I have been thinking about this very thing. I used to be "them," caught up in all the same vanities, believing many of the same lies, even though I had a running suspicion that the world being presented to me wasn't right. It's amazing how a bit of enlightenment can make you feel you have a right to judge, and I have often done that, stepping off down that road without realizing it was getting dark.

Mocking absurdity is an important part of pointing out the truth, and I'm okay with naming things to be hopelessly stupid, but people do not react well to being personally called names for making a mistake. It's hard enough for them to accept the fact that the truth is the exact opposite of what they have been programmed to believe, and it's even harder for some folks to have to admit that they were deceived. I think of one of my sons, a generally good person who believes all the wrong things. I constantly offered him the truth until the day he kindly asked me to stop. We still have a good relationship despite our disagreement, and I am hoping the seeds I planted will grow, but if I started calling him stupid for clinging to a lie, I would create and offense and lose him to the darkness forever. That is not the outcome I want, and I plan to be kind when he finally realizes I was right all along.

Just so you know, my "higher self" is a dude. No confusion there. (Pre-alphabet people's altered language, original gender-specific meaning.)