http://thescepticblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/zimbabwe-rwanda-and-mount-sinai/ Random thoughts of a random chappy Fri, 07 Aug 2009 15:41:30 +0000 http://wordpress.com/ hourly 1 http://thescepticblog.wordpress.com/2008/06/07/zimbabwe-rwanda-and-mount-sinai/#comment-128 Marmoset Wed, 11 Jun 2008 09:27:15 +0000 http://thescepticblog.wordpress.com/?p=42#comment-128 I agree with the main thrust of this rant (which could indeed be extended beyond Judaism: those of us who are Christians should also consider that a life of conspicuous personal virtue is only part, and perhaps not the most important part, of the story). But I take issue with the suggestion that the world divides into a few "resho'im", who are somehow innately wicked, and the rest of us, who have the capacity to be either good or bad. With the possible exception of psychopaths and sociopaths, we all have the capacity to be either - and whether our actions are good or bad seems to depend, to a frightening degree, on circumstances. See Philip Zimbardo's recent book, "The Lucifer Effect", which considers the Stanford Prison Experiment and applies its findings to modern events such as the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib. I agree with the main thrust of this rant (which could indeed be extended beyond Judaism: those of us who are Christians should also consider that a life of conspicuous personal virtue is only part, and perhaps not the most important part, of the story). But I take issue with the suggestion that the world divides into a few “resho’im”, who are somehow innately wicked, and the rest of us, who have the capacity to be either good or bad. With the possible exception of psychopaths and sociopaths, we all have the capacity to be either – and whether our actions are good or bad seems to depend, to a frightening degree, on circumstances. See Philip Zimbardo’s recent book, “The Lucifer Effect”, which considers the Stanford Prison Experiment and applies its findings to modern events such as the treatment of prisoners at Abu Ghraib.

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