reply to post by Iconic
The question you ask in your thread title is, if you will forgive me for saying so, a little obtuse. People believe in things, have faith, have
political ideals, and have morals. But GROUPS of people, even those with grand intentions, are a different story. If you collect enough people in one
place, or unite enough people under a banner, and regardless of thier intent, of thier faith, and regardless of thier individual moral capacity, the
majority of people become savages and extremists.
It is the rare person who can be part of a crowd, without sublimating his or her own morality in defference to the group mind.
The mistake that we make is relying, despite any stimulus applied to, or by society, on societies ability to operate in a manner which we would find
acceptable as individuals. The truth is that although most people are pretty much decent and fairminded, when operating as a single entity, even a
group of good people can do monsterous things, and allow monsterous things to be done in thier name.
