Cults.
Just the word evokes images of mindless death and tragedy. Jonestown, Waco,
Heaven’s Gate. The grisly evidence of cult brainwashing is there for all to see,
but sadly too late to save the victims.
The
existence of cults is evidence that humans have an innate herd instinct that induces
those with anger and hate, or simple fear, uncertainly, and anxiety to join groups of true
believers. True believers blindly follow their leaders.
Believing leaders frees them of the
need for self-examination and intellectual curiosity to adapt to the world. Believing
leaders frees them of doubt and moral ambiguity. Believing leaders endows them
with the belief that they alone possess the truth and superior morality. Believing
leaders means rejecting all facts and information their leaders want them to reject.
Let’s
look at some examples.
If
you believe an ancient alien warlord named Xenu dropped souls into volcanoes,
you are in a cult.
If
you believe Sun Myung Moon was Jesus returned, you are in a cult.
If
you believe David Koresh was the new Messiah, you are in a cult.
If
you believed Charles Manson’s “Helter Skelter” gibberish, you were in a cult.
If
you believed a creepy castrated guy called “Do” telling you to put on your Nike
shoes to prepare to go up to a spaceship, you WERE in a cult.
If
you believed Jim Jones was a prophet and drank his koolade, you WERE in a cult.
I think we're clear, right? Cultists believe their leaders without question, and are
indoctrinated to distrust all other sources of information. They will revere
and serve their leaders to any degree, up to and including their deaths. They
are true believers.
Now
let’s look at the biggest cult the United States has ever seen. Millions of
good Americans have willingly drunk their leaders’ koolade, and refuse all facts
and information their leaders want them to reject.
How
do we know they are a cult? And how do we know if YOU are in this cult?
Let’s
look at some more examples of cult indoctrination.
If
you believe corporate owned newspapers and corporate TV network news are “liberal
media”, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If you believe FOX News is "fair and balanced", you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If you believe Bannon, Breitbart and Limbaugh, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe there is no such thing as climate change, you are in a cult and drank
the koolade.
If
you believe the scientific consensus on greenhouse gasses contributing to climate
change is false, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe paid shills of Big Oil telling you billions of tons of greenhouse
gasses have no effect on climate, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe the Republicans and the NRA saying Democrats and liberals want to
take your guns, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe there is a “war on Christmas”, you are in a cult and drank the
koolade.
If
you believe white Christians are persecuted and stripped of their religious
freedom, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe Saddam was in cahoots with al-Qaeda, had “biological labs” and “nukular”
aluminum tubes for a nuclear weapons program, you are in a cult and drank the
koolade.
If
you believe Black Lives Matter is a racist hate group, you are in a cult and drank
the koolade.
If
you believe liberals are to blame for everything wrong in our country, you are
in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe unions are bad for Americans, you are in a cult and drank the
koolade.
If
you believe universal public healthcare is communism, you are in a cult and
drank the koolade.
If
you believe colleges are pushing a “liberal agenda”, you are in a cult and drank
the koolade.
If
you believe Hillary Clinton ran a pedophilia sex ring from a pizza parlor, you are
in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe Hillary Clinton should be locked up without criminal charges, you are
in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe Trump was sent by Jesus to make America great, you are in a cult
and drank the koolade.
If
you believe Trump calling over a dozen credible women he molested liars, you are
in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe birther Trump when he said Obama was not born in the US, you are in
a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe Trump was correct when he said, “Very fine people” marched with
Nazis in Charlottesville, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe Trump blaming “fake news”, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe Trump about anything, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe birther pedophile Roy Moore calling credible accusers liars, and
blaming the “liberal media”, you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe only conservatives have values, you are in a cult and drank the
koolade.
If
you believe tax cuts for corporations and the rich benefit anyone but the rich,
you are in a cult and drank the koolade.
If
you believe any of this, you are in the cult of Con-servatism. Your fears,
anxieties and resentments have been fueled to the point of paranoia. You are
told who to blame, who to resent, who to attack, who to accuse, who to distrust...
and above all, who to vote for. You are being told your cult leaders should
have complete power to rule our nation. You are told only your leaders like Trump
can save our country. This is the indoctrination. This is the power of the far
Right Cult of Con-servatism.
And
this is the authoritarianism that leads to totalitarianism.
The
far Right Cult of Con-servatism is a clear and present danger to democracy, equality,
justice, freedom, and to our republic itself.
Until
this cult is exposed and stripped of its power, our nation will slide further
into totalitarian suppression of voter rights, education, unions, journalism, and
minority rights.
