There is a widespread belief that only evil people are capable of truly evil acts.
Many people view the crimes of Nazi Germany, Maoist China, the Soviet Union, and the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia through the eyes of the victims.
But to understand evil, it would be wise to view it through the eyes of the perpetrators.
Had you or I been an ordinary German, Chinese, Russian, or Cambodian person living under those regimes, we would in all likelihood not have resisted. We would have been supporters, either actively or passively.
The best book to understand the psychology of evil is Evil: Inside Human Violence and Cruelty by the renowned psychology professor Roy Baumeister.
This was a “quake book” for me when I first read it.
It shook my mental foundations and changed the way I see the world.
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