Post 9sY2V3CyBXW7bW4lHc by BelieveYouMe@glindr.org
 (DIR) More posts by BelieveYouMe@glindr.org
 (DIR) Post #9sXzAp6UcF7QCoi32u by nina@neenster.org
       2020-03-01T00:56:49Z
       
       0 likes, 1 repeats
       
       I'm reading the New Testament because I'm interested in scapegoats, and Jesus is the most famous scapegoat of western mythology. Like many scapegoats, he was also a savior -- a cult leader. I've long thought that scapegoating is primal behavior, bypassing rational thought, but now I think cults are too. Cults form in spite of their adherents' intentions. That longing for "community" we all feel, especially when we're young? That drives us to form cults. So does the desire to do right, to seek justice, to Save the World. So does fandom.I dream of an "intentional community" of like-minded friends sharing a big house in the country; I also know if we really did such a thing, we'd quickly become (or at least resemble) a cult. Cults form even where no one (consciously) wants a cult: in schools, in political movements, in the arts. At the height of my fame I noticed some people getting sort of culty around me. These are the same sort of people eager to stone scapegoats. It's not like anyone consciously sets out to find scapegoats either, they just naturally create them, as they create saviors, and usually both roles are filled sequentially by the same person.I no longer think having a friend or loved one in a cult is exceptional; it's normal, especially for the young. I have friends and loved ones in cults. It pains me, but there's nothing I can do about it. The more you criticize a loved one's cult, no matter how gently, the more stubbornly they dig into it.
       
 (DIR) Post #9sY2V3CyBXW7bW4lHc by BelieveYouMe@glindr.org
       2020-03-01T01:34:00Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @nina This is great. I too have always found myself fascinated with the phenomenon of cults -- and religion in general, and even more broadly, just the way the human mind is so irrational and susceptible to bad ideas and thinking processes.It's everywhere! Very few people take the time to hone their critical thinking skills, and I wish more people did. I wish critical thinking was mandatory in school, and even emphasised as a cornerstone of education. Truly, critical thinking skills can do more to improve your life -- and improve the human condition -- than almost anything else.When people talk about how education is so important for uplifting disadvantaged communities, what they really mean is that the tools of critical thinking unconsciously develop in the process of undergoing a formal education. So why don't we make that unconscious process conscious? Why don't we come out and explicitly teach the tools of critical thinking instead of letting them take hold on the sly, as a side-effect of being forced to learn history and mathematics and literature??Anyways, I've made two videos this week about cult behaviour and trans activism (my first two videos ever!)  This one is particularly relevant to your thoughts on scapegoats:https://youtu.be/o8Ktkf2M7ew
       
 (DIR) Post #9sY5jkB5WOQOmxtSN6 by Sklingklorp@dobbs.town
       2020-03-01T02:10:23Z
       
       0 likes, 0 repeats
       
       @nina Ironic that the model of success is the exodus where a culture or  idea physically leaves an area and starts their own country. Imposing a belief system on an already established society is more difficult and only seems to work occasionally,  where an exodus is up into the success rate of 70 to 80 percent at the outset I would imagine.