How do people who believe in morality do evil?
Hitler did not drink alcohol and did not smoke and loved music and painting. He was saddened by the cruelty of animals and for the first time in the history of Europe, he established animal protection laws. He supported the environment and family and respected women. These features are confusing next to the massive killings, however, these contradictions are not limited to Hitler, the most ruthless torturers may be caring fathers and upset to see a wound on their child’s finger.
The main question is, how can people who have a strong belief in moral values and are compassionate in other areas of life commit immoral acts?
Stanford University Professor Bandura’s answer is that people usually do not commit immoral acts unless the immoral aspects of those actions have been justified for themselves. He called this state of inactivation of internal control.
How does this happen?
Bandura explained several cognitive-psychological mechanisms that can cause people’s internal control to become inactive:
1- Moral justification: by emphasizing the sublime goals, unethical behavior is justified in such a way that it seems defensible or even praiseworthy. Brainwashing is an example of this method. Suicidal trolls are persuaded by the same method, cleansing the earth of sin, going to the promised paradise, and so on.
2- Verbal euphemism or euphemism: Naming an immoral act with different words that cover its face. The commanders at Abu Ghraib used the word softening instead of torture, and the Nazi leaders called the killing of Jews the cleansing of Europe. More practical examples of this method are the use of embezzlement instead of theft and mischief instead of sexual betrayals in marriage.
3- Comparison with others: In this method, a person reduces the torment of his conscience by comparing his behavior with worse examples from others. There is so much theft in this country that there is nothing to prevent us from going under.
4- Shifting or sharing responsibility: In this case, the person puts the responsibility on an external source or divides it among a large group. In the My Lai massacre, a group of American soldiers tortured, raped, killed and mutilated some 500 Vietnamese civilians. When 14 officers were tried for this incident, they put the responsibility on their superiors and of course the charges were dismissed!
5- Dehumanization of the victim: the general logic of this subhuman method is to consider others. The more the human quality of the victim is damaged, the easier it becomes to harm him. Kakasia calling slaves, considering women to be unintelligent and. In fact, it is a precursor to these behaviors.
6- Blaming the victim: In this method, the victim himself is considered the main cause of evil. Examples of this mechanism are workers who consider the employer’s misbehavior as the reason for their theft, and an aggressor who says that the victim’s behavior was provocative.
Mohsen Hassanzadeh
@moshaveryaar
This post is written by omid_1352