Julia Shaw

Hitler is sort of meant to be something that gets people chatting about whether or not they think that people are born with the traits that make them capable of extreme harm towards others.

Or whether they think it's socialized, whether it's something that maybe in how people are raised is socialized.

sort of manifests over time.

And with Hitler, we know from certainly psychologists who have pored over his traits over time and looked at who he was over the course of his life, there's always this question of sort of, was he mad or bad?

And with the answer to was he mad, well, he certainly had some characteristics that people would associate with

For example, maybe sadism with this idea that he was less high on empathy is probably also showcased in his work.

But in terms of whether he was born that way, I think the answer usually would be no.

And actually, in his early life, he didn't showcase quite a lot of the traits that later he defined the horrors that he was capable of.

So would I go back in time and kill baby Hitler?

The answer is no, because I don't think it's a straight line from baby to adult.

And I don't think people are born evil.

Well, and I would be careful with using the word evil because I think we shouldn't use it to describe human beings because it most commonly others people.

It, in fact, I think makes us capable of perpetrating horrendous crimes against those we label evil.

So for me, that word is it's the end of a conversation.

It's when we call somebody evil, we say this person is so different from me that I don't even need to bother trying to understand why they are capable of doing terrible things.

Because I would never do such things.

I am good.

And so that artificial differentiation between good and evil is something that certainly with the book I'm trying to dismantle.

And that's why introducing continuums for different kinds of negative traits is really important.

And introducing this idea that there's nothing fundamental to people.