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Becoming
Evil:
How
Ordinary People Commit Genocide
and Mass Killing
by James Waller
Oxford University Press, June 2002
336 pages, $29.95
How did the girl
next door end up leading a naked
Iraqi man around on a leash?
When the first headlines came out,
Rumsfeld said the abusers in Abu
Ghraib were a few bad apples, a
handful of psychopaths. Many headlines
later - Red Cross reports leaked,
a jailed Briton from Guantánamo
testifying to abuse, two American
soldiers convicted of murder (one
of a severely wounded teenaged captive,
the other of a fellow guard) - even
those who were willing to accept
that explanation in the beginning
want a better one. One that will
make the abuses end.
In Becoming Evil, social psychologist
James Waller examines extraordinary
human evil: genocide and mass killing.
Between each of his chapters he
includes firsthand accounts from
those who have experienced some
of the greatest human evils of our
history, from the slaughter of Native
Americans by Europeans to the tragic
cycle of genocide between Hutus
and Tutsis in Rwanda. For the history
lesson alone, this would be a valuable
book.
Waller argues that we must neither
disown those who do evil, nor excuse
them. Social pressures exist, but
they are not deterministic. There
were Hutus who did not kill Tutsis
and Tutsis who did not kill Hutus.
One of the things that we have to
do in order to create a society
with less killing and cruelty is
never to excuse or minimize killing
and cruelty. Individuals must be
accountable for the evils they themselves
do. But we must be accountable for
our part in creating a culture that
encourages either empathy or cruelty.
Waller examines previous explanations
of extraordinary human evil - including
"a handful of psychopaths"
- and then proposes his own explanatory
model. An explanatory model should
be useful, and Waller's gives us
immediate things to do, in our individual
lives as well as in social policy,
to increase human kindness. Like
the poor, evil will always be with
us. That does not mean we should
be fatalistic about evil. It means
that we should always be ready to
address it.
Waller cites psychological experiment,
ethnological field studies, and
evolutionary theory to support the
thesis that humans are genetically
predisposed to divide into groups,
value our in-group over other groups,
and treat those within the group
more "ethically" than
those outside of the group. In human
history, this predisposition has
encouraged ethnocentricity and xenophobia
- bigotry and hatred. Our biological
heritage also influences our response
to authority and our desire to exert
authority over others.
There are also social forces that
help prepare people to commit genocide.
One is cultural beliefs, like nationalism,
racism, or "manifest destiny."
Another is disengaging morality
from conduct by such things as:
-displacing responsibility ("I
was only following orders")
-deploying euphemisms ("collateral
damage")
-seeking moral justification (it
is "for a good end," "for
the good of the state," "for
the protection of democracy")
-looking for advantageous comparisons
("we have done some bad things,
but look at what they did")
- minimizing, distorting, or distancing
ourselves from the consequences
(not broadcasting images of war,
concentration camps, or mass killing;
calling torture "abuse"
or even a "fraternity prank;"
calling the destruction of a village
"liberation")
The more highly regarded one's self-interest
becomes, the easier it is to justify
evil done to others. At the same
time, having a self-identity that
is distinct from one's group identity
is essential to maintaining moral
norms. When one's entire identity
is wrapped up in being a prison
guard; when the message of your
social group is that brutality is
not only acceptable but a positive
good; when any refusal to obey orders
or disclosure of anything to others
that may reflect poorly on the group
is considered betrayal: that setting
is a horror waiting to happen.
To make "crimes against humanity"
psychologically supportable, according
to Waller, it is critical to deny
your victims status among those
to whom you are morally obligated,
and make them responsible for their
own suffering. As in: "These
people have attacked our society
itself and thereby given up all
social rights." "These
particular offenses place these
prisoners outside of the Geneva
Convention." Humiliation, forcing
others into ragged and unclean conditions,
also helps to disassociate us from
them.
We may not be able to overcome our
biology, or want to. But there are
insights in Waller's scientific
analysis that we have heard before,
like: Do not justify doing evil
in the name of fighting evil, or
we will become what we fight. Now
that it has a scientific imprimatur,
perhaps more people will apply that
simple maxim.
-Review by Anitra Freeman
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