People who think they're perfect are scary

Submitted by Dave (United States), Mar 11, 2022 at 14:53

Of course, there is no such thing as human perfection, but ideologies that make such exalted claims for their members' status are very scary, such as Islamists (see blasphemy laws) or Nazis (racial superiority). This is really a very neat psychological trick, designed to instantly turn anyone who opposes them or disagrees with them into an enemy, thereby justifying their annihilation and the dominance of the cult of perfection. Psychologically, it looks like a combination of narcissism and paranoia. The narcissism is responsible for the grandiosity and the paranoia leads to suspicion and eventual violence. There will always be these sorts of groups, since they allow adherents to feel special and powerful without really achieving anything.
The book reviewed here is a good example of the Islamist refusal to accept responsibility for any flaws, since, after all, they are perfect, so how dare anyone criticize them.
The answer to this sort of mass psychosis is to expose the folly of such ideas, stop hiring them in our universities, and to respond ruthlessly to their violence.

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".