The social context of virtues
John Derbyshire writes -

Human beings are social creatures, and our virtues are only praiseworthy when they are socially positive. You can, if you like, praise [Mafia boss John] Gotti's courage in facing down competitors, or refusing to buckle under pressure from prosecutors. If you do that, though, you subtract from any praise you might later give to 9/11 firefighters, or soldiers risking their lives in our country's wars, or cops patrolling our streets. Courage doesn't exist in a vacuum; it has to be put to some use, for good or ill. Any human virtue - even, as the Mafia reminds us, one as basic as the love between members of a family - can be employed for evil purposes.