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>Destroying the innocent with a clear conscience: A sociopsychology of the Holocaust

That sounds as a very weak perspective to start with. That is, what if "they" are not "innocent"? There is definitely a standard out there that will allow to judge us as guilty of some heretic behavior, whoever we are.

Surely it would not be very wise to judge a book by its title, though.

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indeed, would love your thoughts on the essay itself - iirc the title refers to a situation where a Nazi camp guard writes in their diary of a “special action” (which refers to the burning alive of prisoners) followed by a description of the soup that was served that day - the title seems appropriate to that situation at least. tbh its been a long time since I read it, so I may have got some minor details wrong. and I agree with your point about defining the victims as “guilty” might be part of the process. But the point of the essay seemed to be that almost no-one was making a considered moral judgement that what they were doing was correct, they were doing what they were told and had essentially “outsourced” their moral responsibility to the regime.

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