The New Screwtape Letter
My dear Wormwood,
Let me be the first to cordially welcome you back to the world of Man and let me congratulate you on your reinstatement as a junior tempter. I hope that the last few decades being feasted upon by other, more competent tempters, has taught you a valuable lesson about failure. Do try to keep your mind on your work this time.
As the Senior Secretary of the Department of Temptation it is my obligation to help you along with the first steps of your new patient as part of your reinstatement. Your patient is opposite your last in two significant ways: one being that he is an American, which comes with its own cultural advantages, and the other is that he is of the lower, working class whereas your previous patient was of the wealthy middle class.
There are several advantages to being in charge of a patient of lower economic standing. His lack of material blessings and constant struggle in life to obtain the few that he has make acceptable grounds for doubts about the Enemy and the reliance on material goods for happiness. However, the really great triumph of the past two decades is that the word "blessing" will not so easily cross his mind. Over the years we have replaced the positive word "blessing" with the negative word "privilege". Not only does this word target a specific group of humans, distracting from the fact that numerous blessings have been received by demographics outside that demonized group, but also implies that the "privileged" people somehow didn't work for the blessings they have or that they should have these blessings taken away and given to "somebody else". And by "somebody else" we have trained the lower class to mean "me", thus producing greed and coveting which they assume to be justified because they have the moral high ground as the "under privileged".
With this term in its warped state firmly planted in the minds of the working class (and guilty middle class liberals) this plants fertile ground for indulging fantasies and, in consequence, nurturing discontentment and irritability with one's own situation. This also sows bitterness towards anybody in a higher economic position and a more education social circle, causing them to be seen as bourgeois and snooty and greedy. This kind of classism is so drastically different to the kind of class contempt portrayed in much of the art and literature of the last few centuries that the stupid little vermin often don't recognize thought like this a class hatred of people they've never met and haven't gotten to know, but rather justified contempt of "the Man" for the sake of "The Common People" by which, again, we have taught to mean just themselves.
I do hope that this gives you able footing in regards to tempting your patient and I hope that you won't continue pestering me like the last time.
Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape
Let me be the first to cordially welcome you back to the world of Man and let me congratulate you on your reinstatement as a junior tempter. I hope that the last few decades being feasted upon by other, more competent tempters, has taught you a valuable lesson about failure. Do try to keep your mind on your work this time.
As the Senior Secretary of the Department of Temptation it is my obligation to help you along with the first steps of your new patient as part of your reinstatement. Your patient is opposite your last in two significant ways: one being that he is an American, which comes with its own cultural advantages, and the other is that he is of the lower, working class whereas your previous patient was of the wealthy middle class.
There are several advantages to being in charge of a patient of lower economic standing. His lack of material blessings and constant struggle in life to obtain the few that he has make acceptable grounds for doubts about the Enemy and the reliance on material goods for happiness. However, the really great triumph of the past two decades is that the word "blessing" will not so easily cross his mind. Over the years we have replaced the positive word "blessing" with the negative word "privilege". Not only does this word target a specific group of humans, distracting from the fact that numerous blessings have been received by demographics outside that demonized group, but also implies that the "privileged" people somehow didn't work for the blessings they have or that they should have these blessings taken away and given to "somebody else". And by "somebody else" we have trained the lower class to mean "me", thus producing greed and coveting which they assume to be justified because they have the moral high ground as the "under privileged".
With this term in its warped state firmly planted in the minds of the working class (and guilty middle class liberals) this plants fertile ground for indulging fantasies and, in consequence, nurturing discontentment and irritability with one's own situation. This also sows bitterness towards anybody in a higher economic position and a more education social circle, causing them to be seen as bourgeois and snooty and greedy. This kind of classism is so drastically different to the kind of class contempt portrayed in much of the art and literature of the last few centuries that the stupid little vermin often don't recognize thought like this a class hatred of people they've never met and haven't gotten to know, but rather justified contempt of "the Man" for the sake of "The Common People" by which, again, we have taught to mean just themselves.
I do hope that this gives you able footing in regards to tempting your patient and I hope that you won't continue pestering me like the last time.
Your affectionate uncle,
Screwtape
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