"Familiarity with evil breeds not contempt but acceptance"

Repeated encounters with wrongdoing do not necessarily arouse resistance or anger; instead, over time, they may dull sensitivity to what is wrong and lead to gradual normalization. When exposed continually to acts or ideas once deemed shocking or immoral, people often become desensitized. The sharp emotional or ethical reaction that might accompany a first encounter with evil diminishes with each repetition. In societies and individuals alike, what was once considered outrageous slips incrementally toward the ordinary.

Hattersley’s observation compels reflection on the paradoxes of moral perception. Conventional wisdom may imply that knowing evil well would fortify moral opposition, making one more appalled, more disgusted. Yet the phenomenon runs the opposite direction: sustained contact can foster resignation, complicity, or even defense of that which was once rejected. This is visible throughout history, from the slow accommodation of corruption within organizations, to the acceptance of injustice in social systems, or even the banalization of violence through unending news cycles and digital stimulation.

Social environments and personal circles matter intensely in shaping the boundaries of acceptable behavior. When deviance becomes common, shared values may erode, and individuals learn to rationalize or minimize the gravity of evil acts. Apologies abound, “everyone does it,” “it’s not that bad”, and small concessions grow into stark departures from original principles. What began as revulsion settles into passive coexistence. Over time, the exceptional appears unremarkable; the intolerable becomes ordinary.

This process has profound implications for self-awareness and collective responsibility. Moral vigilance requires not just understanding what is wrong, but also recognizing when routine blunts ethical judgment. Without conscious resistance, mere exposure is a formidable teacher, recruiting the mind and conscience into passive alliance with the very things it once found unacceptable. To guard against this outcome demands active reflection, critical questioning, and a refusal to let repetition erode one’s core values.