Tamler Sommers and David Pizarro first discussed a new journal for “dangerous” ideas and while David was apathetic bordering on curious, Tamler was pissed off with the lack of courage involved in publishing pseudonymously.
They went on to discuss an essay from Mortal Questions by Thomas Nagel called “Ruthlessness in Public Life” which asked the question “why do we accept abominable acts from public figures that we would know to be deeply immoral if committed by a private individual?”
My theory is that this is partially because these public figures, as well as mostly working in consequentialist roles, are judged based on intentions which say more about the person than the outcome. On top of this we intuitively recognise that when abstracted and removed from the situation it is easier to act in what could be deemed “immoral” ways. For example, every day that we buy a coffee for a fiver we are actively not giving that money to a starving child in subsaharan Africa.