The fictitious idea of necessity has caused real murder and persecution

Evidence

Yet, nonentities as they are, but too real is the mischief of which some of them, and, in particular, the word necessity, has been productive: – antipathy, strife, persecution, murder upon a national, upon an international, scale. — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 613

Categorization

• XREF: Bentham’s claim that a merely linguistic fiction drives mass violence connects to the reader’s interest in how discourse shapes behavior; parallels the totalitarian use of ‘necessity’ in We (Zamyatin) where necessity justifies the state’s crushing of individual choice. — connects to: Popular blame of religious belief for violence remains scientifically untested; Using necessity or impossibility seriously covertly claims omniscience about all possibilities — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 615; Church persecution as doctrine caused the emergence of Muslim monsters
• BMF: Zamyatin’s One State justifies its suppression of individuals through the rhetoric of mathematical necessity and rational inevitability — Bentham’s warning that the word ‘necessity’ licenses persecution maps directly onto the We’s justification for executing D-503’s imagination.

Broader Connections

• Church persecution as doctrine caused the emergence of Muslim monsters #corroborates (0.80)
• Using necessity or impossibility seriously covertly claims omniscience about all possibilities #expands (0.78) — Jeremy Bentham, The Panopticon Writings, 615
• Popular blame of religious belief for violence remains scientifically untested #qualifies (0.72)