A person's Willingness to believe in Absurdities is the reason that they can be Convinced to commit Atrocities. This is all by Choice. America is primed to commit Atrocities.
Patterns in our lives that lead to more of the same problems can be broken. A useful strategy is to Describe the Event, List Thoughts, List Feelings, List Behaviors. Somewhere in those lists are the reasons that the harmful pattern repeats itself.