A work of fiction which ponders the question: What are the most evil creations in the history of the world ?
by: Frederick Foote
Welcome, welcome, welcome back to the Sojourner Truth Middle School detention. I’m delighted to be reunited with my favorite trio of Truth’s troubled and traumatized teens.
“Hey, Mr. Henderson, how is your dissertation going? With all that alliteration you got going on, you need to do your paper in free verse.”
“Thanks, Klee. In fact, I’m going to need help from all of you, if you are willing that is.”
“Mr. Henderson, you should get some beats behind your rap and dazzle them fuckers with a hip-hop presentation, man.”
“Thanks, Ronnie. Your advice is always appreciated here.”
“Henderson, if we help you, is there a payday? I know Middle School teachers and Philosophy professors don’t make shit. How about Carl’s Jr after detention?”
“Mighty Ajax, I would rather buy you clothes than feed you. I have my own teenagers to feed. But I’ll see what I can do.”
“What do you want us to help you with? Hey, will you give us credit in your paper? I mean, so that when you are famous, we can prove we knew you back in the day.”
Henderson laughs like a clap of thunder.
“Klee, thank you for your faith in me. Of course, I will give you credit and invite you to my graduation.”
“Deal, Mr. H. So, what is it you need from us?”
“Ronnie, you all know my dissertation is on the nature of evil. I need you to list the three most evil creations in the world. And I need you to explain why you made these selections. And then we can discuss our answers. Is that amenable to all of you?”
“What do you mean by creations?”
“Great question, Ajax. I mean all human beings and any creation of those human beings, such as characters in literature, movies, theater, events like wars, crime sprees, institutions like government, religion, and science, and ideas like the Big Bang Theory and Evolution.”
“You mean villains like Lex Luthor, the Joker, Dracula, and Voldemort?”
“Right on, Ronnie.”
“And real people like Genghis Khan and Hitler and events like the Civil War and ideas like feminism?”
“You got it, Klee. So, take about fifteen minutes and see what you come up with, okay?”
Twenty minutes later.
“Mr. H., can I go first? I nailed this.”
“Ajax, you have the floor.”
“Okay, so, Hitler, Mao, and Stalin. These guys are as evil as evil gets, and then some. Mao was responsible for more than forty-five million deaths with his Great Leap Forward into the grave program. Stalin was paranoid and was responsible for six million to twenty million deaths in the Soviet Union. Uncle Joe was a bad trip. And we all know about Hitler. He was responsible for eleven to twelve million non combatant deaths. And most of these deaths were leaders killing their own people. I mean, many of the Jews and others killed by Hitler were Germans. It is scary as hell when people have too much power.”
“Ajax, do you think the big three of evil were driven mad by their almost total power?”
“Yeah, Mr. H., I guess. I think it’s like prisoners and people in institutions; when the caretakers have too much power, it seems like it almost always goes bad. You know, like the Catholic Church scandals about raping and molesting kids.”
“Ajax, do you believe that any of us, having the kind of power these guys had, would be as bad or worse?”
“I do, Ronnie. Any of us can be evil if we get the opportunity. That’s for real.”
“Ajax, do you think Trump is capable of being another Hitler?”
“Klee, you know he is.”
“Ajax, that was well done. You may have earned a Western Bacon Six Dollar Burger.”
“With fries, right?”
“Absolutely.”
“Mr. H., I took a different kinda approach.”
“Go ahead, Ronnie.”
“Okay, so, I check out evil from like an idea perspective. So, some ideas are evil and are intended to be evil, and they cause all kinds of suffering and death.
So, my first idea is racism. Racism is an evil idea because it supports the exploitation of one group by other groups. In World War II, racism was used to rally the German people and to destroy the Jewish people. The idea that the Germans were a superior race to the Jews was a rationale for the elimination of the Jews. The Japanese also had their Yamato racial supremacy ideology that encouraged them to kill and torture other races. The Japanese were monsters in their invasions of Manchuria, Korea, and the Pacific islands. Racism was also a big reason for our Civil War, and that racism shit still divides us today. I think racism is as or more dangerous than any atomic, biological, or chemical weapon. I mean, it can wipe out a whole race or nation.”
“Ronnie, do you think that you feel racism is so dangerous because you’re Black?”
“Ajax, I’m not Black or White or Brown. I won’t put myself in that cage or the gender cage. But some people treat me as if I were a person of color, so I am sensitive to racism.”
