Collective guilt is created as a narcissistic defense against individual guilt. The narcissist does not want any part of we, especially if we did something that turned out to be evil. The narcissist only cares about I.
The narcissist will do anything to protect herself, including publicly accept nominal guilt for something that causes her to experience very little actual guilt. “We caused global warming!” Really? It was you? You drink yourself to sleep because you burn too many fossil fuels? You can’t look anyone in the eye because you drive an SUV? – TLP
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The words ‘image,’ ‘appearance,’ and ‘outwardly’ are crucial to understanding the morality of those who are evil. While they lack any motivation to be good, they intensely desire to appear good. Their goodness is all on a level of pretense.
The lie is designed not so much to deceive others as to deceive themselves. The sense of painful personal guilt is precisely that which keeps our evil from getting out of control. It is a very great blessing because it is our one and only effective safeguard against our own proclivity for evil. – Barbara Buzzard
My Name Is Trinity 