[Skybird]

The first case, the murder case, is a textbook lecture in spocial psychology, the case of Kitty Genovese. At least it was a big thing at my times still, but I seem to recall that recently there have been risen some doubts on that the events took place the way they usually get told in the books.


It usually gets used to explain in social psychology courses that many people act on the belief that somebody else probbaly laready have cared, and so no own responsibility to care must be realised.


On the Germans, violence is a powerful and intimdiating threat. While there were Germans who indeed did not know what went on, there were also those who knew about the camps, and faded it out of their horizon, and then there are the many Germans who stood at the windows and turned away when the Gestapo took another Jewish family out their homes. The individual motives are numerous, no dohbt, but fear , intidmiation has probbaly often a lot to do with it. Fear for your family, your own life. Not everybody has the guts to confront the gestapo and most likely getting destroyed and his beloved ones with him. At leats not in that open situation. But lets nt forget: many, many Germans DID resist to the regime, they hid refugees at the risk for their own life, they helped Jews to escape. Thousnads and thousands did like this.



Today peope are quick to say "make a stand for something", and "make a mark". But they do not risk anything in this lingual gymnastics - more it is not. There lives are not at risk,not their health, not their wealth. its easy under such circumstances to raise the standards of your mora demands to others if you have not your won skin in the fire.



Genes have something to do with all this indeed: in the form of self-preservation. It takes guts and an upright character to put this at risk, your programming is deeply against it - but sometimes a few of us show that the code can be beaten indeed. But i do not fundamentally believe in the good of all men. I believe in a little good in some men.