«Stepping back, Dawes draws attention to the common socio-cultural forces that run through instances of mass brutality the world over: "Today most scholars trace genocidal behavior to organizational identity, social context, and national ideologies, rather than to individual personalities," he writes. "In other words, you're not so much who you are as where you are." To illustrate how easy it can be to get humans to commit to immoral behavior, he cites a few famous psychological studies, such as Stanley Milgram's controversial experiment demonstrating that people are more likely to carry out harmful acts if they're sanctioned by an authority figure. As it happens, the veterans with whom Dawes met "emphasized the importance of the regime's willingness to take responsibility for their actions."»
'Evil Men' by James Dawes - The Washington Post
http://m.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2013/08/09/e77fc5b2-b266-11e2-baf7-5bc2a9dc6f44_print.html
Best Regards,
RRW
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