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"Hey man, I don't make the rules." I'm sure more than one guard said and thought this at Auschwitz. And it's a pernicious problem in complex, political society,
by javajosh 11y ago
"Hey man, I don't make the rules." I'm sure more than one guard said and thought this at Auschwitz. And it's a pernicious problem in complex, political society, a rationalization that let's people do their jobs, even when they suspect that it's wrong.
Personal accountability is a good thing, and at the very least we shouldn't be repeating the whole "hey, they didn't make the rules" post hoc rationalization on people. Vance could have said no to pressure. The fact that he didn't is a very individual problem.
- dikaiosune 11y agoGodwin, anyone? Surely we have better analogies to show that this political behavior is shortsighted than to compare political prosecutions (for vaguely sketchy actions) to mass murder.
- fineman 11y agoNo, it's actually more than appropriate to point it out because the point is that diffusion of responsibility easily ends up (to those involved) justifying mass murder. That shows that it of course justifies everything lesser to them as well. And, it smokes out the Godwin trolls whose sole "contribution" is taking offense to everything.
- tonyedgecombe 11y agoAll very nice but relying on the character of an individual clearly didn't work in this case.
- javajosh 11y agoIt's a form of punishment that, just like corporeal punishment, hopefully serves as a deterrent to future misdeeds.