“Anyone who has the power to make you believe absurdities has the power to make you commit injustices” (Voltaire). This means that if someone has the power to make another think irrationality is justifiable, then that person has the ability to make the other person carry out a crime. This shows that people can be easily persuaded and manipulated by an elite group or those in power, because of this other people of lower status and those who are different are thought to be weak. When others perceive that another race or gender is weaker or more inept, the people in power will often commit abuses towards this group of people. This abuse is usually brought about by extremists, these people are often ultra-nationalistic. These abuses become difficult to solve and more demanding to deal with as time advanced. For example in World War II during the holocaust the Jewish race was cruelly and deliberately annihilated by the Nazis. The most destructive crimes were produced through desensitization which caused thousands of people to follow and in the end most everyone to believe the crime was justified.

The foulest wrong doings in a country are often initiated by the leader, causing irrational actions to follow. Countries often do not realize how horrific an action is until it is too late and the action irreversible and quite difficult to stop. The worst crimes committed are usually done under a leader from a fringe party. A country often picks leaders from the middle parties of the ideological spectrum not the fringe parties, but when a country is falling apart, an extremist party often takes power. This can be good because the people will frequently get what they want, for example, a more stable economy or government. The down side of having a fringe party leader is that often the country ends up with a dictator, who often reverts to fear and propaganda to maintain control of the people after they are in control. This leader can work with an elite group and start a snowball of abuses. A great example of a leader that used and elite group and desensitization is Adolf Hitler. He was both loved and hated by the German people.

Many of the German people loved Adolph Hitler because he had charisma and was very articulate. Hitler had the true belief in the superiority of the German people, and through propaganda caused the German’s to gain pride in their country and to be proud to be of their German heritage. “Hitler’s greatest asset- and it amounted in its field to genius- was his psychological insight,” (Mason) But Hitler did not work alone; he had an elite group that helped plan the events that turned into the Holocaust. This elite group was made up of academic and military intellectuals. , these people bought into Hitler’s plan and became desensitized. The main decision that greatly affected the holocaust was the “Final Solution,” this was a plan to annihilate the Jews of Europe (Final Solution, 2012). The Final Decision was decided in the Wannesee Conference that took place January 20th 1942. The Final Solution decided the fate of all the Jews in the Third Reich Empire (Wannsee Conference). Hitler came up with the “Final Solution” to kill the Jews more effectively. Up to this point the Jews were being shot in the open and people were seeing this and the bullets were costing too much. The change to gassing was more effective and cheaper in cost. Also the Germans did not know about the masses that were being killed.

The most unforgettable crimes can lead to detrimental actions that are not directly done to benefit the wrong doings. Several people may not realize that their actions and not speaking out will not make a difference in their lives, but it may make a difference in the lives of others. The actions these people neglect to do can lead to irremediable events. When leaders initiate atrocities there is a group of people that aid in the process, a considerable amount of them are indirectly involved. Being indirectly