Love this article! We can draw so many similarities to the people who have only recently begun to speak out for Palestine, and the recent shifts on social media towards the genocide in Gaza.
This is a great paired bookend to "Something Stronger than Hope."
Like you, I am not great fan of Plato, but the four cardinal virtues have always resonated, and I liked that you drew out the relationship between wisdom and fortitude.
As a teen studying ancient history, I became aware of the 3 basic Delphic maxims and the longer 147 maxims of Strobaeus. Contemporaneously, I also studied Japanese for a year. My spoken Japanese skills were downright average compared to my classmates, however I was given a project (as we called them in the 1970s) to present to the class on Japanese religion. The subject intrigued me and has been one of the great influences on my life: I encountered Japanese Buddhism for the first time, and was attracted specifically to both schools of Zen.
My teenage mind married the influences of Greek morality and Soto & Rinzai together. The upshot of that was that I have, rather simplistically, always believed that doing the right thing is the right thing to do, the only thing to do, and also that thoughts and actions are bound together in a continuum. But knowing what that right thing is has been the difficult part, which is where meditation, daily introspection and self-examination, has come into play for me. Education and knowledge, being informed, is the necessary complement to that.
I am not into virtue signalling, and don't want what I'm writing to be viewed as that. To me, that is a cheap thing. I take time and consider my actions and/or potential course of action. Without trying to be negative about Kant's moral imperative or the Christian's imposed morality, they are easy things to adopt and often don't involve mental challenge or deep consideration. They strike me as being able to be blindly followed without much effort or forethought.
Consequently, being at variance with the 75% option has always been the norm for me. It's how I operate in the world, because I've long known that if there is a right way then it isn't always the easy way. Rather than moral outrage at being challenged, I appreciate criticism and being challenged. Honest self reflection and self criticism has been an important part of the toolbox of my personality. Moral cleansing? I'm not perfect, but I would like to think that I put a lot consideration into my actions, and am highly self critical if I spot my own bullshit or someone draws my attention to it - honest about it, own it and change and make redress immediately.
I wish politicians, billionaires, tech bros, media narcs and the non-introspective did the same. It won't make the world perfect, but might at least make for more realism about where we are as a society and as a species on this planet.
This is an excellent article and it's why I'll support JW as long as she's willing to keep sharing this information with us. It reminded me of the phenomenon that in times of hardship or crisis, human beings will share and support others if they have something to give ("Help the flood victims! Please donate!"), But, in good times, their attention shifts to acquiring a larger piece of the pie, regardless of the moral compromise or cost to others.
I remember Terence McKenna bringing this up in a talk decades ago, and it stuck with me for some reason. I asked my newly minted Chat Agent to research this and happy to share that "catastrophe compassion" research with you here: https://theculturedynamicsgroup.com/downloads/on-catastrophe-compassion.pdf
I would like to do MORE but what? My Reps & Senators are DEAF. My neighbors don’t even want to talk about it (bring in their own bubbles.) I can only donate so much. I harangue my friends but they already agree with me (or politely ignore me.)
I scream at the screen when a talking head tells us “someone has to do something”, as if they had had no power themselves. Humanity has mostly been inhumane over the centuries. Maybe we haven’t become any more civilized than before in spite of learning our history & campaigning on “never again” or “believe her”. 😡😩
I saw this in a very minor way about 15 minutes ago when I went to the mailbox. My neighbor..who hasn't said hello or acknowledged me in any way in 11 years...a total 100% maga...had taken down his trmp and don't tread on me flags after a few weeks of the regime. He has never..ever..acknowledged me in all that time. I would just wave and finally just didn't once he started advertising his maganess. Today he gave me a big wave and a toot when he went by. Either he is trying to build bridges or he has totally lost it.
What you're naming—this great moral cleansing—is exactly how the false self (ego) scrambles to survive. It can't bear being exposed. So it doesn't repent. It rebrands.
The false self doesn't seek transformation. It seeks image repair.
It doesn’t become good. It appears good.
And the internet is its cathedral.
What you wrote makes it plain:
we’re not drowning in sin. We’re drowning in performance.
Confession, curated.
Repentance, monetized.
Virtue, filtered and posted at peak engagement hour.
Thank you for naming what most would rather stylize.
This resonates. I’ve long noticed that most people don’t take moral stands until they’re pretty sure they won’t be punished for it.
