We like to think we’d see it coming. We like to think we’d never fall for it. But history shows how easily belief can become a cage and how slowly the door closes.
This is a fascinating and important essay on cults...it's worth noting that QAnon is described in the past tense.
I would add another book to this list: Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer," which I have on my desk. How good is he and it? President Eisenhower, Lord Bertrand Russell, and Hillary Clinton both acclaimed it, and passed it out to people they knew.
It described how people join causes, no matter how idiotic, and why.
Excellent article, as usual. I'm trying to dream up ways to combat our shared unfolding global catastrophe whose epicenter occupies the oval office. The ideas I shared with someone else earlier today highlight the edges of my thinking. This article by you serves as a warning for possible pitfalls to a healthy unfoldment of such ideas. ... I'm sharing it, in part, below. Just keep in mind that such a community would be inclusive, leaderless, unbinding to its participants, totally egalitarian and democratic in design... If you choose to read it, please let me know your thoughts. To my mind, it sounds a lot like your definition of a cult, but that is not my intention:
... I've been giving a lot of thought to this "money" thing for many, many years. And, I believe I have an answer, however impractical it may seem: As I've written before on Substack, I'm reasonably sure that the answer is the barter system. We need to go back to it as a community. We also need to constitute a modern Rites of Passage for our kids. Another way of saying this is, we need to redefine what wealth is. It's not what we have that makes us wealthy, it's what we give back to our families and our community and to the world. We need to build a contemporary Rosewood (the movie based on true historical events). To some degree, the Iroquois Indians can serve as a role model as well. We can interface with everyone else in our nation and the world, but we must build a bubble, a self-contained diaspora where a dollar circulates within our community 100x before we give it back because in our new-old world, the dollar means little to nothing. It’s value is measured only by how it helps us serve each other. Everyone owns a beautiful home because we build it for us in service to us. Everyone has decent modes of transportation. Everyone has safe water, food. We’ve entertained the world for millenia! We can certainly create entertainment, a rich quality of life in spite of them for any and everyone within our community, in service to Self. And when we succeed, because we always do, will they come after us? Yes, they will. We must prepare for this eventuality. As Nelson Mandela said, “It’s impossible until its done.”
You’re so right. Unfortunately, the majority of people can‘t live without meaning and purpose in their lives. And they can’t find it in themselves. Therefore, most people find this in religions or cult-like structures. The desire to belong somewhere is simply too strong. No matter what.
The article is very good. Cracks are coming.
This is a fascinating and important essay on cults...it's worth noting that QAnon is described in the past tense.
I would add another book to this list: Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer," which I have on my desk. How good is he and it? President Eisenhower, Lord Bertrand Russell, and Hillary Clinton both acclaimed it, and passed it out to people they knew.
It described how people join causes, no matter how idiotic, and why.
Many consider qanon to be supplanted by maga. But vestiges still exist
Good point.
Personally, I always thought that “QAnon” was a Russian troll farm.
Likely
Excellent article, as usual. I'm trying to dream up ways to combat our shared unfolding global catastrophe whose epicenter occupies the oval office. The ideas I shared with someone else earlier today highlight the edges of my thinking. This article by you serves as a warning for possible pitfalls to a healthy unfoldment of such ideas. ... I'm sharing it, in part, below. Just keep in mind that such a community would be inclusive, leaderless, unbinding to its participants, totally egalitarian and democratic in design... If you choose to read it, please let me know your thoughts. To my mind, it sounds a lot like your definition of a cult, but that is not my intention:
... I've been giving a lot of thought to this "money" thing for many, many years. And, I believe I have an answer, however impractical it may seem: As I've written before on Substack, I'm reasonably sure that the answer is the barter system. We need to go back to it as a community. We also need to constitute a modern Rites of Passage for our kids. Another way of saying this is, we need to redefine what wealth is. It's not what we have that makes us wealthy, it's what we give back to our families and our community and to the world. We need to build a contemporary Rosewood (the movie based on true historical events). To some degree, the Iroquois Indians can serve as a role model as well. We can interface with everyone else in our nation and the world, but we must build a bubble, a self-contained diaspora where a dollar circulates within our community 100x before we give it back because in our new-old world, the dollar means little to nothing. It’s value is measured only by how it helps us serve each other. Everyone owns a beautiful home because we build it for us in service to us. Everyone has decent modes of transportation. Everyone has safe water, food. We’ve entertained the world for millenia! We can certainly create entertainment, a rich quality of life in spite of them for any and everyone within our community, in service to Self. And when we succeed, because we always do, will they come after us? Yes, they will. We must prepare for this eventuality. As Nelson Mandela said, “It’s impossible until its done.”
You’re so right. Unfortunately, the majority of people can‘t live without meaning and purpose in their lives. And they can’t find it in themselves. Therefore, most people find this in religions or cult-like structures. The desire to belong somewhere is simply too strong. No matter what.