).
Trafficking is a very serious and a grave crime which leads to a huge violation of human
rights. There are thousands of women and children who fall prey to people who send them to
different countries. In such cases, threats, force, coercion are administered to sent the persons to
far off places. Several dangerous consequences await the people who are trafficked. This is a
sign of an extremely wrong and dangerous mentality which is detrimental to the people residing

2EVIL AND HUMANITY
in the society (Haynes, 2014). Human trafficking is truly a global threat and needs to be stopped
at any cost.
Figure 1: Human Trafficking
Figure 2: Extreme poverty and homelessness

3EVIL AND HUMANITY
There are several reasons which can be cited behind the growth of social evils. Several
reasons contribute towards incapacitation of a society to be and perform well for all the
inhabitants. One of the main reasons is the prevalent law and order in the society. In case the
laws are not equal and just the situations which involve judgement would not be true and fair and
individuals are bound to lose their faith in such a system. A strong law and order system can help
enforce a certain state of justice and balance in the society. There need to be strict laws so that
the culprits are punished and it becomes clear to all the people that strict punishments are there
for any person who fails to abide by the law. In case the law and order of the society continues to
favour a certain section of the people who are well off and influential and discriminates in case
of people who are poor and not powerful, the evils of the society specifically crimes of different
types and categories will continue to prevail (Haynes, 2014).
It is seen that the people who have huge amounts of money and who are usually
extremely well off are favoured in all segments and in all cases. This is bound to make the poorer
class complacent. This is because the enforcement of the law fails to bring them justice and they
are blamed for crimes and misdeeds which are not even theirs. It happens in majority of cases
that the poor and the downtrodden people cannot escape the biased law and order system which
is not in their favour (Corstjens & Umblijs, 2012).
However, there are certain theories which put forward the idea that the social evils are not
only the outcome of the unjust social system but the corrupt human nature. It is suggested in
majority of situations that a certain section of human beings are corrupt by nature and they are
not a proper fit for the inappropriate social system. The conscience and the nature of the people
should be such that they should not knowingly cause harm to the people. There are certain
individuals who become abnormal by birth and some become abnormal because of the situations

4EVIL AND HUMANITY
which they had to face in their childhood. The situations in their personal lives impact
themselves so deeply that it becomes an indelible part of their character. Social orientation plays
a huge part in determining whether an individual becomes a criminal or stays a loyal citizen of
the society (Karnani, 2016).
In order to make the society a better place, it should be freed of all evils. People should
not be afraid of meeting and trusting people. There should be a perfect harmony among all sorts
of people. Judgements should not be made based on a person’s background, his race, religion or
nationality (Jenkins, 2017). It might not be possible to eradicate all evils from the society,
however it is possible to reduce the evils to a large extent so that people lead a peaceful life.
There needs to be the spread of education, there also needs to be a proper character building
children must be trained to have a proper and a sound character. Moral education is a must to
reduce all sorts of social evils. In case children are taught the power of staying together at a
young age they will be able to understand the importance of staying as one in a particular society
(Brown, 2017).
There might be myriad ways in which evils can be eradicated from the society but the
sole way in which this can be done lies with the human beings themselves. Only they can try and
make the world a better place to live in. In case they try and make the world suitable for each
other, the society will become better and worth living.

5EVIL AND HUMANITY
References:
Brown, M. J. (2017). Eradicating this Evil: Women in the American Anti-Lynching Movement,
1892-1940. Routledge.
Karnani, A. (2016). Fighting poverty together: rethinking strategies for business, governments,
and civil society to reduce poverty. Springer.
Haynes, D. F. (2014). The celebritization of human trafficking. The Annals of the American
Academy of Political and Social Science, 653(1), 25-45.
Parreñas, R. S., Hwang, M. C., & Lee, H. R. (2012). What is human trafficking? A review
essay. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, 37(4), 1015-1029.
Corstjens, M., & Umblijs, A. (2012). The power of evil: The damage of negative social media
strongly outweigh positive contributions. Journal of Advertising Research, 52(4), 433-
449.
Jenkins, P. (2017). Using murder: The social construction of serial homicide. Routledge.
Lewis, O. (2017). The culture of poverty. In Poor Jews (pp. 9-25). Routledge.