the.com/manichaeism
the cosmos as a rigged tag-team match between light and dark, and you're the ring.
means an ancient religion (and now a slur for lazy thinking) that splits everything into two absolute forces, pure good versus pure evil, with no messy in-between.
from founded by the persian prophet mani in the 3rd century ce, who fused zoroastrian dualism, christianity, and buddhism into one cosmic story: the world is a battlefield where sparks of divine light are trapped in evil matter, and salvation is knowledge that frees them.
augustine's pasthe was a manichaean for nine years before converting.
spread fastreached from rome to china within a few centuries.
stamped outpersecuted by christians, zoroastrians, and muslims alike.
modern usagenow means seeing any conflict as pure good vs evil.