Ordinary Criminals Like You and Me

The Seventeen Stages of Evil

1 Establish a set of ideals and beliefs that insinuate your superiority over others. 

2 Provide logical justification for implementing your beliefs.

3 Have clearly defined behaviors that the members of your group must endorse. 

4 Reinforce steps 1, 2, and 3 as often as possible through discussion and written material until they become your primary beliefs. 

5 Have members contractually agree to the above steps– this reinforces a sense of obligation to the group and it’s leaders. 

6 Select a charismatic spokesman to advertise your group and reinforce your beliefs. 

7 Create a range of punishments for those who do not conform. 

8 Emphasize the importance of conformity and punishment to help members aspire to your ideals. 

9 Insist that each member find new initiates to join the group. 

10 Institute severe penalties for those who may wish to leave the group.

11 Limit alternative perspectives and communication between members of your group.

12 Exclude, as much as possible, contact with people from outside the group.

13 Identify a group that opposes your beliefs and ideals.

14 Depersonalize and denigrate those who are not members of your group.

15 Gradually increase hostility and aggression toward the out-group.

16 When dealing with the “enemy” create a sense of anonymity. a) Don’t use names for your victims. b) Give impressive titles to active members of your group. c) Wear a uniform or a mask, or some other distinctive marker.

17 The final solution: eliminate the enemy.

“ The first 5 steps can be found in the dynamics of nearly every group, whether social, political, religious etc. Farther down the list, groups become more authoritarian and cult-like. The final steps are used to coerce members of hostile fringe groups into carrying out socially disruptive acts. Nearly all these steps are used to various degrees by military and prison authorities throughout the world.”

 “ We can conclude that moral behavior is highly dependent on our personal interactions with others. The more anonymous we can be, the easier it is for us to behave immorally.”

I hope that you, as I did, became more and more uncomfortable as I read down this list. Especially once you passed #6.