The Constructive Delusion

Let's start with a personal question: Are you a constructive person? Are you one of us who really try to think and act constructively? Do you, at the very least, believe in fundamental human rights and the inherent worth of all people?

​If so, you are not alone.

Constructive thinking is a big topic these days. Every self-help expert stresses the necessity of a constructive mindset. In fact, not only the coaches and therapists but almost everyone seems to agree that being constructive is the way to go—except for a few outcasts who, embracing a negative identity, take pride in destructive behavior, such as gang criminality, mass shootings, child abuse, or thrill killings.

But despite humanity's constructive outlook, the world is full of destructiveness. We destroy the climate, fight wars, allow people in the third world to live in deplorable conditions, trigger pandemics, and bully each other in our workplaces. Studies show that people are feeling worse than ever. How can this be? Who is the bad apple ruining it for everybody else? Could it be our leaders who stubbornly cling to a destructive worldview?

​No, not if you ask them. Actually, destructiveness seems to be a mysterious, universal force that is simply beyond human control. Almost everyone thinks the right way, yet we cannot get the world in order.

As early as 1962, Swedish author Sven Lindqvist explained in his book Exterminate All the Brutes how we can run a destructive society while still viewing ourselves as good and well-meaning: it happens because society is ruled by a destructive norm so deeply rooted that we do not see it. 

It's not that our elected officials and our managers just happen to be exceptionally destructive. We simply do not manage to be as constructive as we want and believe ourselves to be. As long as our society is ruled by the destructive norm, it certainly favors destructiveness. However, if enough people were to demand a fundamental shift of the system, it would still be possible. The problem is that we are not constructive enough to remain consistent in our desire for a better world. It is simply impossible as long as we are unconsciously ruled by a norm telling us that being thoroughly constructive is bad for us and that we need a certain destructive edge to be whole human beings.

By tracing this destructive norm within ourselves, we get the chance to change the destructive structures that govern society.