The collective’s brutality masks manipulation rather than true human quality

Evidence

It was Disraeli who had discovered that vice is but the corresponding reflection of crime in society. Human wickedness, if accepted by society, is changed from an act of will into an inherent, psychological quality which man cannot choose or reject but which is imposed upon him from without, and which rules him as compulsively as the drug rules the addict. In assimilating crime and transforming it into vice, society denies all responsibility and establishes a world of fatalities in which men find themselves entangled. — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 258 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

The resulting institutional structure may take a variety of forms as it evolves strategically in response to the specific exigencies that dominants confront, but it is designed to provide a continuing flow of benefits by constraining subordinates’ options. Ensnared subordinates, from their weaker position, are driven to follow strategies that are directed toward protecting their current holdings from further incursions, while working to ameliorate or improve their conditions of life when opportunity permits. Expropriative institutions also inevitably embroil the practice of violence, but it too is organized so as to co-opt rather than alienate subordinates. — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 667 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Institutionalized legitimate power outweighs brutality in social significance — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 612; Compassion directed through collectives secretly threatens those it claims to help; Ordinary people can commit extreme brutality under the right circumstances — Farrar, Straus and Giroux Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone- Memoirs of a Boy…, 1 (+4 more)

Broader Connections

• Socially accepted wickedness is reframed as an inherent imposed quality rather than chosen action #corroborates (0.85) — Hannah Arendt, The Origins of Totalitarianism, 258
• Dominant-group violence is deliberately calibrated to co-opt rather than alienate subordinates #corroborates (0.85) — , Rudman, Laurie A - On the Nature of…, 667
• Compassion directed through collectives secretly threatens those it claims to help #expands (0.80)
• Communitarian moral rhetoric masks a project of disciplining individuals #corroborates (0.80)
• Institutionalized legitimate power outweighs brutality in social significance #contradicts (0.75) — Niklas Luhmann, Trust and Power, 612
• Ordinary people can commit extreme brutality under the right circumstances #qualifies (0.75) — Farrar, Straus and Giroux Ishmael Beah, A Long Way Gone- Memoirs of a Boy…, 1