What is “Just Plain Evil”?

“Colorado Shooter: Insane or Just Plain Evil?” by Eliza Shapiro , Christine Pelisek Jul 25, 2012 4:45 AM EDT

http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2012/07/25/colorado-shooter-insane-or-just-plain-evil.html

Is “Just Plain Evil” a legal definition? Is it a helpful definition? Or were the editors of “The Daily Beast” trying to make a theological point when they created the headline for Shapiro and Pelisek’s article on the legal strategies to be employed in the trial of James Holmes?

Fear

We live in a frightening world. Everywhere we look there is uncertainty, turmoil, chaos, and confusion. It is easy to feel paralyzed by our fears. It is tempting to work ourselves into a frenzy trying to control all the forces of life that seem so threatening in the vain hope that we will never have to feel frightened again.

Leadership in Chaos

Even in normally sedate, respectful Japan, it took barely five days for the finger pointing and accusations of failure in leadership to begin. http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/b4fa1e88-4ee2-11e0-9c25-00144feab49a.html#axzz1Gg9uflwo

Messy Life

The main character in the second half of Irene Nemirovsky’s novel Suite Francaiseis a young French woman named Lucile. She lives with her mother-in-law, Madame Angellier, in a large house in a farming village outside Paris. It is 1941, Lucile’s husband is away fighting the Germans who have occupied France.

Life becomes complicated for Lucile and her mother-in-law when a German officer is billeted in their home. Madame Angellier is deeply suspicious and resentful of her daughter-in-law’s growing relationship with the enemy officer living in her house. The relationship between Lucile and Madame Angellier becomes increasingly strained throughout the second half of the book.