This
cult is in complete service to their masters. Their masters are the far Right
corporate elites and neo-aristocracy that has gained almost complete control of
our government. They are not concerned for our Constitutional general welfare. They want to eliminate or control it. They are dismantling our Constitutional regulation of commerce. Their wealth is
the only “free speech” that is heard by their puppets in Congress.
Their puppets will do everything in their power to assure trickle up wealth for their masters.
This
cult can only deliver the people fouled air and water, corporate controlled education, far
Right propaganda in corporate media, Orwellian squalor, and permanent war.
This
is how they will make America great again... for them only. The cult of duped
Americans will reap what their masters have sown.
Unfortunately
the rest of us will also suffer the consequences. And the far Right Cult of
Con-servatism will continue to blame us.
That
is how all cults operate. We are now to the point where we cannot save the
victims.
Welcome
to the Cult, America. Drink the koolade and make yourself great again, or witness in horror the end of the Great Experiment in democracy.
Posts
24 comments:
That’s quite a list, Dave...an accurate list!
I'm with JC. Not fake but fact. Are we ever in trouble!
Good piece, Dave. Well said.
Arch,
Thank your for your Cult fantasies. They are not facts at all. Where is your evidence that anyone believes your nonsense? How many items in my list do YOU believe? That is the pertinent question.
Turns out the economic growth and declining unemployment left by Obama far surpasses what Bush Jr. left him. Once again Dear Leader thinks he hit a home run by being born on third base. Did you know neither Bush Sr. nor Jr. voted for your Messiah? The "Only one" who can fix everything. Do you still believe that? Will Jared solve the Middle East and opiod problems? Crickets expected.
"Fake news CNN has gone silent". Just look at their articles at your links, amirite? LOL!!!
Thanks for making my case, along with a good laugh. Keep 'em coming.
Why they support Roy Moore:
None other than a real Chuck Moore is in this video, showing his ignorance and cult brainwashing.
Dave,
If you believe 9/11 was an inside job, you belong to a tin foil hat wearing conspiracy cult!
That includes you, amirite?
Arch,
I tend not to believe anything without evidence. "Nukular" aluminum tubes, Saddam in ca-hoots with al-Qaeda, "biological labs, etc. These lies had most Americans believing Saddam had something to do with 9-11. Do you believe that?
Are you saying you believe the "inefficient and unaccountable" government version of the 9-11 events?
So no, I don't believe any one narrative. While it has been presented al-Qaeda had their part, others may have had theirs too. As I see it, there are unanswered questions, and evidence was destroyed. At least I have the courage and wisdom to say, "I don't know".
Experience has taught me to distrust those who claim to have all the answers. I also distrust those who say the government is always right, or always wrong too.
Here's a few for you.
Do you believe 3 million illegals voted for Hillary? Do you believe Trump's inaugural crowd was larger than Obama's? Do you believe the CNN articles you linked to are fake? Do you believe "if you're a star, they let you to that"? Do you believe the girls lied and faked Roy Moore's signature?
Dave Dubya: "[Chuck, t]hank you for your Cult fantasies. They are not facts at all."
Right on cue, clueless Chuck dreams up his own fantasy visualizations of what he thinks liberals -- or, his new newest code-word, "leftists" -- believe, and strikes out again. Dave, he continues to equate yours and my disagreement with the underpinnings of the current corporate state as somehow a declaration of socialism, which makes no sense at all. Chuck and his fellow lemmings haven't a clue as to the sources of their under- or unemployment, the reasons for their lower standards of living, the roots of their higher health care costs, or the real motivations behinds Trump's "Make America Grate Again" meme.
Just as kissing a frog will not create a handsome prince, neither will explaining basic economic theories, defining undisputed scientific proofs, or providing confirmed peer-reviewed analyses open the minds of people of Chuck's persuasion to the truths of the world. They speak or repeat only what has been told to them by fellow cretins -- comrade cultists. It's easier for them this way. They don't have to think; only react.
Chuck, and his kind, are unwittingly the tools of the corporate state. When the exploits of the corporate state bite them in the ass, they blame the less fortunate, the poor, women, gays, liberals, people of color -- you name it. They'll always blame others and never the real cause of their misery.
They're actually, and this is the true irony, their own worst enemy.
JG,
They truly exemplify the Orwellian characteristics of totalitarian indoctrination.
This is how their leaders employ "doublethink" to control them.
