I think what abusers need most is not for people to believe the lie that they are good—though they certainly will take that if they can get it. What they need most is for people to believe false equivalencies; that no matter how bad the abusers are, everyone else is just as bad. That no matter what their intentions are, they aren’t any worse than any other person or group’s intentions. That everything and everyone is bad, and so badness is inevitable, and in their badness they are by no means unique. And most of all, an abuser want to establish their intended victims as guilty; as threats to enact the exact abuses the abuser is already enacting against them.
…we’ll see the most corrupt people defending their right to corruption in the name of draining the swamp; we’ll see the most bigoted people defending their right to bigotry in the name of liberty; we’ll see the most cowardly people defending their cowardice in the name of bravery; we’ll see the most violent people defending their right to violence in the name of self-defense.
See also: The mirror world
