envy and spite, and pleasure we are free to choose how we respond to these emotions. Our experiences, judgments and personality traits influence these decisions and we are confronted with choices. This is the moment of expressed freewill. Whether positively or negatively, we exercise our freewill and we are free to disregard the responsibility of our choices. Positive freewill has responsibilities to self and others, while negative freewill is responsible only to self.
Individuals who blame culture or lifestyle for their negative behaviors are not being truthful. They are choosing to ignore a fundamental truth of their existence-deep down they feel entitled to act on the negative impulse to commit harm or destruction simply because they can. It is not a conscious sense of, I want to do evil because I can, it is what Alford describes as "primitive, destructive, malicious desires [that] are by their very nature unmodulated" (142). They do not want to contain the impulse; instead, they are driven to experience the rush of emotions they obtain from the freedom of their actions. It is a dark desire often expressed by those who have this sense of entitlement and want no responsibility for their actions. It is a feeling that is expressed moment to moment, action to action and each time the negative freewill is expressed the individual " feels -for just a moment- total, unremitting, malicious destructiveness.
References:
Alf ord, C. Fred. What Evil Means to Us. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1997. Questia. 26 Feb. 2007 .
Hollingham, Richard. "The Nature of Addictions" BBC Science. 22 April 2007. BBC News http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/hea lth/784033.stm
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