Architects of abusive policies escape accountability while low-level enforcers are punished
Evidence
Officials denied awareness of what was going on, absolving the upper echelon of any responsibility. Because administration officials blamed the problem on a few “bad apples,” only guards did prison time. Many of the very officials who were the architects and enablers of the costly Iraq war and the resulting abusive practices received high national honors and career advancement. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2410
Categorization
Category: Factual Claims
- XREF: Connects to the ‘moral disengagement’ framework of the book’s overall argument — using ‘diffusion of responsibility’ and ‘advantageous comparison’ mechanisms to dodge accountability. Timely given modern discussions of algorithmic accountability and AI policy.
- SEED: An essay angle on how ‘bad apples’ framing functions as a systemic protection racket — the deflection of blame onto individuals while systems persist, applicable to institutional scandals generally.