Can “good” people do bad things?

- It’s something we all ponder from time to time; how is it that normal civilians are capable of Assisting in mass Genocides, wars and other unimaginable atrocities towards their own species? Take the Rwandan genocide for example, the numerous accounts taken from survivors of how their neighbours, the ones they used to have cook outs with, watch children and share stories,  were the same neighbours they ended up killing in cold blood with their own two hands. Is the line we used to think between good and evil not as impermeable as we once thought? If we were put into the same situation would we do the same as those survivors? As much as we would all like to reject the idea of doing something so horrendous, we might be wrong by doing so.

Dehumanization... we all do it even if we don’t try to. It’s in part how the guards in the Standford Prision Experiment (run by Phil Zambardo), were capable of torturing and mistreating the prisoners in the experiment. From an evolutionary standpoint , it makes sense, from a social standpoint it reeks havoc. Because of dehumanization, humans due to their skin tone, gender, and/ or sexual orientation are given more privileges than others. It sparks sadistic tendencies or hate unto others for no reason whatsoever. Whether it be scowling at the homeless man on the street or to killing another human being; we are all capable of it- so the real question is- What person isn’t capable of doing a bad deed ?

Caroline Carvajal