The men of the clique and hell |
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"The men of the clique live together because they have the same kind of soul, and their narrowness is a narrowness of spiritual coherence and contentment, like that which exists in hell..."
— Gilbert K. Chesterton[1]
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A clique is generally defined as a small, exclusive group or circle of people who come together for a common purpose or common reasons or interests.[2] This definition is mostly used to describe high school students who band together based on such reasons (such as elitist and snobbish teenage girls from rich/high income/high-profile families, for which the term is most often used and in a pejorative sense; this type of clique tend to view themselves as "superior" to others, to look down on and socially exclude anyone they disapprove of, and to engage in behaviors such as bullying, aggression, cruelty, ruthlessness, manipulation and rumormongering to maintain power and control), although it can also be used to describe subcultural groups within society such as jocks, nerds/geeks, punks, Goths, hipsters and emos.
One historically notorious clique was the Ku Klux Klan, the original terrorist wing of the Democrat Party.
A recently formed high-profile group which falls right into the pejorative definition of a clique is "The Squad", the group of four highly controversial rookie Democrat congresswomen who have attracted negative attention and heavy criticism for their words and actions, both as a unit and individually, while serving in office since the 2018 Midterm elections.