Then Something Like Scales Fell From Their Eyes

Stuck on stupid:

NPR Essayist: Mumbai Killers Might Just Be (Wait for It)... Evil

Gee, it's funny. Now that the presidency is not in enemy hands (for liberals), the enemies of the president are starting to look less misunderstood and more evil.

I get increasingly uncomfortable with the convention of journalism that requires us to say that so far, we don't know the motives of the people who carried out this week's attacks in Mumbai.

A word like "motive" seems to imply there was reason or purpose. It suggests that, however profane their actions, the terrorists had the incentive of some goal in mind.

But after covering too many killings, as a reporter or host, in Bosnia, Kosovo, Oklahoma City or Somalia, I've come to the conclusion that the perpetrators of such crimes might just be ... evil.

Evil is a word that many people of my generation shrink from using. It seems so imprecise and uneducated — biblical, rather than cerebral and informed.

But there are times and crimes that remind me how often the Bible gets it right.

Curious that he failed to mention the 9/11 killers, or terrorists in Iraq.

Good Lord. This is becoming infuriating. This guy's present stance is obviously right. Fine. Why is it he just coincidentally happened to refrain from taking this position for eight years?

On the other hand, there's Deepak Chopra...