Norman Singer: Justifying evil behavior
Regarding the April 19 column “The most frightening lesson from the Holocaust”: James B. Comey gives us some ideas that may be hard to digest about how our true human nature can be turned into something evil.
We have seen this through history, in the 1960s in our own country when blacks were lynched. We have seen this hatred in the activities of the Ku Klux Klan.
As Comey stated, people have the rare ability to convince themselves that what they are doing is for the good of society or mankind. By justifying our actions, we save ourselves from overpowering guilt and are able to live our lives in comfort.
We did the same thing in the war against Iraq and Afghanistan, torturing people and claiming it was justified in time of war. No religion or social group ever condones this type of behavior. We are seeing it in the actions of ISIS and al-Qaida who call their actions a “holy war.”
It is too easy to become what we fear and hate. We must study our behavior and realize that it is inherent in our nature and select our governments with much thought and encourage a free press with ideas that challenge what is wrong. We must “realize our capacity for rationalization and moral surrender.”
Norman Singer
Cary
This story was originally published May 25, 2015 at 2:00 PM with the headline "Norman Singer: Justifying evil behavior."