About this quote

Society has a strange way of bending its most sacred moral rules when the scale of the action gets large enough. We condemn individual acts of aggression while cheering for collective violence disguised as national duty. Why does a uniform wash away the stain of what we otherwise call a crime? You need to look past the pomp and the official seals to see actions for what they actually are. Strip away the theater of authority, and you are left with simple, unvarnished truth.

When to use it

• A project manager notices the company laid off fifty workers to boost profit margins while reprimanding an intern for printing personal documents. 'The company cuts dozens of lives to please shareholders, but they treat a wasted sheet of paper like a crime.'
• A student watches a massive bank get a government bailout after risky lending while their classmate's car gets repossessed over a missed payment. 'If you ruin one person's finances you are a predator, but if you ruin the entire economy you get a government check.'
• A local athlete gets banned for an aggressive outburst, but the league uses footage of massive, bone-crushing collisions to market their upcoming prime-time broadcast. 'They preach about sportsmanship in the handbook, but they sell tickets by showcasing the most violent hits.'