These stories illustrate how power magnifies the ideas of those who hold it because of the human tendency to seek safety in conformity. The only antidotes are conviction—loyalty to a strong countervailing ideology—and the freedom to express it. Where these are lacking, as was the case in Germany after 1933, ideologues quickly get the upper hand and call the tune for behavior. A minority of haters, backed by the authority of the state, thus becomes free to drive events forward, to make the lives of any targeted group ever more miserable.
