Virtuous cruelty

Absolute moral certainty functions as an inverted mirror where the subject projects outward what they cannot recognize within themselves. The most toxic individuals navigate the world armed with an impenetrable conviction: their cruelty is justice, their attack is defense, their sadism is virtue. This armor of righteousness not only shields from external questioning but fortifies against the anguish of internal doubt.

Paradoxically, the more ferocious the moral crusade, the less capacity exists to recognize the shadow that motivates it. The subject who hunts monsters needs to constantly create them; their identity depends on having an enemy to attack. The very energy that could be directed toward introspection is channeled into identifying others' faults, transforming the social field into a tribunal where they are always judges, never the accused.

Clinical work reveals that behind these unshakeable moral certainties lies a fundamental terror: the fear of discovering one's own ethical ambivalence. The analyst observes how identification with "the good" functions precisely as a defense against the anguish of recognizing that we all inhabit gray zones, that moral purity is a fiction, and that pointing out others' flaws always conceals a fascination with what we claim to repudiate.