Obedience to authority has enabled more atrocities than outright rebellion has

Evidence

Self-exonerating obedience to horrific orders is similarly evident in military atrocities, such as the My Lai massacre (Kelman, 1973). The incidence of genocidal violence testifies to the writer C. P. Snow’s insightful observation that “more hideous crimes have been committed in the name of obedience than in the name of rebellion.” In an effort to deter institutionally sanctioned atrocities, the Nuremberg Principles declared that obedience to inhumane orders, even orders from the highest authorities, does not relieve subordinates of responsibility for their actions. However, victors rarely try their upper-echelon authorities as criminals. — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement, 405

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the vault’s existing cluster on how ordinary people rationalize supporting harmful policies under authority and group norms. — connects to: Forced obedience to absolute power is worse than the state of nature — John Locke, Second Treatise of Government, 170; Most normal people obey authority figures even to inflict harm — Leonard S. Newman and Ralph Erber (eds.), Understanding Genocide: The Social…, 319
• SHARE: C. P. Snow’s line about obedience versus rebellion as the greater crime source is worth sending to anyone tracking moral psychology or atrocity history.
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Albert Bandura, Moral Disengagement: How People Do Harm…, 405