Page 79 - The Irony Board
P. 79
Into the World
The selfish keep
Their self-esteem
By joining in
A selfish team.
Beyond repression of individuality, social participation provides a
means of masking vice in the cloak of collective virtue. The group
creates a transcendent standard of behavior pretending to be
universal; in fact, it usually applies only to its members, often
permitting outsiders to be robbed, cheated, murdered, and
colonized. It is easier to rationalize the greater evil than the lesser,
particularly when loyalty is the greatest good of all. “Society” may be
a callous user of human beings, but the latter frequently return the
favor. The punning rhyme emphasizes the irony derived from this
corruption of selflessness.
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