A soldier cannot absolve himself of an immoral act because he was only following orders. Equally, bystanders bear some responsibility if they know some evil is going on and yet do not protest. After all, “all it takes for evil to prevail, is for good men to do nothing”. Yet, would I be one such bystander? How can I even declare a mild confidence as to what I would do?
Most people would like to flatter themselves and think they would protest evil. They are horrified by accounts of atrocities, aim to do good in their own lives and will sincerely rattle off the same platitudes that I did in my first three sentences. “Of course I would do something”. Yet I feel this is just an example of the “above average effect”. If you ask someone to rate how good they are at driving, the vast majority of people will rate themselves as “above average”. Statistically improbable indeed! Equally, most people believe that they will stand above the crowd and act on principle, whilst I contend that most people are the crowd.
Of course, people won’t do something bad if told to do so out-of-the-blue but they can be influenced step-by-step in that direction. Consider the famous “Milgram Experiment”. Could anyone be induced, straight out, to administer a potentially lethal 450 volt shock to an unwilling participant for getting a question wrong? Of course not. How about a harmless 15 volt shock to a willing participant in a learning experiment? Yes. Starting from that point, Milgram wanted to see if, by raising the voltage in increments of 15, people could be induced through verbal pressure alone, to give the possibly lethal shock. A staggering 65% gave the full shock; a result confirmed in repeated examples of the test in different times and places. You don’t need to be below average in morality to be capable of unbelievable evil.
What is more scary is that I could see myself being influenced in some way by extremist literature. People will see Mein Kampf for the drivel it is, and will wonder how people could believe such things. Academics inter that, even from a literary point of view, it is dreadfully written. Whilst this is absolutely true, I, for one, found it incredibly compelling [something can be absolute drivel and compelling at the same time- cf. Dan Brown’s Da Vinci Code]. Even I found myself hating Jews after reading it! My critical thinking kicks in quickly and any such thoughts are banished. However, how about in abnormal circumstances where it confirms a prejudice I have, emotional thinking is encouraged, it conforms to what everyone else thinks and I’m going through hard times? Even though I wouldn’t agree with the excesses, would I concede that “he has a point” [much the same reaction people often have on reading Dawkin’s “The G-d Delusion”]? What effect would that have on me?
Perhaps the very fact that I am a reflective person, as evinced by me having these thoughts, would prevent me from falling into this abyss. However, this is fallacious. Some of the most reflective people- scientists, philosophers, religious men- were prominent members of the NAZI party. Most members of the committee who proposed the ‘Final Solution’ were Doctors, and one even insisted on being called Dr. Dr. because of his two PhDs. On the other hand, one of the ‘righteous gentiles’ I learnt about in Yad Vashem was a common thief. How we act in normal times is not a good indicator of our behaviour in the abnormal times.
No doubt, my potential to be evil may seem to myself and others as counter-intuitive. Yet, what is my record like in contemporary times? There is constant and unacceptable de-legitimisation of the State of Israel, but how much do I speak up in defence? On the other hand, an Israeli soldier gloats about her Palestinian prisoners on Facebook, yet how much are these abuses non-apologetically acknowledged in our community? Moreover, what about situations like that in Darfur? I’ve signed a petition and attended a meeting or two. Yet, to be honest, I can’t even really remember anything about it- apart from the word “Janjaweed”. Nor could I say what happened in Rwanda or Bosnia/Serbia. I have read some things about them, but “living your own life” usually cancels out fighting evil. So, what would happen if evil was transferred to my doorstep? I don’t know.
