Contrasting worse inhumanities makes one’s own wrongdoing seem righteous

Evidence

Exploiting the contrast principle can make even highly detrimental activities seem righteous. Skillful framing of an issue in an advantageous comparison can make the lesser of two evils not only acceptable but even morally right. As we have seen, terrorists depict their deeds as acts of selfless martyrdom by comparing them with cruelties that others have inflicted on the people with whom they identify. The more flagrantly the inhumanities are contrasted, the more likely it is that one’s own destructive conduct will appear benevolent and righteous. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 390 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

How lifestyle and industrial practices are viewed is colored by what they are compared against. Through exploitation of the contrast principle, proponents can make detrimental practices seem righteous. If used skillfully, framing the issue by advantageous comparison can make the lesser of two evils not only socially acceptable but even morally right. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2657 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Privileged innocence is purchased at the cost of others’ suffering — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School: Its History,…, 167; Genocide produces a moral reversal where killing itself becomes a duty. — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 135; Explaining inhumane conduct with intact self-respect is the harder task (+7 more)

Broader Connections

• Contrasting one’s harms against worse ones makes harmful acts seem righteous. #corroborates (0.97) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 390
• Framing harmful practices against worse alternatives makes them seem righteous #corroborates (0.95) — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 2657