Beware of little cruelties

“Once malice is embraced as a virtue, it is impossible to contain.”

“Their shared laughter at the suffering of others is an adhesive that binds them to one another…”

The cruelty is the point.

When we allow small cruelties, then larger cruelties flood the path. People who value themselves based on their power to create large cruelties know this and this is why they aggressively defend the use of small cruelties — because this is their favorite game.

Even small cruelties bruise the human spirit.

Be wary of people who argue “don’t be so picky” or “don’t be so touchy” or “c’mon, have a sense of humor” or “I poke at it because I love it” or any of the many other variations of “allow me this small cruelty so that later, I can use it as an excuse to relish in larger cruelties.

This mentality does not care about hypocrisy — the use of “hypocrisy” is simply another tool to get to the point. And the point is cruelty. Shared cruelty. Cruelty to create and enforce “them vs. us”

Cruelty is the point.

https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/10/the-cruelty-is-the-point/572104/

https://www.salon.com/2023/01/04/new-years-message-from-republicans-yes-the-cruelty-is-still-the-point/