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David and I have been discussing this for years, but it wasn't until last week that someone put a name to it: Moral Narcissism.
Brilliant.
The article I'll link to below quotes from the book I Know Best: How Moral Narcissism Is Destroying Our Republic, If It Hasn't Already.
What you believe, or claim to believe or say you believe—not what you do or how you act or what the results of your actions may be—defines you as a person and makes you “good.” It is how your life will be judged by others and by yourself…
If your intentions are good, if they conform to the general received values of your friends, family, and co-workers, what a person of your class and social milieu is supposed to think, everything is fine. You are that “good” person. You are ratified. You can do anything you wish. It doesn’t matter in the slightest what the results of those ideas and beliefs are, or how society, the country, and in some cases, the world suffers from them. It doesn’t matter that they misfire completely, cause terror attacks, illness, death, riots in the inner city, or national bankruptcy. You will be applauded and approved of.
I will never stop looking for the truth and sharing it when I find it. If you see the dangers of moral narcissism and you don't call them out, then you are complicit in it. It is long past time to push back against this.
Please read the entire article and understand what is going on.
Reopen Society And Shut Down Moral Narcissism
♥ Christian, wife, mother, homeschooler, homebody, and autodidact ♥
Excellent article. I have a family member who fits this to a tee. He is also the person dealing with the most fear through all of the virus goings-on.
Although the book was published in 2016, there has not been a better example of this moral narcissism than the response to the virus.
One of my favorite Bible verses is 1 Peter 4:15: "But let none of you suffer as a murderer, or as a thief, or as an evildoer, or as a busybody in other men's matters." (KJV) We are beginning to see some pushback against these self-righteous meddlers, and no doubt there is more of that to come.