“Stupidity isn’t punishable by death. If it was, there would be a hell of a population drop.” – Laurell Hamilton, The Laughing Corpse
Moral turpitude.
Those were the words being used to describe the actions of a fellow lieutenant, the motor officer in a sister unit in our brigade. Late one night while making checks of the motor pool, the staff duty officer caught the lieutenant loading new tires into his Chevrolet Blazer. That led to what the Army calls an AR 15-6 investigation, which revealed a year-long scheme by the lieutenant to steal commercial parts used for the unit’s fleet of M1009 CUCVs (a militarized version of the Blazer) and either use them on his own vehicle or sell them to others.
Moral turpitude was a new term for me. As the rumor mill churned on – along with the lieutenant’s court martial – it was my introduction to the language of the Uniform Code of Military Justice. While I barely knew the officer – we lived in the same military housing area, but not close enough to interact much – I was absolutely fascinated by his case. Not so much that he violated military law, but that he was stupid enough to steal government property and think that he wouldn’t eventually get caught. I honestly didn’t understand how the decision-making process could lead someone down that path.
And he was, as my platoon sergeant like to say, “in a world of hurt.” It wasn’t going to end well for him.
STUPID IS AS STUPID DOES
As the years passed, I saw the cycle perpetuate itself. The lieutenant who tried to stage a coup in our brigade during the early days of Operation Desert Storm. The warrant officer who was caught up in a scheme to sell weapons in the wake of a modernization effort. The lieutenant colonel who was accepted a $300,000 bribe in Iraq and tried to cash it in for money orders at the APO. Burglary. Fraud. Arson. And a whole slew of other crimes. Why would anyone do something so stupid?
We all do stupid things. So much so that it’s been a common theme for me in my writing. The company commander who buried a 40-foot container full of tools and supplies in the Saudi Arabian desert. The lieutenant who used his Army computer as a repository for his collection of digital pornography. The three-star general who used his government travel card to pay for, uh… entertainment in an off-limits establishment. As the renowned science fiction writer Robert Heinlein once quipped, “Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.”
But there’s stupid, and there’s criminally stupid.
THE PSYCHOLOGY BEHIND IT ALL
Understanding the mindset behind criminal stupidity has always enthralled me. More so during my time in uniform, in an institution where values and ethics were central to our existence. Typically, these weren’t the people you expected to see commit crimes, and the mental process that drove them down that path was a mystery to me. It was never enough to know what someone did; I wanted to understand the why.
In a 2019 Harvard Business Review article, business psychologist and author Merete Wedell-Wedellsborg identified three dynamics that cause leaders to cross ethical lines and commit crimes: omnipotence, cultural numbness, and justified neglect.
Omnipotence is relatively easy to recognize. When a leader starts to believe they are “invincible, untouchable, and hyper-capable” bad things are going to happen. They assume a “do as I say, not as I do” attitude. The rules and standards don’t apply to them; they’re meant for everyone else. When they finally reach a point where no one will tell them “No,” it’s only a matter of time before they cross a line.
“No matter how principled you are,” Wedell-Wedellsborg writes, “the bearings of your moral compass will [eventually] shift toward the culture of your organization or team.” When that culture embraces deviant norms, cultural numbness sets in. Within an organization where ethical norms are compromised, people often experience a psychological trade-off between fitting in and staying true to their values. Over time, they lose track of right and wrong. They make bad decisions.
Finally, there is justified neglect. “The human mind is skilled at justifying minor incursions when there is a tangible reward at stake” and someone perceives a low risk of getting caught. However, when your values and ethics are already compromised, your perception is likely to be just as skewed. If you want the “reward” enough, you can talk yourself into believing you won’t get caught.
Recognizing these dynamics is as much about identifying the associated behaviors as navigating the workplace when they’re present. It’s not enough to simply know they exist; it’s about learning how to avoid getting swept up when justice and accountability come calling. As leaders, Wedell-Wedellsborg reminds us, “there is no true straight-and-narrow path to follow. You beat the path as you go.” Staying true to your integrity and values ensures that your moral compass always guides you in the right direction, even when you feel like you’re an outlier.
