you can do that and in fact it's good to if you need to deal with the problem and want to maintain control. gaslighting is cruel and manipulative and unethical but things like that don't matter when you're quite literally above the masses and need to control them. it's gross but this tactic is played because it's effective. suspend morals and see these people as less than. go to the place where "good" and "evil" are just words and sit there a minute to understand what power needs to be.  the control is for your own sake if you're at the top, move the wrong way and you can only go down, sure you might not fall far but who wants to fall at all? and to land amongst the herd after being so far above them too... you're searching for depths you want to see in people rather than accepting what they are. "my dog killed 6 babies before i adopted her to be a nanny dog" i get it, it's admirable, but it's unfounded optimism in my view.  it's not reasonable at all because you shouldn't trust them.  the baseline as far as i can see it is the same as it always was you just remember it more fondly and are maybe nostalgic,
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