People who commit atrocities genuinely believe they are acting morally.

Evidence

The exchange between the two characters is powerful, for it compels the reader to consider the important question of whether it is ever right to kill innocent people. If a “greater good” is invoked as justification, what is this good and who defines it? For Pyle, the greater good is stopping communists in Asia, and preserving Western, particularly U.S., dominance. It is hard to side with Pyle. Yet, the exchange between Pyle and Fowler illustrates that morality, it turns out, is less of an absolute than we would like to think. Pyle, in fact, believes he is acting morally. — Roderick M. Kramer, Geoffrey J. Leonardelli, Robert W. Livingston, Social Cognition, Social Identity, and…, 2121

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s knowledge of moral psychology and the ‘banality of evil’ literature; also echoes The Quiet American read elsewhere.