"Because of these and other compelling illusions about war, it easy--in fact, all too easy--to regard the perpetrators of mass violence as depraved monsters or madmen. For example, George W. Bush proclaimed that he ordered the invasion of Iraq and toppled Saddam Hussein's regime becuase he "was not about to leave the security of the American people in the hands of a madman." French president Jacques Chirac described Osama bin Laden as "a raving madman," while British foreign secretary Jack Straw described Bin Laden as "psychotic and paranoid."

What evidence was there that these people were insane? There is usually none at all. The psychologists wh painstakingly sifted through data on the senior Nazi officeers brought to justice in the Nuremberg trials found that "high-ranking Nazi war criminals...participated in atrocities without having diagnosable impairments that would account for their actions." They were "as diverse a group as one might find in our government today, or in the leadership of the PTA." if the Nazi leaders were not deranged, what about the rank and file who did Hitler's dirty work? ..."The truth seems to be, writes social psychologist James Waller, "that the most outstanding characteristic of perpetrators of extraordinary evil lies in their normality, not their abnormality." Purveyors of violence, terrorist, and mercahnts of genocidal destruction are, more often than not, people who fit the profile that Primo Levi painted of his Nazi jailers at Auschwitz: "average human beings, averagely intelligent, averagely wicked...they had our faces." To Hannah Arendt they were "terribly and terrifyingly normal." They could be your neighbors, parents, or children. They could be you.


-THE MOST DANGEROUS ANIMAL: David Livingstone Smith (pages 3-4)

Smith is uncomfortably correct in his analysis of how evil is perceived by Hollywood, literature, and cultural storytelling as being simply the province of the insane and diabolical. In truth, however, discarding the perpetrators of horrendous violence as simply being "insane" is little more than a form of self-denial used to protect ourselves from the truely evil potential that lies dormant within all of us ("good", normal") people.

This (nongraphic) clip from the movie "Se7en" illustrates this self-delusion:



Albert Einstein once defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results". As we discussed earlier in the semester with the Kitty Genovese case, an insane person does not realize that what he/she is doing is wrong. The legal definition of insanity has sparked a great deal of debate within the American legal system, as a person who pleads "insanity" is not considered responsible for their actions. However, while it nice to think that those who perform some of most cruel and inhumane atrocities are insane (Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot); these people are not only aware of the nature of their actions but rather believe they doing good. Therefore, while it may be comforting to think of of the most evil of human behaviors as being the result of insanity, it is not an accurate description of the cause of human evil.

The sad truth of the matter is, as Smith said so pithily: "All human beings, have the potential to be hideously cruel and destructive to one another" (p.4).

According to a recent CNN article:

"Researchers say most perpetrators of genocide were not destined for murder and had never killed before: 'You don't have to be mentally ill or even innately evil or criminal. You can be ordinary, no better or worse than you or me, and commit killing or genocide,' said Harvard psychiatrist Robert Lifton, who has studied Nazi doctors. 'The truth is that we all have the possibility for genocidal behavior.'
Experts have reached a troubling conclusion: It was actually very easy for the architects of genocide to find more than enough ordinary people to do the killing.
Genocide is often the result of a "perfect storm." A country reeling from political and economic turmoil, a fanatical leader promising to make things better and a vulnerable population targeted for blame -- all combine in a blueprint for mass murder." - (citation)

John Doe from "Se7en" might seem like an extreme example, but looking back at the atrocities committed throughout human history and all around the world today, even his most heinous of actions are nothing beyond the scope of supposedly "normal" human beings. This begs the question: are you capable of committing hideously evil acts? Evidence shows, in the right situation, you are.