Fractionated authorization lets producers deflect responsibility up an endless chain of command
Evidence
Systems in which activities are fractionated and carried out under obfuscating authorization provide a fertile ground for vindicating personal responsibility by structural means. Testifying before the Senate, the producer Ivor Tors described his frustration at trying to pin down who authorized a network directive to inject more sex and violence into his programs: “Mr. Daly said that this came from Mr. Levy, but Mr. Levy at that time received instructions from Mr. Kintner. Again I have no firsthand knowledge whose suggestions it was. I knew only that I was told to put sex and violence in my show” Sometimes a faceless executive entity located in another city is the authorizer. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 846
Categorization
Category: Definitional Content
- XREF: Mirrors the Milgram obedient-teacher experiments and Arendt’s banality of evil — the feckless ‘I was only following orders’ structure.