12. Ramil Safarov vs. Akram Aylisli: avatars of good and evil
The philosophical categories of the good and evil and the quest for choosing between them represent the basis of the human civilization. These categories rest on the essence of the humanity at large and individuals in particular.
Good is the central category of any moral system.
The good is the supreme moral value, and to do good is the main regulating force of a moral line of conduct.
The evil represents the antithesis of the good. It is the anti-value, i.e. something incompatible with the moral line of conduct.
Good is the goal that must be attained, cultivated and created. The evil, in its turn, is something that one ought to dissociate oneself from.
The good and evil do not stand on equivalent footing. The evil is secondary to the good; it is only the reverse side of the good, a deviation from it. It is for a reason that the God (good) in Christianity and Islam is omnipotent, while the devil (evil) is solely capable of abetting the violation of God’s commandments by some individuals.392
Not only deeds can be attributable to the category of the evil. The evil can be used to describe the character of various objects and phenomena which elicit negative sentiments of taste, smell, pain, bad experience and state. The good represents the goal that must be attained, cultivated and created. The evil is something that one ought to dissociate oneself from, refute, neutralize and overcome. A. Voloshina, in her drawing of a borderline between the good and the evil, wrote: “The good along with pleasure, beauty, truth and benefit represents the main component of the welfare, i.e. an absolute goal that cannot serve as a means to achieve any other end, while the evil encompasses suffering, lie, harm, deformity and immorality”.393 Spinoza analyzed the traditional ethical categories of good and evil in correlation with the concepts of pleasure and pain. Thus, the good, inasmuch as it represents benefit and use, is perceived positively (pleasure), while the evil, inasmuch as it inflicts damage and is of no use, is appraised negatively (pain).394
Awareness of the essence of good and evil, understanding the extent of their antagonism and the ability to differentiate between them underlie the public morals manifested through moral judgments.
Moral judgments are judgment (statements) which express the moral appraisal or norm or prescription.395
The moral appraisal represents a set of structured judgments and significant priorities based on the internal needs of the society developed through tradition, culture and code of conduct. Values are perceived and appraised as moral good within the confines of established rules and traditions.
After series of studies, the philosopher Joshua Knobe396 revealed the dependence between moral judgments and the perceptions of the world. The Azerbaijani society provides a sufficiently illustrative example of this statement, with its shaping of quite specific moral judgments and the surrounding world viewed through the prism of Armenia and Armenians. This gives rise to a distinctive Knobe effect397:
An Azerbaijani who ran over a pedestrian is bad and guilty, but if the pedestrian turns out to be Armenian, then the Azerbaijani is not guilty and did a right thing by running over this pedestrian.
An Azerbaijani killed a man; he is a criminal, but if it turns out that his victim is Armenian, then he is a hero and did a right thing by killing the man. An Azerbaijani stole something; he is a thief and criminal, but if the victim turns out to be Armenian, then he did a right thing as the Armenian deserves it. An Azerbaijani girl gets married amid wishes of happiness and joy, but if it turns out that the groom is Armenian, then she is a reprobate and apostate who deserves punishment.
The moral evil is defined in contrast to the moral judgment and moral appraisal as going beyond socially established value benchmarks and the breakdown of rooted public morals. Each society shapes its own perception of the good and evil in line with its traditions and set of values. At the junction of good and evil with slight shifts to either side, an extensive field of action opens up for ideology and propaganda. A universal technique employed by the propaganda of all countries consists in a clear delimitation between the world of good implied to include the world of the subject and the world of evil encompassing the object. The denigration of the latter occurs through comparison with animals, spawn of hell or subhumans depending on the world view.
“Our duty is to foment hatred for evil and invigorate the thirst for beautiful, kind and just things”. The author of these words is Adolf Hitler.
Similar notions of good and evil are cultivated in the society of today’s Azerbaijan where the evil is represented by Armenians, and the good is represented by those who wage a struggle against them “by all available means”. This phenomenon is showcased by Ramil Safarov, a personification of the “good”, who hacked a sleeping Armenian officer with an axe,398 and Akram Aylisli, a personification of the “evil”. In his novel entitled The Stone Dreams, the author draws parallels between the massacre of Armenians in Nakhichevan in early 20th century and the pogroms of Armenians in Baku of the late 20th century through the prism of his own feelings.
351. «İnşallah, Azərbaycanda görüşərik!!! -Qənirə Paşayevadan Ramil Səfərova təbrik. Modern.az. 25.08.2011. http://modern.az/articles/16595/1/ (az)
352. «Зеркало», 28.02.2004, newspaper, (rus)
353. Ibid
354. Ramil Səfərova Milli Qəhraman adı verilsin. Zaur-Aliyev.info. 16.12.2011 г. http://zaur-aliyev.info/?p=269 the original was removed from source, a cashed copy can be found here: http://peeep.us/982db60a (az)
355. ООК предложила присвоить медаль «За отвагу» Рамилю Сафарову. Day.az. 22.02.2005. http://news.day.az/politics/20906.html (rus)
356. Акиф Наги: «Азербайджан способен освободить Карабах так же, как освободил Рамиля Сафарова». Salamnews.org. 31.08.2012. http://ru.salamnews.org/ru/news/read/162037/akif-nagi-azerbaydan-sposoben-osvobodit-karabax-tak-je-kak-osvobodil-ramilya-safarovanbspnbsp/. the original was removed from source, a cashed copy can be found here: http://peeep.us/3fd152bf (rus)
357. Байрам Сафаров: «Армяне должны понять, что освобождение Рамиля Сафарова – очередная победа Азербайджана». АПА. 31.08.2012. http://ru.apa.az/news/230232 (rus)
358. Указ президента страны о помиловании Рамиля Сафарова достоин наивысших похвал – представитель Минобороны. Salamnews. 31.08.2012. http://ru.salamnews.org/ru/news/read/162054/ukaz-prezidenta-strani-o-pomilovanii-ramilya-safarovanbspdostoin-naivisshix-poxval-ndash-predstavitel-minoboroninbspnbsp, the original was removed from source, a cashed copy can be found here: http://peeep.us/b0c082dd (rus)
359. Достойны похвалы те, кто приложил усилия для экстрадиции Рамиля Сафарова в Азербайджан – Иса Гамбар. Salamnews. 31.08.2012. http://ru.salamnews.org/ru/news/read/162060/dostoyni-poxvali-te-kto-prilojil-usiliya-dlya-ekstradicii-ramilya-safarova-v-azerbaydan-ndash-isa-gambarnbspnbsp/. the original was removed from source, a cashed copy can be found here: http://peeep.us/fad2ac8e (rus)