The Only Winning Move Is Not To Play: The Pattern Of Thinking That Justifies Cruelty

A note up top: This is an essay about discerning a pattern of thinking. I link that pattern to expressions both trivial and enormous, horrific and mundane, historical and current day. I am explicitly not saying these things are equivalent in importance or effect; I am saying they share a pattern of thinking that enables them. Also, content warnings for discussions of religion, genocide, AI, and bigotry, not necessarily in that order. We lost an important understanding when we changed satan from a position to an individual. Originally, satan was a role, as demonstrated clearly in the Book of Job, akin to the much later role of “Devil’s Advocate”. They were a tempter. A rationalizer. In the Roman Catholic Church, the devil’s advocate is the dissenter, arguing against elevating candidates to sainthood. And, most importantly, the satan was not the one who committed evil. Even during the Temptation, the satan does nothing but show illusions and make claims. The ones who actually harm Job,…