People Need to Be Able to Distinguish Between Right and Wrong

I found the following quote in the front pages of a book called Nonviolence. The book is by Mark Kurlansky:

"To kill one man is to be guilty of a capital crime, to kill ten men is to increase the guilt ten-fold, to kill a hundred men is to increase it a hundred-fold. This the rulers of the earth all recognize and yet when it comes to the greatest crime—waging war on another state—they praise it!"

"It is clear they do not know it is wrong, for they record such deeds to be handed down to posterity; if they knew they were wrong, why should they wish to record them and have them handed down to posterity?

"If a man on seeing a little black were to say it is black, but on seeing a lot of black were to say it is white, it would be clear that such a man could not distinguish black and white. Or if he were to taste a few bitter things and were to pronounce them sweet, clearly he would be incapable of distinguishing between sweetness and bitterness. So those who recognize a small crime as such, but do not recognize the wickedness of the greatest crime of all—the waging of war on another state—but actually praise it—cannot distinguish between right and wrong. So as to right or wrong, the rulers of the world are in confusion."
—Mozi, China, Circa 470-391 B.C.


view larger

SO: Why do we have rulers in this world whom are either unable to distinguish between right and wrong, or uncaring about perpetrating wrongful (i.e. harmful) acts?