Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was meeting last week with representatives from a teachers union in his home state when things quickly devolved.
Before long, Fetterman began repeating himself, shouting and questioning why “everybody is mad at me,” “why does everyone hate me, what did I ever do” and slamming his hands on a desk, according to one person who was briefed on what occurred.
As the meeting deteriorated, a staff member moved to end it and ushered the visitors into the hallway, where she broke down crying. The staffer was comforted by the teachers who were themselves rattled by Fetterman’s behavior, according to a second person who was briefed separately on the meeting.
The problem of evil is that many of the worst things in history were done by people who believed they were acting morally. The witch hunts, the crusades, the inquisition, and large portions of the genocide of the Americas were done in part with a belief that it was moral. Part of a good understanding of morality is self reflection to understand that one can twist themselves into evil. It’s why I think your calls for compassion here are valuable.
I’m angry at Fetterman, and I’d be fucking pissed if he was my senator. I don’t know if I think he’s outright evil. But I do know that to label a human as good or evil is valuable but risky. It helps us form accountability and to rally each other, but it also leads us to assign people as wholly good or wholly bad when all people have immense complexity to our motivations, beliefs, and actions.