Historical example, pronouns: 30+ years ago, no one even thought about declaring them. About 20 years ago, it gained traction in the LGBTQ+ community. Only in the last 5 or so did it land on the broader moral radar. What was once invisible is now seen as a positive moral act.
Group cohesion is a primal force. And morality? It’s not some universal law—it’s a shifting cultural norm. You can break from the pack, but until that norm starts to shift, doing so is risky.
I know from experience. I’ve been a first mover. I’ve stuck my neck out on principle more than once—and it didn’t always go well. Sometimes it cost me. Sometimes it just made me feel foolish and alone.
The problem isn't that people are immoral—it’s that morality is collective. Most folks don’t jump until they see a crowd forming. And the early jumpers? They get punished first, thanked later. Maybe.
It's too little, too late now. There's no going back from what's been done. But most Americans will still live in their protective bubble between two oceans and think, "This can't possibly happen to me, why should I be concerned?" Until it starts to happen to them. Then they want to fight.
Moral cleansing only happens as public opinion shifts, which we are seeing now. Americans have been largely immune to pictures and videos of war atrocities since the Vietnam War days. But the stories and pictures of the starving Palestinians has finally broke through their bubble. But it's too late for the Palestinians. They're well on the road towards extinction in Gaza, with the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the cross hairs. Israel's current government is past caring about public opinion. It's full speed ahead to finish the mission and turn Gaza and the West Bank into more settlers villages and a fossil fuel industrial complex. They figure that once everyone who matters starts making lots of money, the atrocities can be glossed over. So they think.
Do most people really care about 150 people? I suppose there are some who fit that category, but overall I don't think most of us have the bandwidth, the resources or the time to do that? I am part of several different social networks, however, I consider most of those people to be casual friends. We hang out periodically but if things were to really go south and my wife and/or I were to spiral, I am not so sure that most of them would there to provide support and encouragement. It seems as if more and more people have fewer and fewer socialization opportunities because of a lack of financial resources, declining physical health, a lack of time and energy due to working and/or studying excessively, addictions, mental illness, etc.
I don't even KNOW 150 people, and I am a real extrovert! But if you can care deeply about people you don't personally know -- like the people suffering genocide in Gaza, the homeless people I see on my town's streets, etc. -- then maybe I do. But I still think that is an extremely high number for most people....if you use the word "deeply".
I'm with you. I can count the people I deeply care about right now on one hand. My lifetime peak was maybe 30 people when I still had my parents, my (now ex) wife's extended family, some coworkers that were my friends outside of work, and a couple of long term neighbors. When social media came along I was middle-aged, and I don't consider someone I never meet in-person a real friend, so I'm not going to deeply care about them. I think what happened is a diminished ability for people to empathize with the hardships of people they can't possibly know that deeply.
Other than family, I can only think of a few people that I care deeply about. Less then a handful. I came into the beginning of the internet in my late twenties. I have made some very strong friendships with a few people that I likely will never meet IRL. My lifetime peak of IRL friendships was smaller than I thought it was. Certain events showed me just how small it really was. The scar is still there.
As far as people who would have my back of things went really bad, those same few people. Not as many as I have fingers on one hand. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Apparently, we have both the depravity grandstanding of the Trump gang in their status/power-seeking dominance displays, as well as the more traditional (at least in historically Christian nations) moral grandstanding as status/power-seeking dominance displays. Perhaps having both at the same time marks a period with an unusual degree of social/political/economic instability. What else might account for this anomaly?
Love this article! We can draw so many similarities to the people who have only recently begun to speak out for Palestine, and the recent shifts on social media towards the genocide in Gaza.
Thanks for all the great research!
Or the ones that screamed "Genocide Joe", and are all very quiet now. Looking at you r/LateStageCapitalism
Excellent study in human psychology and behavior…
Unsure where we are headed as a society, but wherever we go it’s going to be a rough ride, so buckle up and stay strong 🙏
A rough ride indeed. All buckled.
This is a great paired bookend to "Something Stronger than Hope."
Like you, I am not great fan of Plato, but the four cardinal virtues have always resonated, and I liked that you drew out the relationship between wisdom and fortitude.
