Jonah, we could probably argue forever about the impulses that led to the Holocaust, the Gulag and countless other horrors, but when it comes to the causes of such barbarism, I’m not sure how clear a distinction can really be made between the ‘rational’ and the irrational. One man’s idea of sweet reason is another’s notion of madness (Paging Peter Singer, Paging Peter Singer..), and ‘transcendent moral precepts’ are all too often used as an excuse for mass murder. The real distinction is, as you describe it later, between those who can accept the contradictions, imperfections and trade-offs inherent in any society, however successful, and those who cannot.