I know who i think is evil and it differs from what other people think - but i don't think it's possible to understand true evil - so i don't think it can be misunderstood because it can't be understood...unless your evil yourself....if that makes sense? lol

If you dont think that true evil is possible to understand then how is it misunderstood?

I dont know you really have to know their intentions behind their "Evil" acts.

^^ I don't think it's misunderstood....that's why i answered no...

No...see, for me, there is a difference between "evil" acts and being evil.

i think it can be sometimes
it depends on peoples motives and what they do ♥

so then is that a yes or a no?

well neither, i think it all depends on the curcumstances ♥

Ofcourse so if someone is seen misjudged for an "evil" action and is sumons to death, but with no consideration of reaons behind it, its okay?

i just mean peoples motive are different, and no one will ever know what is going though someones mind when they do something evil (or what is considerd to be evil) ♥

what do you consider to be?

either way your evil to others can be completly different this is based on your opinion.
i for one agree with what you are saying so yes it is misunderstood.

There's a big difference between someone who is true evil and your everyday person who does bad things sometimes.

There is no evil, just different opinions

Yes, evil is very misunderstood. I mean, lyk, look at Edward from Twilight. Evil is in his nature but he tries SOOO hard to deny it. *swoons*

[serious now]

Saying that evil is misunderstood just opens up a whole can of worms. Romanticizing evil. Not a good thing. It's just making all sorts of people go all Stockholm-Syndrome etc. This is the real world, not a Spike/Buffy one.

"It's just making all sorts of people go all Stockholm-Syndrome"

I looked up Stockholm Syndrome on Wikipedia and I'm still a little confused about what it is. Attraction to evil?

Anywho by choosing "yes", I mean that people are ridiculously obsessed with "dark" stuff. Just look at the stupid amount of "Dark Link" fans even though he has been in two games in the LoZ series, and only as an emotionless NPC who attacks the protagonist and whom we assume is evil.

On a less nerdy note.... I don't like how people are messing around with necromancy and the worship of dark ways and beings. It's seriously dangerous. I have a friend at the Church I go to who had a really terrifying experience of it and I'm not talking your garden-variety stuff like participants acting out of character.

knifewrench: stockholm syndrome is when kidnap victims begin to feel attached to their kidnappers - sometimes fall in love with them or just feel loyalty towards them despite the dangerous situation the kidnaper/hostage taker has put the victim in....if that makes sense lol?

OK, look:

Evil itself is a human concept.

The definition of what evil is varies from person to person.

People misunderstand the definition. That's the problem.

For example, some would define homosexuality as evil, whereas others (like myself) would not.

Isn't this from the Philosophy spot? Anyway, I copied what I wrote there, here:

Evil isn't necessarily "misunderstood" more so than it is not absolutely defined or comprehended. In my opinion.

I don't actually believe in the definition of evil, I think people blame the wrong things as "evil" basing on their personal opinion and feelings towards them. There's always someone who has a different opinion, so there's nothing in the world that we can label with certainity as "evil"

Yes. It's really all a matter of perspective, what some people call "Evil", other people think is just fine.
For example, in Harry Potter, Voldemort isn't just trying to be mean by killing people and taking over, he is fighting for what he believes is right, that wizards and purebloods are superior and should dominate society. You could even say that about Hitler, I mean, while he committed many atrocious acts, he was still fighting for what he believed in, he wasn't just trying to be mean, he honestly thought he was doing the right thing.

People have different ideas, values, morals etc, so it seems that people would call things that scare them, or that they disagree with evil. But that doesn't make them right, "Evil" IS misunderstood.

Although i still don't think its an excuse: a lot of "evil" is done by people who where never taught any better.

Evil is evil.

Well, actually I sort of..don't.

People may be misinterpreted and seen as 'evil' when in fact, they are something entirely different.

If we were to be talking pure evil, no. As MusicMaker95 says, evil is evil. Although I do think there's still a lot of things that we should learn about evil. :P

People misunderstand the roots of evil, I believe. I'm under the opinion that evil is made, not born. Take... well, let's use Hitler as an example. He fought in WWI, risked his life for his country, lost in the most humiliating way possible. Went home to an economic disaster and a whole continent shaming his people for being such scumbags (they weren't, yet). Morale of the story: his life sucked. He was pissed. He needed someone to blame this crap on. It didn't even matter if it was rational blame, just SOMEONE.

Instant Holocaust, just add water.

Humans like that do not appear on this world naturally. They need to be born and raised under exactly the right conditions, many of them beyond their own control. Most won't be in the right mind. Traits like ambition and charisma are not evil on their own, but they are dangerous when combined with certain scenarios.

Misjudged as well as misinterpreted.

It's such a broad subject, there's no one definition.

It depends on the person.

Evil is just a word. All it does is describe a major generalization about people that have done terrible things - it doesn't consider that everyone is different, nor that some people honestly think they are doing the right thing in their own minds - but, evil is a word that was originated by humans, so only humans can possibly earn the title. I don't think that completely doesn't exist, but that it is often misused, or wrongly applied to certain situations that don't necessarily deserve it.