Collective guilt could distract people from confronting personal guilt.

Evidence

Corporate guilt perhaps cannot be, and certainly is not, felt with the same force as personal guilt. For most of us, as we now are, this conception is a mere excuse for evading the real issue. When we have really learned to know our individual corruption, then indeed we can go on to think of the corporate guilt and can hardly think of it too much. But we must learn to walk before we run. (pp. 48-49) … It may be useful to understand the relationship between personal and collective guilt and, for instance, whether collective guilt averts people from addressing personal guilt. — Janet K. Swim and Deborah L. Miller, White Guilt, 146

Categorization

• XREF: Directly speaks to the reader’s stated reading purpose — whether making group identity salient averts/triggers versus enabling personal accountability. This is a hypothesis-generating hinge. — connects to: People proactively avoid information that could trigger collective guilt. — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 454; Collective guilt assignment is uncorrelated with personal guilt — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 188; Collective guilt is a separate construct from personal guilt — Nyla R. Branscombe and Bertjan Doosje (eds.), Collective Guilt: International…, 187 (+2 more)
• ADDENDUM: Parallel to the ‘Complaints About Immodesty’ article pattern of moralized identity signaling, but inward: guilt-as-performance masking personal conduct.

Broader Connections

• Small restorative acts against vast harms serve as personal absolution for collective guilt #expands (0.75) — Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1318