The days Of now and then are filled with evilThe days Of now and then are filled with evil
The Leaves of a Victim never more with Steven Wilson
Stephen Wilson reads from Dostoevsky and reflects on abuse, addiction, politics and justice, questioning whether a sick society can produce anything but sick people. He links personal trauma with global events to ask if evil has quietly become the new norm.
26:39•25 Jun 2026
A Sick Society, Silent Victims and Whether Evil Has Become the New Normal
Episode Overview
- Literature like Dostoevsky’s Notes from the Underground can mirror the mindset of both individuals and societies that refuse to face their sickness.
- Group therapy can drift into politics and abstraction as a way of filling space instead of confronting painful personal truths.
- Abusers, including those in positions of authority, often know exactly what they are doing and simply do not care.
- Societies may claim justice and balance, yet repeatedly shield powerful abusers while doubting or punishing victims.
- There is a growing risk that repeated exposure to violence and abuse — from Gaza to school shootings — is making people numb, turning evil into a new normal.
“I am a sick man from a sick society. And one of us is on our way out.”
How do people find hope in the darkest times? This episode of *The Leaves of a Victim Never More* sits right in that question, blending literature, politics, and raw personal history into a stark reflection on evil, justice and survival. Stephen Wilson frames the conversation with a reading from Fyodor Dostoevsky’s *Notes from the Underground*, opening with the infamous confession: “I am a sick man.
I am a spiteful man.” From there, he draws a bold parallel between Dostoevsky’s bitter narrator and life in what he calls “a sick society”, asking whether “a broke machine” can produce anything but broken people. Speaking as a survivor of childhood sexual abuse and a man in addiction recovery, Stephen talks about group therapy sessions where talk of American politics, foreign policy and midterms slips into the room.
He’s candid about his scepticism: some of it, he says, feels like “people talking because they need to say something” rather than facing what really hurts. Across the episode, he poses hard questions: Do abusers know exactly what they’re doing? Does a nation know it’s become “the bully”? Is “evil the new norm”?
He connects the abuse he and “a room filled with men” endured as children with wider patterns of power and impunity—from church officials and teachers to global leaders and headline cases like Epstein. “The world is going to spit out what it can’t stomach,” he says, then asks what happens when those people simply refuse to go. The tone is intense, unfiltered and deeply reflective.
This is aimed at those who’ve lived through abuse, addiction, or both, but also at anyone willing to sit with uncomfortable truths about society, justice and human behaviour. If you’re ready for a challenging listen that doesn’t neatly resolve pain, but insists on naming it, this might be the episode you’ve been waiting for. Are we getting used to evil, or is there still room to feel it and change?
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