The problem of ignoring humanity to allow scope creep

When I was at Uni, one of my lecturers illustrated a point by telling the following story:

Once upon a time (well, no, he didn't start that way), there was an army base. That army base - this was in the far less enlightened mid-20th century - needed a new pit to dump their rubbish in. So, a major told his (see aforementioned comment about less enlightened times- meaning they were sexist) subordinate to take two sticks of dynamite, go out, and blow a hole in the ground to be a new rubbish dump.
The major saluted and snapped out "yes SUH!", decided his superior officer was a nincompoop (remember the era) and told his captain to blow a hole for the rubbish using four sticks of dynamite.
The captain saluted and snapped out "yes SUH!", decided his superior officer was a nincompoop, and added more sticks of dynamite - and on it goes, with each layer adding a bit, until eventually, according to my lecturer, two boxes of dynamite were used - and blew all the buildings in the base off their stumps.

I have no idea whether the story was real or not. Given that it was presented by a Uni lecturer as being real, one would hope so, but . . .

In any case, it raises the issue of scope creep quite nicely.

Where I've been most concerned about this is in how refugees and asylum seekers are treated in detention.

That detention is administrative, not criminal, and yet they are subjected to abusive conditions including strip and cavity searches - including OF CHILDREN.

Where did that "scope creep" come in? Was it political, or in the private company? Was it at the level of the "work face"?

In any case, it breaches the law, and shows a complete and utter lack of humanity.

What seems to be a decline in humanity has been shown by comparing the distraught coverage of the burning of the airship "Hindenburg" with the unemotional commentary at the explosion of the space shuttle "Challenger" just after launch.

What is going wrong that we are losing our humanity and common sense?

Are the people doing a strip search or a cavity search so damaged as human beings that they cannot see the harm, or are they choosing to ignore the harm, whether out of hate for refugees, a blind Nazi-like devotion to "the rules", or fear of unemployment? 

We hear plenty of justification for strip searches, but the discussion is never balanced by hearing of the costs (or is flawed by stupid decisions such as that which said being strip searched was the same as a team shower environment), so thee has NEVER been proper consideration of the matter.

Lack of human understanding is also an issue here, just as it was years ago when police and courts were writing domestic violence off as "just a domestic" (which still happens in some parts of the world). It also happens with the harm done by forcing people to give urine samples in front of another person - possibly of the opposite sex - is equally a matter of, basically, sexual assault - or at the very least, profound psychological harm.

The latest manifestation of this lack of humanity is the forced public partial strip search of a disabled person visiting Parliament.

Were the security guards thinking gaining entry is a matter of acknowledging or proving submission to their self-perceived authority?

What is WRONG with people like that?

And there unquestionably IS something wrong with both the people who do those searches (incidentally, I consider the USA's TSA agents child abusers) and those who approve them.

Where have we gone so wrong? When did we start putting authority and bureaucracy so far ahead of humanity?