The most destructive ideas in human history are really versions of the same pernicious notion: that members of another group are morally inferior and thus less deserving of individual rights, respect, freedom, and justice.

The most destructive idea in human history is the notion that another group of human beings is morally inferior and thus less deserving of individual rights, respect, freedom, and justice. Throughout history, this has manifested in various guises—from racism to sexism and anti-Semitism—causing enormous harm.

While this tragic theme has been replayed throughout history, the players in the drama are continually recast, with the roles of oppressors and victims assigned to different groups according to prevailing cultural fashion.

In Collective Fault: The Worst Idea of All Time, Charles Blahous provides a brief yet wide-ranging history of pernicious thought systems, from right-wing bigotry (e.g., racism) to left-wing class warfare (e.g., Marxism). Blahous shows how each of these ideologies, at bottom, divides humanity into fixed, mutually antagonistic groups and pushes people to regard members of the other group as the bane of one’s own.

At the same time, Blahous cites examples of humanity’s forward steps to break free from these pathologies and elevate individuality and individual rights above the collective. He makes the case that the only way forward is to recommit ourselves to regarding each other as individuals, not as representatives of conflicting groups.