Good Vs. Evil

I have to admit, at first, I had no idea what Hegel was talking about
and felt like all he was doing was rambling on for no obvious purpose.
However, after a full read through, and a couple aspirin, I began to
see what he was going on and on about. Looking back through my notes
on the text I found there were a few key parts that stuck out to me
and one in particular I felt I could relate to. On page 34, Hegel
wrote that, "This is the seal of the absolute and sublime destiny of
man- that he knows what is good and what is evil; that his Destiny is
his very ability to will either good or evil…" This seemed like the
most common of common senses' that I can recall. I mean you commit a
crime, morally you know its wrong and so you are guilty. Simple
enough right? Yes, it may seem that way at first, but when are things
really as simple as they seem. This made me think back to our
discussions of Jared Lee Loughner and Glen Beck, and which of the two,
essentially was to blame. Loughner did the deed, there were witnesses
that saw him do it, and since we are all aware that killing is wrong,
he is guilty right? By his own volition, he knows that killing
another person is ill willed, so by him ignoring this fact, he is
guilty. Well what about variables like, his mental state, Glen Beck's
influence, and his actual reasoning behind it? Well that's when I
noticed that there is one more piece of Hegel I can incorporate in.
On page 28, Hegel states, "…so that a wide conflagration ensues, which
destroys the goods and chattels of many other persons besides his
against whom the act of revenge was first directed." Reading this
shows a whole new aspect of the crime. Loughner could have intended
ill will strictly towards Gabrielle Gifford's and the others he
injured and killed could have strictly been the unforeseen
consequences of his actions. Whether this is true or not, we can look
back to my first Hegel quote, and understand this, that whether all of
Loughner's actions were intentional or not, he was aware that his
actions were "evil" therefore he committed the crime so, according to
Hegel, he needs to do the time.