A couple of quotes/passages I’ve read recently really struck a chord with me.
One way to define the difference between a regular belief and a sacred belief is that people who hold sacred beliefs think it is morally wrong for anyone to question those beliefs. If someone does question those beliefs, theyre not just being stupid or even depraved, theyre actively doing violence. They might as well be kicking a puppy. When people hold sacred beliefs, there is no disagreement without animosity. In this mindset, people who disagreed with my views werent just wrong, they were awful people. I watched what people said closely, scanning for objectionable content. Any infraction reflected badly on your character, and too many might put you on my blacklist.
What gets someone so worked up that they not only develop a hard-line point of view, but find any objection to be irrational? There are quite a few possibilities. But it’s clear that such hardline stances are likely to be irrational, themselves.
Good people helped murder millions. And thats the most frightening lesson of all “” that our very humanity made us capable of, even susceptible to, surrendering our individual moral authority to the group, where it can be hijacked by evil. Of being so cowed by those in power. Of convincing ourselves of nearly anything.
In their minds, the murderers and accomplices of Germany, and Poland, and Hungary, and so many, many other places didnt do something evil. They convinced themselves it was the right thing to do, the thing they had to do. Thats what people do. And that should truly frighten us.
That is why I send our agents and our analysts to the Holocaust Museum. I want them to stare at us and realize our capacity for rationalization and moral surrender.
That’s right, even good, ordinary people can convince themselves, or be convinced, that anything can be the “right” thing to do. It’s why slavery exists, genocide, religious extremism, and even subjects that bitterly divide the American public today at the ballot box.
The crux of this is, take a divisive issue, convince yourself that your view is righteous and sacred while ignoring valid concerns, and condemn anyone, even on your own side, who even acknowledge a concern.
Naturally, I took these quotes and applied them to subjects I feel strongly about. This line of reasoning strengthens my own beliefs and explains where the opposition is coming from – they still might be good people, but they’ve either been misled or convinced themselves they’re fighting a righteous cause, so long as they hold their beliefs as sacred.
Meanwhile, those people will apply the same logic to me. ‘Round and ’round we go.