Recipe for Evil
1. Overidentify with a cause.
2. Elevate personal goals over concern for human
consequences of decisions.
3. Lack empathy. |
Evil in our legal system often results from overidentification
with popular causes (often an "ism") of the day--especially ideological
causes that treat mankind as specimens or lead to "us versus them" mentalities.
When overidentification with a cause is coupled with elevated concern for
personal goals--often the career goals of the government actor or actors--over
consequences to others, the chances for evil further increase. A third
factor that increases the likelihood of evil is a government actor's low
level of empathy for the persons adversely affected by his or her action.
Let's consider some examples of evil in the American legal
system. |
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