Good Morning.
In the past couple of days the term cult has been applied to the unwavering support of the current president by what is commonly referred to as his base. Cult is a scary, negative, gut-wrenching term. It means the religious-type veneration of an earthly person, rather than God, by a group of admirers. There are undoubtedly several cults around the country and throughout the world at the moment, given man's tendency towards self-aggrandizement, but most of them are fairly small and hidden from public curiosity. The two that made headlines in recent decades were the Jonestown group and the Branch Davidians at Waco, Texas. Both ended in tragedy.
Why someone loses his or her capacity for reason to the point of joining a cult I am not qualified to explain, except to say that some people are magnetically drawn to a person in a position of power under a variety of circumstances. There are fans who stalk celebrities, students who idolize a teacher, women who fall in love with their doctor. The rock star, English teacher, and dermatologist may or may not enjoy the attention, but the cult leader craves and demands unconditional, mindless adulation twenty-four seven.
Politics is ripe for a cult-type atmosphere. Some politicians initially seek public office with at least a few good intentions about issues that need addressing, but most end up with egos that need constant stroking by as many supporters as possible, and in the process, most throw whatever honesty and decency they may have grown up with right out the window. They yell when the don't like what the media says about them, but they'd turn into moldy old bread if the media wasn't saying something about them. They seek a microphone the way a dog begs at the dinner table, and I say that with apologies to the dogs among us.
Voters can, quite readily, become babbling idiots when it comes to supporting a candidate. They stuff envelopes for days on end, put up yard signs, wear dumb hats and T-shirts, write letters to the editor, and otherwise go cuckoo over someone they've never even met. As much as they support this individual, they despise his or her opponent, and it seldom has anything to do with the issues. I know of a small town whose residents were stockpiling military-style assault weapons in the event that Obama started a civil war to overthrow the government of the United States. This activity had nothing to do with health care, the environment, or education; it was buying into a ridiculous mindset where the truth had literally vanished into thin air. These people were hard-working farm folk and main street business owners who loved their families and went to church every weekend, but they had lost their ability to sort through information and reach a conclusion based on fact rather than mob mentality emotion.
In the current political climate, a certain segment of the population is following a leader who is enjoying the economic upswing and who has effected a tax cut but whose personal behavior is absolutely awful. He treats the allies of the United States like garbage while praising the dictators of Russia and North Korea. He demands a blind allegiance from his West Wing staff and cabinet secretaries and will eat their lunch if he doesn't get it. His need to dominate other people in every circumstance is unbridled beyond anything ever seen before in American history, and his fans believe absolutely anything he tells them. As he said during his campaign, he could shoot someone in New York and his supporters wouldn't even blink. What does that sound like?
Best regards,
Elisabeth
Comments