Newt Gingrich on May 17th 2017: “Robert Mueller is superb choice to be special counsel. His reputation is impeccable for honesty and integrity. Media should now calm down”
That was then. Now see how "the Party" reacts to their Leader and henchmen being brought to justice.
“Mueller is corrupt. The senior FBI is corrupt. The system is corrupt,” he told Fox News host Laura Ingraham on Wednesday December 6th.
And the koolade is dutifully gulped by cult. Glug, glug, glug.
Welcome to Oceania, the Orwellian domain of the Cult of Con-servatism.
This is not going to work out well. Bush left us a severe recession and spawned ISIS. What will the Orange Fuhrer leave the world in his wake? They want only their political operatives working their private Justice Department. They are pressing their campaign to suppress voters. His Party is TAKING from we the people and adding over a trillion to the debt, just so he and his cronies get more money. He just single-handedly destroyed any chance of the Israelis and Palestinians reaching any possible agreement, etc.
More to come. America has been Taken and will never recover. Ain't it great?
It sucks to know and say that your country is being forever changed in the worst ways possible. Really sucks actually!
Thanks Dave for your thoughtful wisdom once again. You're so right it's not funny.
As a former member of the cult,I can say for certain that you are right on the money.It's a very scary and frustrating time to be an American. The infection is virtually everywhere. They are very good at what they do.I know,I was a loyal listener to the head con man himself, El Rushbo,for almost a dozen years,1989 to around 2001.Pretty sad,but I got totally manipulated.It's what they do.The sad part is that they teach their listeners to think that they are "winning the fight" against evil liberalism, when in reality they are cutting their own throats.Conservative policies are always the same.The more you have, the more they favor you, and the less you have, the more they hurt you. So it's very ironic that so many of the Limbaugh callers are from the southern "taker" red states,and many barely have a pot to pee in.
I'm glad that I was able to see the light,and that I found your site...I feel your pain.We're in big trouble, and we may not be able to save us this time. I'm not too optimistic, even though I'm a pretty positive person in my personal life.
Keep fighting the good fight.Your wisdom and maturity shines through,and the contrast is very visible in many of the responses here.You don't always have to be right, you admit your side isn't perfect,and your even to willing to apologize at times, plus it isn't always about "you". Just the opposite of the "conservative playbook."
What I finally realized is that the modern conservative movement is the equivalent of a very dysfunctional person. If you have ever been around one enough,every screwball lie they tell, and every sneaky thing they do is always some one else's fault.It's always "they" or "them". All the dishonest,dysfunctional, and hurtful things they accuse other people of doing, they themselves do ten times worse.It's very confusing, and it's meant to be.
It's no wonder that the head jerk himself is always whining about fake news,yet he is not only the end result of it,he is also the biggest benefactor,and would not be in the White House if it wasn't for it. Down is up,up is down, black is white,etc.
What a mess. I hope something good can come of this.
Jerry,
Thanks. The list was just the stuff off the top on my head. There's so much more.
One Fly,
The descent is almost inevitable. Hitler envied our media and receptive public. He and Goebbels would be amazed, and proud, today. Liberalism's fatal flaw is its tolerance for authoritarians. The line must be drawn, we cannot tolerate their lies and their agenda must be called out.
Ex Con servative,
Welcome, and thank you for your story. All it takes to escape the cult is questioning their authoritarian leaders, intellectual curiosity, seeking answers, and finding your conscience. Obviously this is too far a journey for most of them.
I had authoritarian tendencies as a youth. I wanted to be a Marine. Really. Then my older brother went to Vietnam. Watching my mother's worried face in front of the TV news stirred something inside. I started to ask questions. That was the beginning of my awakening. Then came Nixon and Watergate. Unchecked authoritarianism always leads to totalitarianism.
I have little hope for our country, but like you, I try to be as thoughtful, positive, caring and loving as possible in my personal life. That is where we have the most control, and we can set a good example.
That said, my tolerance for authoritarians and lies is zero. You may have gathered that by now. :-)
On the lighter side, we see ol' Arch deleted one of his comments. My reply may have embarrassed him to the point he needed to remove it. Since I addressed it, we should bring it back for context:
CNN, MSNBC and the rest of the liberal Fake News outlets have gone silent on the following:
http://money.cnn.com/2017/11/03/news/economy/october-jobs-report/index.html
U.S. unemployment drops to lowest in 17 years
http://money.cnn.com/2017/12/08/news/economy/ivanka-trump-hispanic-unemployment-rate/index.html
Hispanic unemployment at all-time low under Trump
This is hilarious; invoking the cult's "CNN is liberal Fake News" Big Lie while citing it to support his case. That made my day!