As a teen studying ancient history, I became aware of the 3 basic Delphic maxims and the longer 147 maxims of Strobaeus. Contemporaneously, I also studied Japanese for a year. My spoken Japanese skills were downright average compared to my classmates, however I was given a project (as we called them in the 1970s) to present to the class on Japanese religion. The subject intrigued me and has been one of the great influences on my life: I encountered Japanese Buddhism for the first time, and was attracted specifically to both schools of Zen.
My teenage mind married the influences of Greek morality and Soto & Rinzai together. The upshot of that was that I have, rather simplistically, always believed that doing the right thing is the right thing to do, the only thing to do, and also that thoughts and actions are bound together in a continuum. But knowing what that right thing is has been the difficult part, which is where meditation, daily introspection and self-examination, has come into play for me. Education and knowledge, being informed, is the necessary complement to that.
I am not into virtue signalling, and don't want what I'm writing to be viewed as that. To me, that is a cheap thing. I take time and consider my actions and/or potential course of action. Without trying to be negative about Kant's moral imperative or the Christian's imposed morality, they are easy things to adopt and often don't involve mental challenge or deep consideration. They strike me as being able to be blindly followed without much effort or forethought.
Consequently, being at variance with the 75% option has always been the norm for me. It's how I operate in the world, because I've long known that if there is a right way then it isn't always the easy way. Rather than moral outrage at being challenged, I appreciate criticism and being challenged. Honest self reflection and self criticism has been an important part of the toolbox of my personality. Moral cleansing? I'm not perfect, but I would like to think that I put a lot consideration into my actions, and am highly self critical if I spot my own bullshit or someone draws my attention to it - honest about it, own it and change and make redress immediately.
I wish politicians, billionaires, tech bros, media narcs and the non-introspective did the same. It won't make the world perfect, but might at least make for more realism about where we are as a society and as a species on this planet.
Well said. Not doing the right thing puts your whole mind out of whack, and we can really see what it's doing to a lot of people.
This is an excellent article and it's why I'll support JW as long as she's willing to keep sharing this information with us. It reminded me of the phenomenon that in times of hardship or crisis, human beings will share and support others if they have something to give ("Help the flood victims! Please donate!"), But, in good times, their attention shifts to acquiring a larger piece of the pie, regardless of the moral compromise or cost to others.
I'll have to dig into that. The more psychology I read, the stranger humans look.
I remember Terence McKenna bringing this up in a talk decades ago, and it stuck with me for some reason. I asked my newly minted Chat Agent to research this and happy to share that "catastrophe compassion" research with you here: https://theculturedynamicsgroup.com/downloads/on-catastrophe-compassion.pdf
I would like to do MORE but what? My Reps & Senators are DEAF. My neighbors don’t even want to talk about it (bring in their own bubbles.) I can only donate so much. I harangue my friends but they already agree with me (or politely ignore me.)
I scream at the screen when a talking head tells us “someone has to do something”, as if they had had no power themselves. Humanity has mostly been inhumane over the centuries. Maybe we haven’t become any more civilized than before in spite of learning our history & campaigning on “never again” or “believe her”. 😡😩
I saw this in a very minor way about 15 minutes ago when I went to the mailbox. My neighbor..who hasn't said hello or acknowledged me in any way in 11 years...a total 100% maga...had taken down his trmp and don't tread on me flags after a few weeks of the regime. He has never..ever..acknowledged me in all that time. I would just wave and finally just didn't once he started advertising his maganess. Today he gave me a big wave and a toot when he went by. Either he is trying to build bridges or he has totally lost it.
Smells like moral cleansing to me! Maybe he genuinely wants to do better, but he's got quite a hole to climb out of.
Leopards are eating his face.
What you're naming—this great moral cleansing—is exactly how the false self (ego) scrambles to survive. It can't bear being exposed. So it doesn't repent. It rebrands.
The false self doesn't seek transformation. It seeks image repair.
It doesn’t become good. It appears good.
And the internet is its cathedral.
What you wrote makes it plain:
we’re not drowning in sin. We’re drowning in performance.
Confession, curated.
Repentance, monetized.
Virtue, filtered and posted at peak engagement hour.
Thank you for naming what most would rather stylize.
"it doesn't repent. It rebrands"
Exactly!
I'm curious. Before the internet, what do you think the false self did?
Before the internet, the false self threw dinner parties.
It wore the right tie. Married the right person. Went to the right church—but mostly for the parking spot.
It hid behind politeness and propriety.
It wrote reputation checks it couldn’t cash.