“Ronnie, I can see your idea about racism and my ideas about power joining together and being a double danger.”
“Yeah, they are made for each other.”
“Great work, Ronnie. What are your other evil ideas?”
“Okay, Mr. H. Capitalism puts profits above the well-being of the world. Capitalists are poisoning the air, the water, and the ground, and they are claiming they can reverse the effects of their behavior if they can do it for a profit. I mean, it’s insane to create a kind of business that exploits everything; it’s like a greedy rampage of termites eating everything in front of them.”
“Wait, hold on, Ronnie, capitalism has made the world richer and safer, and we don’t have a better system.”
“Ajax, what if we made it a fucking rule for any economic organization we license to not harm the environment and not exploit workers or consumers. And that these licensees are responsible for the harm they cause.”
“I, I have to think about that. Shit! Ronnie, you shook me up, dude.”
“Good work, Ronnie. What is your final evil idea?”
“Thanks, Mr. H. I think violence is a way of life with our gun culture, mass murders, huge prison population, auto crashes, domestic violence, and wars. Our media tend to glorify violence. Some days, I just get overwhelmed. I don’t wanna leave the house. I don’t even want to get out of bed. But I know that violence will find me wherever I am. Our national slogan is, ‘Violence is us.’”
“Amen.”
“Amen back at you, Klee. That’s one reason why I quit football.”
“Good for you, Ajax. And thank you, Ronnie, for your evil ideas. Klee, your turn.”
“I love your guys’ work. I went in a different direction and chose the most evil character in our literature. I don’t know if his character is real or imaginary, but it is real for many, many people. I have selected a 3-in-1 character, The Holy Trinity. God gets pissed at some people in Babylon, Nineveh, Jericho, Sodom, and Gomorrah, and he destroys the cities, women and children, the elderly, the disabled, and the evil and the good. This destruction is an evil that is beyond redemption or comprehension; it is a terrible example to set before people who believe in a god of love. But that was just a warm-up act. God destroys all the creatures on the earth except those in Noah’s Ark because it is upset about the wickedness of humanity. This is horror beyond imagination. And it is difficult for me to understand why people would accept such a God as good. This is evil on a scale way beyond Hitler, Mao, and Stalin, or any other historical figure. These are temper tantrums worthy of a three-year-old committed by an all-powerful and ever-present god. The Trinity is a terrifying character. Ronnie, this may be related to your idea about violence is us.”
“Oh, fuck us. We are tearing down Capitalism and the Trinity. Is there nothing sacred anymore? I love you guys, but if lightning strikes this school, I don’t even know you, people. Jesus, Klee, I never looked at God like that. Shit! Destroying the world with a flood? Yeah, that may be a bit too much over-the-top shit.”
“Ajax, I feel you, brother. I really do. But the truth is the light, right?”
“God is evil. I don’t think I will ever be ready for that truth, Klee.”
“Ajax, I’m gonna roll with my sister, Klee. I mean, destroying whole cities and almost all life on a planet is monstrous. And it’s all right there in the bible, like the Trinity, is proud of their handiwork. And we all see it, and we all explain it away. It makes no sense. How can we ever see evil if we can’t see evil in the destruction of the world? And whole cities and individuals destroyed by God or any other monster?”
“Klee, you never cease to surprise me. One of the joys of teaching here is having time to talk to the three of you. Klee, do you have anything else to add?”
“I have one other point. God establishes the idea of hell, where people who disagree with it will be tortured forever. God and his followers use this idea to intimidate and threaten children and others. The concept of purposely torturing someone eternally is pure one hundred percent evil.”
There are a few minutes of dead silence.
“Wow! I’m going to have to rethink my dissertation and my ideas on evil. I’m going to start all over again. I thank you all, I think. Is anyone up for a fast-food stop? I’m paying.”
The kids shake their heads and drift silently out of the detention room as a group.
Henderson wishes he could join them. He believes there is safety in numbers, or he did before this detention hour started.
Frederick K. Foote, Jr. was born in Sacramento, California, and educated in Vienna, Virginia, and northern California. Since 2014 Frederick has published over three hundred stories, poems, and essays, including literary, science fiction, fables, and horror genres. Frederick has published three short story collections, For the Sake of Soul (2015), Crossroads Encounters (2016), and The Maroon Fables and Revelations (2020).
