In the course of reading "Ordinary Men" (see my earlier thread), I was struck by the personality traits that are deemed to be shared by authoritarians.

Their personality traits include a rigid adherence to conventional values, submissiveness to authority figures, aggressiveness to out-groups, opposition to introspection, reflection and creativity, a tendency to superstition and stereotyping, preoccupation with power and "toughness", destructiveness and cynicism, the belief that wild and dangerous things are going on in the world, the projection outward of unconscious emotional and aggressive impulses, and an exaggerated concern with sexuality. Fascist movements allow them to project this aggression through sanctioned violence against ideologically targeted out-groups.

The book chronicles atrocities by both a reserve police battalion as well as Nazis. Here's a description that that got my attention: "Nazism was cruel because nazis were cruel, and nazis were cruel because cruel people tended to become nazis."

Peter T.