The unintended harm of blind ideology

Once you have a set ideology (a system of ideas and ideals) you stop looking at the big picture -- and you do wrong in the name of doing what you think is right in all situations.

One must always consider in an act who is helped and who is harmed. And you must also consider the long term implications, far into the future. Both of these come into play when the man gives to a beggar who goes home and beats his wife -- or worse makes him dependent, and demoralizes that family potentially for generations to come. All out of what, ideologically, seemed good in all situations.

When you place an ideology above such broader considerations, you effectively make yourself blind to them, and become a source of harm.

It is not an exaggeration to say that all ideologies in history begin on a principle that seemed right and yet wind up doing harm. This is because they are shortsighted, narrow, and in a word overly ideological.

Ideologies often form the basis of a group. This is the core that underlies 'group think.' Groups that coalesce around an ideology (a set system of what is right in all cases) invariably become a source of harm. This is the sense in which many of the problems in the world are the result of 'do-gooders' or (in the words of Oswald Spengler) 'world-improvers.' Out of such groups come immeasurable harm.

For instance, so much misery has been brought to the world in the name of spreading democracy. Countless bombs are dropped in the name of liberty. There is a term for it, "humanitarian bombing."
And on the other side, just as much misery in the communist world was brought about in the name of ideological catchwords like 'social justice,' 'equality' and 'emancipation.' Whole nations are enslaved by such principles -- which quickly become perverted and come to mean little more than statism.

Likewise, freedom of speech is forever under attack in the name of good.

For this reason, one must be on guard for such ideologies tyrannizing their own minds. Such narrow views cannot take the place of broader and more thoughtful long term considerations. And this is difficult. Ideology is supremely simple.

In short, there is no such thing as a 'good' ideology. All ideologies have high ideals in their stated principles. But no such narrowing of perception can ever be a substitute for true altruism -- which must be forever vigilant and observant of long-term realities.