Behind the façade of an intent to help others, you'll find unexplored shadow containing resentment. It's carefully hidden away from sight, mostly unconscious, but the resentment is very real, and it has it's own motives and agenda.
Vengeance. Getting back at those perceived to have caused what the true believers see as their own sorry lot in life. The persecutor that props up their personal victim story, those others who in their mind personify malevolence and evil.
Moving the focus away from themselves to other people, rescuing, co-dependent behavior, virtue signaling and righteous indignation regarding others, helps keep the light of consciousness far enough away from their own shadow to stay comfortably numb enough to make life tolerable, enough.
It is a proxy battle, what is inside, bitterness and resentment, projected outward. This is why they often seem so angry. They are, they are seeking vengeance, fueled by the flame of moral certainty and fanned by righteous indignation.
Our inner battles can never be won "out there" though, they must be fought in our own heart. Healing and growth can only happen at the level of the individual, which is why the fundamental importance of the individual must never be sacrificed at the alter of the collective good.