re: #74 Rightwingconspirator

Of course it does. Apart from a serial killer in the right (gag) job. Look at the consequences of hard combat with the troops coming home! PTSD and all that. Make a man a killer, and you make a different man. (Or woman, I can only shudder at the consequence of making a mother a killer.)

The more one engages in evil, or even just illegal or unethical acts, the easier it becomes to do so, and the easier it is to progress to greater evil, or illegal or unethical acts.

The reverse is also true - doing the right thing is often not the easy thing. But it gets easier and easier the more you practice it.

The things we do, the actions we take, are what forms us into good and ethical people, or evil, unethical people. We can talk a good game all we want; but it’s our actions that will form us.

And if someone is engaged in torturing others, there is just no way it can NOT have a seriously negative effect.