The “Above Suspicion” Morality Heuristic

How about this for a predictive rule of thumb:

“The amount of energy expended to place oneself above suspicion and beyond reproach is proportional to the corresponding intensity of the pariah status that would result from exposure of the secret shameful behavior this effort is intended to hide.” *

Variables:

1. Occupations of choice – Examples: Priest, Minister, Policeman, Scoutmaster
   1. Jobs that automatically place the holder on the side of Goodness against evil and also grant them some authority over community members are the destinations of choice for:
      1. Those consciously hiding bad behavior and seeking immunity from consequences.
      2. Those unconscious of their shadow behavior but haunted by a sense of it. They are naive and project their darkness onto others. They seek objective goodness by personifying it vocationally. This is to balance accounts internally, their bad acts cannot really be bad when coming from this persona.
      3. Exceptions: These roles can of course be chosen for selfless and well motivated reasons. That is obviously what makes this work for the guilty ones.
   2. The collective of these occupational authorities automatically form defensive shells against outsiders (parishioners, the general public), preserving their power and covering up crimes.

-* (or at least proportional to the emotional fear of being revealed)