Quote:
Originally Posted by GQchris
It was Edmund Burke who said that all that had to happen for evil men to get their way was for good men to stand by and do nothing
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I think it was Dante Aligieri who said "the lowest part of hell is reserved for good men who let bad things happen."
Doesn't this all tie into our discussion on courage a few months ago...? Brewer poigniantly pointed out that "courage is the ability to do the right thing instead of the easy thin."
People allow themselves to be complacent and apathetic. In social psych, they have identified a phenomenon known as the "by-stander" effect, wherein a horrible thing will be going on, and nobody will stop to intervene. People assume somebody else will step in, and they don't have to. This is backed by social faccilitation, because the rest of the people think the same fucking way.
In the end, most do nothing, and sometimes, when the few do something...they are made pariahs and criticized for their efforts by those who didn't have the balls to act, who sit leizurly in their chairs and wax legally and ethically from ivory towers and high horses.
In the end, many of the few that do act may be swayed not to based upon the oh-so-horribly-true maxim "no good deed goes unpunished".