"A few days later Robeson explained to his [11 year old] son that “sometimes great injustices may be inflicted on the minority when the majority is in the pursuit of a great and just cause.” Robeson was talking about the murder of a poet friend in one of Stalin's purges, but the generalization is horrific.
Ouch.
There ought to be many real-life example of the trolley problem.
Nobody is going to admit to thinking that way, but there is pretty overwhelming evidence that most people do. History is replete with genocides and selective memories. The cynic in me notes that by not acknowledging the threat they pose, majorities free themselves of the need to limit their own power in the name of decency and giving others a fair go.
Blacks/LGTB/Jews? Not many people would consider it.
White supremacists/Nazis/Islamic Fundamentalist? It's already mainstream.
We certainly aren’t going around killing them in purges...
What I'm getting at is that the OP statement can be bent to fit whatever ideology you want, and with that be able to get widespread support to "repress" minorities.
It's not only "evil" people the ones repressing others.
Killing the children of Islamic fundamentalists in drone strikes. Holding them for years without any trial or recourse in gitmo. Torture. I'm sure there are other things.
More precisely, we are talking about the people targeted or captured during the 'war on terror'.
The pertinent category here is "whoever is considered an 'enemy' in 'war'" - they will get their rights trampled.
"Some Jews get killed so everyone else can have Great Justice" is the modal case of Jew-hatred. Remember, Hitler thought he was the good guy.
All I'm saying is that it's quite easy to fall into a mental pattern where oppression becomes acceptable. Most people in Germany during WWII were not Nazis, and yet many of them happily accepted the status quo that made what happened possible.
Some people still think drone strikes that kill innocent children are worthwhile, so long as they also take out the bad guy.