The ego loves collective guilt because it saves us the exhausting trouble of meeting an actual person. A label is wonderfully efficient. No listening, no evidence, no awkward complexity. Just sort, condemn, proceed. The spiritual danger is obvious: once “they” become a thing instead of people, cruelty starts feeling like clarity. That little move has powered an astonishing amount of human evil while letting everyone involved feel righteous.
The ego loves collective guilt because it saves us the exhausting trouble of meeting an actual person. A label is wonderfully efficient. No listening, no evidence, no awkward complexity. Just sort, condemn, proceed. The spiritual danger is obvious: once “they” become a thing instead of people, cruelty starts feeling like clarity. That little move has powered an astonishing amount of human evil while letting everyone involved feel righteous.
Exactly. Collective guilt feels like moral clarity because it removes the inconvenient work of discernment: judging people as individuals.
Notice what disappeared the moment the argument became difficult: the argument. Personal attacks are not a rebuttal; they’re an exit strategy.
Still waiting on the part where the argument gets plagiarized into existence.