Betrayal

Betrayal destroys fellow-feeling. It doesn’t merely damage it. It ends it entirely. It makes trust impossible.

As disappointment erodes faith, and betrayal is the worst form of disappointment, betrayal murders faith.

Betrayal is disappointment in the essential goodness of man. It proves man worse than merely fallible or inadequate. It proves him evil. No sane person can love the evil.

Betrayal ->
Loss of faith in humanity ->
Understanding that humanity is vile ->
Contempt for humanity ->
Death of compassion, empathy, charity ->
Betrayal.

Thus it perpetuates itself. You pay it forward.

It won’t help to refuse to pass it on. Plenty of others will pass it on, and you will be disadvantaged in life by failing to make the most of your opportunities. An ethic that harms you is not a sustainable ethic.

It won’t help to go into denial about the implications of betrayal. That just makes you a sucker and an easy victim, and encourages the malicious betrayer. To presume the best of everyone is a recipe for disaster (I’ve tried it.)

Sustainable ethic: betray no more than necessary to get by, except with especially vile people. Moderate your contempt. A degree of mercy.

Betraying those who betray is payback. Not easy, but worthwhile. What perpetuates the cycle is when you betray those who have not yet betrayed anyone. This is a sort of innocence, and we should try to honor it.

And how do you know who is truly innocent? You can never be sure, except perhaps with small children. So the only workable ethic here is: betray no more than necessary. Then you’re not willingly part of the problem.

Sustainable ethics means don’t try to keep your hands spotless, but just don’t be gratuitous or malicious in the evil you do. Minimum necessary evil, done reluctantly, as a grudging concession to the ugly realities of this life.