It Is Easy To Ignore

Ordinary People, Simply Doing Their Jobs, And Without Any Particular Hostility On Their Part, Can Become Agents In A Terrible Destructive Process. Moreover, Even When The Destructive Effects Of Their Work Become Patently Clear, And They Are Asked To Carry Out Actions Incompatible With Fundamental Standards Of Morality, Relatively Few People Have The Resources Needed To Resist Authority.

Each Individual Possesses A Conscience Which To A Greater Or Lesser Degree Serves To Restrain The Unimpeded Flow Of Impulses Destructive To Others. But When He Merges His Person Into An Organizational Structure, A New Creature Replaces Autonomous Man, Unhindered By The Limitations Of Individual Morality, Freed Of Humane Inhibition, Mindful Only Of The Sanctions Of Authority.

It Is Easy To Ignore Responsibility When One Is Only An Intermediate Link In A Chain Of Action.

A Substantial Proportion Of People Do What They Are Told To Do, Irrespective Of The Content Of The Act, And Without Pangs Of Conscience, So Long As They Perceive That The Command Comes From A Legitimate Authority.

Ordinary People, Simply Doing Their Jobs, And Without Any Particular Hostility On Their Part, Can Become Agents In A Terrible Destructive Process.