Excused from blame

"The whole hierarchal structure of totalitarian movements, from naïve fellow-travelers to party members, elite formation, the intimate circle around the Leader, and the Leader himself, could be described in terms of a curiously varying mixture of gullibility and cynicism with which each member, depending upon his rank and standing in the movement, is expected to react to the changing lying statements of the leaders and the central unchanging ideological fiction of the movement." (The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt, 1994; page 382). 

Here we have a statement of how a totalitarian fiction enables people to make excuses for conduct on the part of those to whom one belongs that would otherwise fly in the face of common sense, and certainly offend any true seeker after the truth. 

Belonging is more important than reality. These are the limits to reason and to the power of considered persuasion. It is why the definition of property rights needs to be the first expression of authority. Property defines reality because human relationships are defined in terms of belonging, and reality is a construct of human relationships. 

Membership is measured in terms of who one excuses from blame by crediting them with the benefit of the doubt versus who one blames at the slightest provocation and holds to the strictest standards of evidence. Credit and blame in one's convictions mirrors the credit and debt of the bank affording liquidity versus demanding repayment to a cash strapped business. To whom one loans money, and the terms of those loans are emblems of membership that ramify into who one credits with and excuses one for their take on reality and the terms of those realities. 

Irresponsibly light or heavy credit terms on the part of the monetary authority are imprudent in a way that resembles the imprudence of political authorities who lie to their publics. 

When people believe both everything and nothing in a complicated mixture of gullibility and cynicism they are breaking down the standards of truth and warping their senses of reality.