Like a lot of teenagers of my generation, I played a Role-Playing Game (RPG) called Dungeons and Dragons (“D&D“.) The majority of the players in our smallish-town D&D group were Christians, so we downplayed the wizardry aspect, and concentrated on adventure and combat. We also shunned most cosplay and Live-Action Roleplaying. (“LARPing”.) This was in the late 1970s, so we had access to just the small-format Chainmail book and the first three D&D boxed-set rulebooks developed by Gary Gygax, et al. This was long before the more popular large-format Advanced D&D books were published.
One key aspect of characters in the D&D game is the term Character Alignment, which ranges from “Lawfully-Good” to “Neutral”, and to “Chaotically-Evil.” Alignment was used to describe the ethics and morals both role-playing characters and Non-Player Characters (NPCs.) I consider these terms a useful way to categorize the real-world alignment and motivations of politicians, journalists, “activists”, military leaders, and pundits. There are indeed good and evil people out there, and in the sociopolitical realm, their alignment affects the course of human events, globally.
In 1976, Gary Gygax published an article titled “The Meaning of Law and Chaos in Dungeons and Dragons and Their Relationships to Good and Evil”, in The Strategic Review (TSR — a boardgaming newsletter of the 1970s that pre-dated The Dragon magazine). Henceforth, “Character Alignment” was presented in a grid:
(Note: I found this public-domain graphic at Leftist-AgendaPedia.)
Looking at the Alignment Grid’s nine boxes, and comparing them with both the words and the deeds of modern-day world leaders, thought leaders, and political organizations, it can be a useful way of characterizing their morals and ethics.
In this essay, I’ll be so bold (and unchivalrous) as to subjectively put some well-known figures of the 20th and 21st Centuries into these nine boxes. I’ll start with the lower-right box:
Chaotic Evil
The Chaotic Evil in the lower-right corner box is populated with all mass murderers, serial rapists, and assorted terrorists. The Somali pirates typify the Chaotic Evil alignment. So do ISIS and sexual predators like Jeffrey Epstein, Sidney Weinstein, and Jeffrey Dahmer. Historically: Vlad Tepes III (Vlad The Impaler — the inspiration for Dracula), Pol Pot, et cetera. I’m refraining from mentioning the names of any unconvicted Chaotic Evil celebrities, out of fear of libel lawsuits.
Neutral Evil
Neutral Evil people often espouse moral relativism, “The Greater Good”, and a panoply of genders. To them, everything is debatable, everything is negotiable, and subject to change, as circumstances dictate. They include Klaus Schwab, Greta Thunberg, Bill Gates, Emmanuel Macron, the Clintons, the Obamas, the leadership of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), many high-level banking elitists, most globalists, and most socialists. They tend to flock together in places like the annual Davos conference. These evil people notionally have some respect for the law. But they agitate to have the laws that they dislike overturned.
Lawful Evil
Historically, Josef Stalin and Adolf Hitler are considered Lawful Evil category, but of course they took advantage in countries that had (or developed) evil laws. Today, the Lawful Evil category includes most Big-City Blue State mayors and police chiefs. Ditto for many leftist activists like former mayor Mike Bloomberg. I consider the majority of contemporary Hollywood movie stars and movie producers Lawfully Evil. (Except Bill Cosby — he is in the lower-right box.) These folks publicly espouse a belief in “Law and Order”, but they have evil intent. Many of them are sociopaths or even psychopaths who secretly belong in the Neutral Evil or Chaotic Evil boxes.
Chaotic Neutral
I suppose that the Chaotic Neutral box would be typified by left-leaning Libertarians. Historically, the cigar-chomping pundit H.L. Mencken comes to mind. Edward Abbey and many radical environmentalists also fit in the Chaotic Neutral box.
True Neutral
Many in the scientific community are True Neutrals. Most academics think of themselves as True Neutrals, but a large portion of them are actually down in the Evil row. Keep in mind that many self-proclaimed “purist”, “scientifically neutral, unbiased” and “rationally dispassionate” scientists do indeed have political biases. Here, I’m talking about folks like Carl Sagan and Neil deGrasse Tyson. Their biases push them away from True Neutrality, in one of several directions.
Lawful Neutral
Lawful Neutrals include many in law enforcement, medicine, and the emergency services. Most folks employed in primary and secondary education think of themselves as lawful neutrals but in their heart-of-hearts they are actually lawfully evil.
Chaotic Good
In the real world, the Chaotic Good box is the least-inhabited box on the chart. Most Chaotically-Good folks do not fit in with contemporary society. Many of them end up behind bars, or perpetually on barstools. Who is a real-world Chaotic-Good? Mel Gibson immediately comes to mind. So does the fictionalized character that he portrayed in his movie Braveheart. Perhaps that is why he is best-remembered for that role. He truly personified William Wallace. Other Chaotic-Goods would include some famous military heroes like USMC General Chesty Puller. Lt. Frank Luke, Sergeant Alvin York, and Lt. Audie Murphy. If a psychologist were to review the records of all of the post-1860s recipients of the Medal of Honor, I am confident that they would find that the majority of them could be characterized as Chaotically-Good. Some might consider many of our nation’s Founding Fathers to be Chaotic Good, at least during the War of Independence.
Neutral Good
Most right-leaning libertarians fit into the Neutral Good box. So do organizations like Doctors Without Borders — aka Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF). Many of the Tea Party Republicans could be classified as Neutrally-Good.
Lawful Good
In the upper-left Lawful Good box are folks like Franklin Graham, Mother Teresa, and many others in Christian ministry. These are very nice and godly folks, but don’t expect to see them volunteer to be on your local maquis fireteam when either World War 3 or Civil War 2 breaks out.
In Conclusion
What I’ve laid out in this essay is just some food for thought on ethics and morals. Admittedly, it has been solely my subjective opinion. Other writers have applied their own logic to this grid.
When analyzing the news, consider the Character Alignment Grid a useful perspective on motivation that does not rely on over-used political labels, or typical right-left political spectrum designations. – JWR
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