@mcjulie … or even, maybe, living under generalized oppression could kind of erode the “switch” so you end up with people walking around with their sadism coping mechanism locked in the “on” position. How that manifests externally would vary between individuals and societies, of course. @mcjulie But fundamentally, this would be more of a systematic hack of a (relatively) universal feature in human minds. Marlantes’ example: parents bragging about how their kids don’t watch violent media or have gun toys—but in the backyard, kids are burning ants with a magnifying glass.