[smacktoward]

People can always find ways to convince themselves that whatever they're doing fits their personal ideological beliefs:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rationalization_%28making_excus...

It's not hard. Self-interest and/or the desire to avoid trouble are powerful motivators. Ideology is much less so. If the two conflict, we find ways to bend the ideology to fit, even if to an outside observer it looks like we've turned it completely inside out.

It gets even easier when the outside forces that are compelling us to go along give us pre-written rationalizations for doing so. "You're serving your country." "You're stopping terrorists from hurting innocent people." All we have to do then is just decide to not think about the rationalization we've chosen too hard.

[jivatmanx]

"So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable creature, since it enables one to find or make a reason for everything one has a mind to do."

-Benjamin Franklin