The Collective Delusion of Good Men: A Reflection on Slavery

History has a chilling way of exposing the contradictions of human morality. One of the most disturbing examples is the collective delusion that enabled slavery. Slave masters, despite engaging in acts of unspeakable cruelty, often saw themselves—and each other—as good men. This cognitive dissonance allowed them to uphold a system built on violence and dehumanization while maintaining a self-image of righteousness.

Мария Кашина

The Psychological Mechanisms of Justification

How could someone own another human being, subject them to brutality, and still believe themselves to be virtuous? The answer lies in the power of collective belief systems. Slaveholders operated within a world that validated their actions. They were not lone actors wrestling with guilt but members of a society that reinforced their authority, normalized their cruelty, and rewarded their domination. They convinced themselves that enslaved people were subhuman, incapable of autonomy, and in need of control. By framing their oppression as a duty rather than an atrocity, they sidestepped moral reckoning.

Society as an Echo Chamber of Injustice

Beyond individual self-deception, there was a collective reinforcement of these distorted beliefs. Slave-owning communities upheld a social order where brutality was an expectation, not an exception. Men who abused, exploited, and degraded enslaved people were not ostracized but respected. Calling one another "good men" functioned as a social pact—a reassurance that their actions were justified. The more they upheld the system, the more it upheld them.

When Evil Becomes Ordinary

In his book, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, Frederick Douglass exposes this delusion with haunting clarity. His master, who benefitted from his labor, not only refused to intervene when Douglass was being abused but praised his abuser as a "good man."  And the same master would sent him to work and stole his wages, thought of himself as well as a good man—Justice was not for slaves, your skin color determines who was right and who was wrong, slavery was a system functioning well by design. What makes this even more terrifying is how ordinary it was. The horror lay not in one man’s wickedness but in the collective acceptance of that wickedness.

Are We Immune to This Today?

It is tempting to view these historical figures as uniquely immoral, but collective delusion is not confined to the past. Systems of exploitation still exist, and many justify their roles within them. Whether through economic injustice, systemic racism, or environmental destruction, history teaches us that people can participate in harm while believing themselves to be righteous. The question is, are we willing to recognize our own blind spots?

Breaking the Cycle

Understanding the past is a tool for transforming the present. We must ask: What injustices do we overlook today because they are socially accepted? What systems do we participate in without questioning? If history has shown us anything, it is that morality is not about what is normalized but about what is right. True goodness demands self-reflection, courage, and the willingness to break from the collective delusions of our time.

The past is a mirror. Will we dare to look?

With all my heart,

Salima