The Scourge of Moral Narcissism

Since when are our personal beliefs the most important?

Moral narcissism has overtaken America. On both the right and the left, so many of us now think that what really matters is what we believe.

Let me explain.

Group A believes that it is morally wrong to eat blue cheese. Blue cheese has mold in it. Mold is a fungus, eating fungus is unclean, and thus, immoral. Group A holds a lot of political power, which they use to pass laws based on their beliefs.

Those laws take effect, banning the consumption of blue cheese. They prevent restaurants from even talking about blue cheese with their patrons. People are also not permitted to buy blue cheese to consume at home. 

Over time, studies come to show that banning blue cheese kills more people than it saves. People tried making illegal blue cheese at home, and ended up producing toxic strains of mold. Not only that, it didn’t lower the consumption of the cheese, it just made people seek it out in other places.

Scientists testify in front of government committees, saying, “Our findings indicate that deaths from toxic mold is up 40% since the blue cheese ban went into effect. The ban didn’t stop people from eating the cheese, it just stopped them from eating regulated cheese.”

Group A doesn’t care. They don’t actually care if their fellow citizens live or die, they care about holding the correct moral opinion on blue cheese, and if people are dying, well, that’s on them. 

Permit me one more.