This is the nature of being a soldier in any conflict. If they were to empathise with the ‘enemy’ they would be incapable of following orders. To join a military is to outsource your conscience. Cruelty is permitted because it is authorised.

But this does not just apply to soldiers. When we, civilians, permit any authority, military, political, religious or the social consensus to determine how we understand and respond to a situation that is presented to us, that authority stands in place of our conscience and overrides empathy. And in the absence of conscience – empathy plus ethics – the person we are harming is no longer a fully sentient person and neither are we.

I am reminded of the MIlgram Experiment. It’s well known but its implications should, I think, be more fully explored if we want to understand this moment in human history.