As I was showering this morning, getting ready to go to Mass, the thought flashed through my mind that if I wanted power-crazy, authoritarian leaders to paw through every detail of my life and mandate every decision I made, that I would have joined a cult.
Then it occurred to me: The Deep State and the three-letter agencies ARE a cult. (I would make a joke worthy of John Wilder about this but the punch line would be too long.)
- Authoritarian? Check!
- Intrusive? Check!
- Turns followers into helpless children? Check!
- Punishes any who dare question even the smallest detail? Check!
I don't know if this Ah-ha! will be useful in flipping any of the fence sitters. Never-the-less, it is good to have a working model.
Which brings up an interesting question. How does one determine if another * acquaintance * is a cult member?
ReplyDeleteAsking for all my friends.
I wasn't entirely clear in my post.
DeleteThe Deep State and TLA are the cult leaders: totally power mad, totally without empathy and certain that they are right.
The cult members are deliberately wounded so they are deeply drawn back to the (apparent) safety and comfort of the cult.
I don't know enough about your situation, but if I suspected one of my kids or one of my siblings were a cult member and I NEEDED to be sure, I would take them camping someplace isolated. Perhaps the swampy island in the middle of Martiny Lakes or one of the little postage-stamp islands in the middle of Alcona or Cooke Dam Pond. No Mainstream Media. Just God, me and the great outdoors.
Then, if they went bat-zhit crazy, I would know. Somebody broke one of their wings and they can only hop-fly in a tight circle around the cult.
You do have a point... sigh
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine made a good case for the democratic party being a cult. I suppose any tyrannical authoritarian organization is a candidate.
ReplyDeleteBut you make a good case for TLAs.
Who manages their money?
ReplyDeleteAn Occultant.
See, not that long.