The Minority Rule and the Spread of Evil

The Minority Rule and the Spread of Evil

It is not uncommon to feel depressed and lost when you read social media feeds these days. There is bad news everywhere, and it often feels like the world is coming to an end and that evil people have finally won. One argument is that news outlets gravitate toward negativity and the public is more attracted to shocking stories than uplifting ones. While that may be true, my focus here is different: I am interested in why evil people so often seem to have their way even though most people are good and kind.

Nicholas Taleb’s idea of the minority rule, from his book Skin in the Game, helps explain this. The minority rule illustrates how intolerance often triumphs and how small, inflexible groups can dictate outcomes for the majority.

Examples of the Minority Rule

• Most soft drinks are kosher, despite only 3–4% of consumers insisting on it.
  
• Airplanes and schools have become peanut-free, despite the majority having no allergies.
  
• Much of the meat in the UK is halal, even though only a minority requires it.

In many families, children with disruptive behavior often get their way because everyone else submits to their preferences “for peace.” These are all examples of how the majority adjusts to the demands of a persistent minority.

Applying the Minority Rule to the Spread of Evil

Evil or harmful individuals are a minority, yet the world can look like a vast crime scene. This is because those who do harm are often highly persistent and willing to take enormous risks to achieve their ends. Like the unruly child, they do not care about peace — they care about getting their way.

Good people, by contrast, are tolerant and conflict-averse. They tend not to take big risks for their goodness unless they have skin in the game. This creates an asymmetry: the minority who perpetrate evil are inflexible and often fearless, while the majority who are good are much more passive.

Good people are still the majority, and it always pays to do good. But evil will continue to spread unless good people are willing to take risks in defense of goodness. The most effective way to confront evil is not to avoid it — but to fight it.