How can you really tell what is true? That a child is abused? That a certain nation is bad and a war is justified? That your long-time friend is telling you the truth? That politicians are telling you the truth?
These questions are not directed at people who are persecutory targets of people with Narcissistic Paradigm. They know the truth. These questions are targeted at situations when you are a third party observer. An observer to a claim. Be it from a friend, or from a politician.
Because if you get it wrong, no matter how persuaded you are and how logical it seems in the moment, if you get it wrong, you will enable very evil things.
Let's say a person comes to you and says "my child is abused by the other parent". And the person gives you a detailed and very believable narrative. Say, you act on this pleading and you report this to law enforcement (or act on this in any other form). If the child is truly abused, you just served justice and protected the child. However, if you got this wrong, if you fell for the narrative, you just punished an innocent parent and handed the child over to an abuser.
The same applies to global wars, politics, media. If you act on your belief and you get it right, you fight for a righteous cause. But if you get it wrong, you may as well support a global war and killing innocent people.
Now, this is very important to repeat: if you get things wrong, you will enable evil and abuse. While this is also established: people that operate within Narcissistic Paradigm are very powerful at emotionally pulling you in and inducing psychosis. It is called gas-lighting and people who get pulled in are referred to as Flying Monkeys - Psychosis. If you think this cannot happen to you, or that you would see through it, you are operating within your own Paradigm Blindness and can bid evil things without knowing it.
It was Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a world war 2 priest who got executed by Nazi, who said that there are two types of bad people:
The first is a malevolent type and these people know what they are doing, they strategically do evil things but do not see it as evil, exploiting others, killing others is justified as strong survive and weak die. That's how they see the world. Weak deserve to be exploited. They can't feel empathy. These people are highly deceptive, liars, manipulative. Yet they see it as mere tactic. And if you fall for it, well, that's your fault and their victory. That is how they see the world. They operate from within a Narcissistic Paradigm.
While they know what they are doing, they still operate within a Paradigm Blindness as they are not aware where is that belief coming from. They do not see that they are also entrapped within a Narcissistic Paradigm and that it is not them who think the way they think they think, but it is the paradigm making them think and act that way.
The second type of people, Dietrich called stupid people (we do not agree with his labels however his observations are valuable). Stupid people, he says, are people who have no idea what they are doing, totally believe the cult leader (malevolent person above) and follow the ideology. These people get deluded, under psychosis, into what they believe, rationally justify it, and will become warriors of the cult leader. Dietrich says that these people are actually more dangerous. These people are delusional, there is no talking with them, and they will attack you if you go against the delusion. They are willing to die for what they believe. They are essentially spiritually dead as they don't live their own life. Metaphysical stories like zombies are stories about this. If their ideology touches you, you become one of them. They are dead, as such you can't kill them. Meaning you can't persuade them.
If you were in a closed room with a malevolent person, s/he might admit that: yeah, I am doing what is best for me and all these stupid people follow me. I am the king/queen. I know that I lie but it is not a lie, it is a strategy to get what is best. Best for me and best for them. Because people are stupid, they should do what I say. And they do. They believe everything I say. I know what is best for them as they do not. I am the king and things will be my way. Yet, within their own psychosis and thus Paradigm Blindness, they are bidding the war of the Narcissistic Paradigm, creating a Narcissistic Pyramid. They are tools of something bigger and more malevolent than themselves.
The malevolent person, in a closed room when feeling safe to uncover the mask, will tell the truth of their belief. You would see that they know exactly what they are doing. You could have a conversation with them and it would make sense. You would be able to see why they do what they do. You would not agree with them by any means, how could you?, but you would see their point of view and they would see yours. They wouldn't however care for yours as they 'know better'.
If you were in a closed room with a stupid person, there would be no such discussion or revelation. The stupid person would call you stupid for not believing in what they believe. The stupid person would be a broken record, repeating the ideological narratives without any consciousness. Any opposition would be greeted with anger and attacks. You would be ostracized. There would be no discussion. You would be guilty by your own existence in having an opposing view. And if the society would support it, you would be killed for that. (Gulag Archipelago, Mao, Pinochet are examples of such).
So, how can you really tell veracity of any information or allegation or pleading? The key word here is "really". The answer is you can't. That does not mean you cannot know the truth. It means you cannot know that it really is the truth. We all are subject to Paradigm Blindness. Narcissists are very skillful at induced psychosis. Read Why are narcissists so effective at exploitation?
Another very common induced psychosis is targeting a wrong group. For example women get raped, join advocacy groups and target men. Not rapists. But men. Because how can you tell which man is a rapist? You can't. All men have a penis so they have potential (and a weapon) to be a rapist. Yet, that's psychosis. Then fathers get falsely accused of abuse of their children (or a wife), join advocacy groups and target women. Not sociopathic women. But women or mothers in general. Because they all have a potential (and a weapon) to falsely accuse you of abuse. Yet, that's psychosis. Nations are accused for undemocratic behaviors and then attacked under the disguise of democracy and protection. That's psychosis on a massive scale. Meanwhile, it is not men, women, fathers, mothers, nations that are the problem. It is the Narcissistic Paradigm. It operates within men, women, fathers, mothers, or nations. Yet we don't recognize it and falsely attack the entire group. This psychosis keeps the paradigm and its true motive hidden. The in-fighting between these groups is its motive as it can continue its abuse and thus its mission.
So what is the solution?
Do not fight. Let evil be evil. Do not react to it. Fighting it, reacting to it, IS what feeds it. Reaction is the narcissistic supply.
However, you may ask: So, am I supposed to leave abuse happen in front of my eyes? Not say anything? I am protecting the good! I am fighting the evil!
But, are you? Under Stalinistic regime it was OK to persecute and kill people as they were enemy of the state. However, who defines the enemy of the state? Psychosis does! And thus malevolent people who induce it. Do not be fooled that it cannot happen again. Do not be fooled that it cannot happen to you.
If you believe you cannot fall for this, if you believe that your logic is solid, then you are operating within your own Paradigm Blindness and will bid devil's war.
One more argument for this. Let's say that you happen to actually see true evil and are correct in what you see. Our argument above is that you never can really know, but let's say that even if under such delusion, you are actually correct. What now? You fight evil and abuse? The desire to fight evil will draw you to groups that fight the same evil. But there will be people in that group who fight for wrong reason, as in their case, they are actually wrong in what they perceive. As such, the group you fight against will consist of the very same mixture of people. And now what? You are part of the problem. The fighting itself is what feeds the psychosis, even if you don't have it personally. The fight prevents people from looking into the mirror. Or in other words, see their own psychosis and thus their own paradigm. The fighting (no matter how righteous cause it seems) is what keeps the paradigm hidden and bid its true cause.
We ALL live within a Paradigm. There is no escape from it. It is only healing that allows and attempts to escape it. Fighting the evil from within self as a primary fight IS what fights it externally in others. Fighting it externally with others as a primary fight allows the Paradigm to control your own thoughts and logic, focus outwards and thus bid the devil's war. All under a psychotic pretense of righteousness and logically explained to its own host. YOU!