State of styx

We must picture Hell as a state where everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment.

-C.S. Lewis

Here then, is the mindset of the reactionaries.  Their seriousness has become deadly, as the forces of resentment claim the right to kill; and self-important rage fuels the forces of insurrection.  It is no longer enough to simply oppose other viewpoints; the pernicious nature of inflamed grievance demands destruction for those who hold conflicting outlooks.  The lust for personal advancement couples with envy to spawn a demand that those outside the tribe be exploited; and the conviction that such exploitation supplies some amorphous benefit beyond the obvious self-enrichment.  The idea of dignity has been debased; respect exists only for oneself, while contempt for alternative perspectives becomes a sign of strength.

For many, the desire to build heaven has mutated into a craving to raise hell.  The stench of despair and damnation chokes out the breath of life and love.