That’s true but group think requires a strong leader with a vision and a willingness to direct the group towards his own goals vice the best interests of the people. So I believe there’s an argument to be made for targeting and removing specific people from power to prevent atrocities from happening. Group think is a psychological concept, so here’s some more information about it. There are other factors involved, so removing one person still might not be effective.
Group Think
- Thinking in which maintaining group cohesion and solidarity is more important than considering facts in a realistic manner
Occurs when:
- Group members are highly cohesive
- Group member are isolated from contrary opinions
- Group is lead by a biased leader who make their wishes known
- Stress caused by external factors, especially time constraints
Signs of Group Think
- Overestimating group’s skills & wisdom
- Biased perceptions and evaluations of other groups and people outside of their group
- Strong conformity pressures within the group
- Poor decision making methods
My point wasn’t that single people can’t be bad, or do bad things, but ultimately to perform terrible acts at scale it requires buy-in from other people. Without support, whether it be through fear, coercion, or otherwise, it’s nothing more than intrusive thoughts.
Hitler was a bad dude but it took a concerted effort by who knows how many people in order to make the sick stuff that happened a reality.
All the names he listed were indeed bad dudes, but I feel saying Kissinger stands out because he had the support of the government while the others just killed millions by themselves is not a fair assessment of what transpired.
