This is, perhaps, the most fundamental lesson of our study: ordinary people, simply doing their jobs, and without any particular hostility on their part, can become agents in a terrible destructive process. Moreover, even when the destructive effects of their work become patently clear, and they are asked to carry out actions incompatible with fundamental standards of morality, relatively few people have the resources needed to resist authority. A variety of inhibitions against disobeying authority come into play and successfully keep the person in his place. Dr. Stanley Milgram
Obedience to Authority, 1974 (excerpts from his psychological experiments where human subjects apply lethal electrical shocks to other humans, because ‘they’re only following orders.’ )