Originally Posted by tsurara

The root of something doesn't necessarily need to commit the evil in question... it needs only to be the ultimate cause of it. We can argue the semantics for days, but in the end the sentence is designed to be filled with a single word to sum up a generalization.

I would agree that "money" is a decent nomination.

We're talking about the source... not necesarily the "evil" itself.

ie. If we remove money from the equation, does wealth-seperation/greed still exist? Maybe... but a better case can be made for eliminating money than for executing everyone who is greedy.

If we remove religion from the equation, do faith-based conflicts end? does oppression of women end? etc. etc. Maybe... maybe not... but a better case can be made for stamping out religion than stamping out those who believe in it.

The root doesn't need to be a DIRECT cause. It can be the "bait", the "justification", the "reward", whatever...