There is a distressing book by Canadian criminologist, Thomas Gabor titled Everybody Does It: Crime by the Public (University of Toronto Press, 1994) which outlines just how willing ordinary people are to break laws, “bend” the truth, and do generally harmful things for their own benefit. Thefts, frauds, assaults, and even sexual offenses are covered. Gabor also discussed the unethical acts that police and other authority figures are capable of doing. The justifications that they use are disturbingly familiar and readers have a tendency to squirm at being reminded of their own “criminal” behaviour which seemed reasonable at the time. Crossing the line between “right” and “wrong” acts is a lot easier than most people are willing to admit.

I spend a great deal of time driving, and if my observations of traffic patterns are any indication of people’s willingness to abide by laws, it would appear that Thomas Gabor and Zimbardo are right on the money.

People generally tend to drive whatever speed they wish, and only reduce speed and obey traffic laws when they are made aware of police cars in the area (i.e. slamming on breaks when they see a cruiser or when flashed by oncoming cars).

The majority of people I have spoken with are convinced that they can handle the increased speeds because they are “superior” drivers - i.e. they rationalize their dangerous and illegal behavior by convincing themselves the speed limits and traffic laws only exist to regulate “poor” (i.e. “other”) drivers.

This is a VERY common example of one of the familiar justifications Romeo Vitelli just mentioned. The human ability to self-delude is a powerful thing, indeed.

I believe that a lot of things can change in a person because of influence. Not only good people can turn evil but also evil people can turn good with the right influence, of course. The only problem is who will turn out to be influenced by the other.

People who turned evil are probably confused in some point in their lives. They wouldn’t be changing something in their life if they know exactly what they are doing. All they need is a moment to examine their self from all the influences they are under.

There are varying degrees of “wrong”…sometimes this can be so gradual that it’s difficult to tell when one has become “evil.” Stress and dire circumstances (poverty, etc.) may cause a formerly good person to go down the wrong path out of necessity or perceived necessity, thus leading to the justification factor.
When the ends justify the means, we have to watch out!

I think people can be evil but cannot be evil too. In my conclusions of life i have seen that people can often be two faced and so this proves evilness is all around every night- but not at day because their is light outside so that is why. Murderes come out at night most often which is why i believe darkness stimulates evilness. It is true… murderes, vampires, and beasts all come out at night and thus proves my point. 10/10 murders (according to cosmo girl magazine) come out at night to kill and so the night bring out the worst in us by zapping us with its special powers from the stars. Dark is bad. Dark kills, not people. So hide at night… but you can play in the day. That is why we sleep at night you see… because darkness will hunt us down.

Remember: Darkness bites so when the sun goes down you should too.

Marissa Fudge

From the commentary and its details, my opinion is assisted. “Ordinary, obedient people can turn malevolent during certain circumstances. Such conditions of where a person is pressured in any way in regard to their respect for others and/or the environment can result in a negative change of moral alignment; these points are explained in the quotes of “However, what I’m saying is that if the killing can be shown to be a product of the influence of a powerful situation within a powerful system, then it’s as if they are experiencing diminished capacity and have lost their free will or their full reasoning capacity” (Zetter) and “Situations can be sufficiently powerful to undercut empathy, altruism, morality and to get ordinary people, even good people, to be seduced into doing really bad things — but only in that situation” (Zetter). Abu Ghraib, a prison within Iraq, is used as an example of how people, particularly the prison guards, may disregard their caring ways and become evil, through actions of abuse on the prisoners. Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist, conducted an experiment at Stanford University during 1971 to offer a setting where good individuals become bad, as described in the quotation, “Zimbardo conducted a now-famous experiment at Stanford University in 1971, involving students who posed as prisoners and guards. Five days into the experiment, Zimbardo halted the study when the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and simulate sex acts”” (Zetter).

Works Cited
Zetter, Kim. TED 2008: How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib. 28 Feb. 2008. Wired. 25 March 2008. .

Nicolas Weis

Writing in the World Activity

I posted information on a blog regarding to the topic, “the causes of good people turning evil.” I posted the following information to represent my position of the causes of the subject under the name of “?????????????” The following is posted in the blog: “An outside source, particularly the article from Wired of TED 2008: How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib, supports my argument. “I propose obedient people can turn malevolent during certain circumstances, particularly those which involve pressure from other people and/or the surroundings. Such situations of where a person is pressured in any way in regard to their respect for others and/or the environment can result in a negative change of moral alignment; the following quotes discuss the related points: “However, what I’m saying is that if the killing can be shown to be a product of the influence of a powerful situation within a powerful system, then it’s as if they are experiencing diminished capacity and have lost their free will or their full reasoning capacity” (Zetter) and “Situations can be sufficiently powerful to undercut empathy, altruism, morality and to get ordinary people, even good people, to be seduced into doing really bad things — but only in that situation” (Zetter). Abu Ghraib, a prison within Iraq, is used as an example of how people, particularly the prison guards, may disregard their caring ways and become evil, through actions of abuse on the prisoners. Philip Zimbardo, a psychologist, conducted an experiment at Stanford University during 1971 to offer a setting where good individuals become bad, as described in the quotation, “Zimbardo conducted a now-famous experiment at Stanford University in 1971, involving students who posed as prisoners and guards. Five days into the experiment, Zimbardo halted the study when the student guards began abusing the prisoners, forcing them to strip naked and simulate sex acts”” (Zetter).”

Works Cited

Zetter, Kim. TED 2008: How Good People Turn Evil, From Stanford to Abu Ghraib. 28 Feb. 2008. Wired. 25 March 2008.

The link to the blog is presented. The following is the link:

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I think that many variables take place in the way that apparently good people turn evil.It is known that each age has crisis and conflict, but I think that personality variables play a huge role in human decisions. There are people who comform easier than others, and viceversa.Nevertheless I think that there is an specific evil point in all humans’s soul.