Marginalization, which turns a member of the society into a non-member, an Orwellian unperson, an alien, ultimately a non-human, can be triggered by any perceived difference from the mainstream society, let alone by the individual's attacking the society. As illustrated by H.G. Wells in The Country of the Blind, even an objective advantage (of vision over blindness), instead of conferring the proverbial kingship, may become a handicap, as “margin” corresponds to anything with a low(er) frequency in the population (cf. the minority status in many societies). Marginalization, while sometimes religiously/culturally conditioned to call for compassion, may evoke the mainstream's reactions ranging from indifference and passive cruelty, as recently illustrated by 25 people passing by a dying homeless person bleeding to death, some taking pictures (Livingston et al., 2010), to societally licensed and encouraged violence, mass murder and genocide. Although compassion, the “instinct for sympathy”, in Darwin's (1871) view, could be checked only “for a contingent benefit, with an overwhelming present evil”, this instinct's application may be circumscribed to “weak and helpless” (p. 136) and is heavily contingent on culture (according to what was then the zeitgeist, Darwin juxtaposed “savages” and “civilized men”).
