“How does something immoral, when done privately, become moral when it is done collectively?”

— Walter E. Williams

1980s, All It Takes is Guts: A Minority View (1987)
Context: How does something immoral, when done privately, become moral when it is done collectively? Furthermore, does legality establish morality? Slavery was legal; apartheid is legal; Stalinist, Nazi, and Maoist purges were legal. Clearly, the fact of legality does not justify these crimes. Legality, alone, cannot be the talisman of moral people.

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Walter E. Williams34

American economist, commentator, and academic 1936

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