I'm not at all sure what your point is. There's no shortage in history of episodes where people have been irrational, selfish, bigoted. Stalin and Pol Pot wer

I'm not at all sure what your point is. There's no shortage in history of episodes where people have been irrational, selfish, bigoted. Stalin and Pol Pot were just people, slave-owners were just people, inquisitors were just people, witch-burning villagers were people... It doesn't take that much imagination to put oneself in their shoes... and see that it's largely greed, small-mindedness, or stupidity that explain what they did. Greed, small-mindedness, and stupidity are as much a part of human nature, as generosity, open-mindedness, and cleverness. Regardless, any society in which I'd want to live promotes the latter.