As Whywait? mentioned in his writeup, the men of ressentiment are the negation of the powerful, and since they resent this, they begin to create a system of thinking that puts down the strong and glorifies their weak nature. From the point of view of ressentiment, you take the person who you're feeling inferior to as not being strong at all. If the men of ressentiment are incapable of acting strongly, then they will say that acting violently is evil, and that self-restraint is good. We are strong, they are weak. We get heaven and get to watch them burn because we have self-control.

The men of ressentiment then create a system of values that takes whatever is weak (in Nietzsche's eyes) and makes it strong. Suddenly, non-violence is to be praised. It is the meek who are the important people. Sound familiar? Nietzsche feels this is a perversion of the human spirit, and detests this for the damage he sees it will do.

It is with this in mind, then, that I found this writeup on the Wired webpage sometime in April 2001. It is scary how much it illustrates what Nietzsche was saying. (Note: I'm not making any value judgments, just linking the two together.)

Convert-Em-Up

A new Christian computer game eschews gore for evangelical zeal. "Catechumen" casts players as muscle-bound persecuted Christians who rescue fellow devotees by "converting" -- rather than killing -- Roman soldiers. Characters are armed with "faith" and a "spiritually charged sword" to accomplish their mission. In the final battle of the game, the hero confronts Satan. "We intended to show the children that being a Christian is not a position of weakness but one of strength," said Ralph Bagle, chief executive of Christian software company N'Lightening, which developed the game. Catechumen was the name given to Christians of the early Church who were undergoing instruction prior to baptism. --Wired 4/2001