Does the concept of Orwellian doublethink need a better example? Trump and Newt would be proud of him. He's a loyal and fanatic authoritarian follower.
Thanks Dave,
I totally agree with your intolerance for the authoritarian conservative CRAP....I'm so sick of it. Be it in the workplace, a party, the gas station, local radio...I've had it.Repeat something enough,and most people will start to believe it,even if it's untrue and meant to harm most of them. Good thing they got rid of the Fairness Doctrine, so we could have true "Fair and Balanced." Nothing like a babbling fool(Rush)spending the last 30 years duping a whole generation of average people.....worked out really well.
Even when I was a member of the cult,I would question what they were doing,and even remember calling Limbaugh a wind bag,yet they would always pull me back in.I know how Leah Remini feels regarding Scientology now.No Kidding.It's also no coincidence that when I finally broke away from the cult was the same time that I finally started seriously examining myself and things that I needed to deal with. Conservatism requires that you don't do this....hence I could no longer be a loyal follower.I'm a lot happier inside because of it though.
I agree about treating people kind and loving,putting yourself in someone else's shoes,and living by example.In other words, the opposite of what the self proclaimed Christians of the right do(most of them.) It's born of ignorance, but I'm sick of my life being worse because of it.
Stay happy,and try to enjoy the season.
Pete
Dave Dubya: "This is hilarious; invoking the cult's 'CNN is liberal Fake News' Big Lie while citing it to support his case. That made my day!"
Priceless!! LOLOL
"Does the concept of Orwellian doublethink need a better example?"
Absolutely not!
"[Chuck's] a loyal and fanatic authoritarian follower."
Was there ever any doubt?!
Signs You’re in A Cult – The Cult of “Authority” or “The State” https://freekeene.com/2012/04/04/signs-youre-in-a-cult-the-cult-of-authority/
Ed,
Thank you for your link. All cults are cults of authority, meaning it is composed of leaders and followers.
The American Cult of Con-servatism, is the Cult of Right-wing Authoritarian Personalities. CRAP, as I call it.
Totalitarian governments are also cults. Nazi Germany, North Korea, and any dictatorship has their authoritarian leaders and followers.
Now that you've given us a link, how about your thoughts?
I rejoice that there are still many good Christians who don’t drink the Cult Koolade.
"I absolutely refuse to officially welcome the American Vice President Mr. Mike Pence at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I will not be physically in church during his visit," wrote Adeep Joudeh, the custodian of the church—one of the world's most sacred Christian sites—in a letter to Israel's Channel 2 News on Wednesday. "This is an expression of my condemnation of President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."
I salute, and bow to, Mr. Joudeh. Bravo!
It was mainly Flavor Aid, not kool-aid, at Jonestown, but what conservatives have drunk is the milk of oppression, intolerance, and worship of the rich.
Dave,
On Tom's blog you said I don't care for the sexually abused victims of Bill Clinton.
Kind of like the Muslim activist and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour who didn't care and bullied an underling to cover up sex-abuse allegations in her Brooklyn office? isThatRight?
"I absolutely refuse to officially welcome the American Vice President Mr. Mike Pence at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and I will not be physically in church during his visit," wrote Adeep Joudeh, the custodian of the church—one of the world's most sacred Christian sites—in a letter to Israel's Channel 2 News on Wednesday. "This is an expression of my condemnation of President Donald Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel."
Words of a Jew Hater.
Gene,
I know about the Flavor Aid, but "drinking the koolade" has become the expression. But anyway, you know their cult indoctrination well. Inflaming victimhood and resentments is vital for their cult. The poor things.
Arch,
I did not know Trump and Pence are Jews. You amaze me with your information.
Or are you just a Muslim hater? After all, Archie Bunker was a known racist character.
Of course Asmi Fathelbab’s story wasn’t dismissed. Her claim was reported to the police. The accused man wasn’t under Sarsour’s organization, and it DID NOT happen "in her office", so she couldn’t stop him anyway.
Asmi Fathelbab also claimed that Sarsour warned her "that I will never work in New York City ever again for as long as she lives" if Fathelbab pressed her claims.
This seems to indicate Asmi feels Sarsour has the power to do such a thing. It appears the women never got along and she had to lash out at Sarsour more than her alleged groper.
I am impressed by your deep concern for this one special case. Moore’s and Trump’s accusers are all liars, amirite?
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