"I would have stood up against it!" Maybe, but more likely combination of overestimating one's own bravery, and lacking any real understanding of the pressures and incentives in place. https://twitter.com/McCormickProf/status/1278529694355292161

The comedian Sinbad had a bit about this from the other side: younger black guys thinking *they* wouldn't have taken that crap. Kid, copping tough guy attitude: "if I'da been around back then-" Sinbad: "You'da been picking cotton.'"

And there's not just the matter of whether you'd have the grit to go against prevailing evils: In all probability, you wouldn't believe they were evil. At least, not if they weren't happening to you. Odds are you'd conform to the prevailing moral beliefs.

You grew up in a world where you were told, repeatedly, in books and TV and school, that it was evil. Where saying its evil is one of the most conventional things you can do. Where stating anything else gets you ostracized. You didn't exactly work hard to get this moral insight.

All evidence points to you being a conformist. Why expect any different if you grew up in a society where the teachers and ministers and media were telling you the opposite?

The phenomenology of a past or foreign society can be hard to grok, especially when it comes to evil. "It's so obviously evil! How can they not see it!" You have to stop and consider some of things that help make it so obvious to you.