You don't have to excuse immoral behavior to have a complex understanding of it.
Some would argue that hundreds of years of enslavement and death of millions of people is far, far worse than simply killing them. Which would put the United States pretty much at the top of the heap of evil nations. But we don't really think of the US as the most evil nation in the world, do we? Simultaneously, we don't seem to do anything to make up for that evil, even though the US has forced other nations to do so.
I bring all this up because it's extremely easy to point the finger at one group and generalizing it all as evil, when you're not part of that group. That's how humans perpetuate evil, as the book mentions. Just simplify them down to some external "thing" and justify or rationalize. Without acknowledging the context, and providing some form of comparison to others, it's easy to fall into the trap of demonization and over-simplification.
Beria was obviously an evil, sick, twisted fuck. But it's very hard to apply that generalization to a whole government or people.
Some would argue that hundreds of years of enslavement and death of millions of people is far, far worse than simply killing them. Which would put the United States pretty much at the top of the heap of evil nations. But we don't really think of the US as the most evil nation in the world, do we? Simultaneously, we don't seem to do anything to make up for that evil, even though the US has forced other nations to do so.
I bring all this up because it's extremely easy to point the finger at one group and generalizing it all as evil, when you're not part of that group. That's how humans perpetuate evil, as the book mentions. Just simplify them down to some external "thing" and justify or rationalize. Without acknowledging the context, and providing some form of comparison to others, it's easy to fall into the trap of demonization and over-simplification.
Beria was obviously an evil, sick, twisted fuck. But it's very hard to apply that generalization to a whole government or people.