It curated status in country clubs, not captions.
It smiled in public and screamed behind closed doors.
The false self didn’t need Wi-Fi.
It just needed witnesses.
Yep, dinner parties. :)
I understand your point better now. Thanks.
Thank you. This makes so much sense! Witnessed this over and over in my life.
It's quite a cycle, and seems to go as far back in history as we can go.
very interesting...
Makes sense. I still think we're basically hosed, but still...
This resonates. I’ve long noticed that most people don’t take moral stands until they’re pretty sure they won’t be punished for it.
Historical example, pronouns: 30+ years ago, no one even thought about declaring them. About 20 years ago, it gained traction in the LGBTQ+ community. Only in the last 5 or so did it land on the broader moral radar. What was once invisible is now seen as a positive moral act.
Group cohesion is a primal force. And morality? It’s not some universal law—it’s a shifting cultural norm. You can break from the pack, but until that norm starts to shift, doing so is risky.
I know from experience. I’ve been a first mover. I’ve stuck my neck out on principle more than once—and it didn’t always go well. Sometimes it cost me. Sometimes it just made me feel foolish and alone.
The problem isn't that people are immoral—it’s that morality is collective. Most folks don’t jump until they see a crowd forming. And the early jumpers? They get punished first, thanked later. Maybe.
It's too little, too late now. There's no going back from what's been done. But most Americans will still live in their protective bubble between two oceans and think, "This can't possibly happen to me, why should I be concerned?" Until it starts to happen to them. Then they want to fight.
Moral cleansing only happens as public opinion shifts, which we are seeing now. Americans have been largely immune to pictures and videos of war atrocities since the Vietnam War days. But the stories and pictures of the starving Palestinians has finally broke through their bubble. But it's too late for the Palestinians. They're well on the road towards extinction in Gaza, with the West Bank and east Jerusalem in the cross hairs. Israel's current government is past caring about public opinion. It's full speed ahead to finish the mission and turn Gaza and the West Bank into more settlers villages and a fossil fuel industrial complex. They figure that once everyone who matters starts making lots of money, the atrocities can be glossed over. So they think.
I think you're right.
I absolutely love this and you're absolutely right.
I think you’re great!
Do most people really care about 150 people? I suppose there are some who fit that category, but overall I don't think most of us have the bandwidth, the resources or the time to do that? I am part of several different social networks, however, I consider most of those people to be casual friends. We hang out periodically but if things were to really go south and my wife and/or I were to spiral, I am not so sure that most of them would there to provide support and encouragement. It seems as if more and more people have fewer and fewer socialization opportunities because of a lack of financial resources, declining physical health, a lack of time and energy due to working and/or studying excessively, addictions, mental illness, etc.
I don't even KNOW 150 people, and I am a real extrovert! But if you can care deeply about people you don't personally know -- like the people suffering genocide in Gaza, the homeless people I see on my town's streets, etc. -- then maybe I do. But I still think that is an extremely high number for most people....if you use the word "deeply".
I'm with you. I can count the people I deeply care about right now on one hand. My lifetime peak was maybe 30 people when I still had my parents, my (now ex) wife's extended family, some coworkers that were my friends outside of work, and a couple of long term neighbors. When social media came along I was middle-aged, and I don't consider someone I never meet in-person a real friend, so I'm not going to deeply care about them. I think what happened is a diminished ability for people to empathize with the hardships of people they can't possibly know that deeply.
Other than family, I can only think of a few people that I care deeply about. Less then a handful. I came into the beginning of the internet in my late twenties. I have made some very strong friendships with a few people that I likely will never meet IRL. My lifetime peak of IRL friendships was smaller than I thought it was. Certain events showed me just how small it really was. The scar is still there.
As far as people who would have my back of things went really bad, those same few people. Not as many as I have fingers on one hand. I'm not sure how I feel about that.
Apparently, we have both the depravity grandstanding of the Trump gang in their status/power-seeking dominance displays, as well as the more traditional (at least in historically Christian nations) moral grandstanding as status/power-seeking dominance displays. Perhaps having both at the same time marks a period with an unusual degree of social/political/economic instability. What else might account for this anomaly?
Ok I'm feeling clueless. What starts with a 'd' and which war is the exception?
Yes if we get through this we will no doubt establish the lie that 'everybody was always against this'. Still it can't come soon enough.
I’m going with depression and Vietnam