Ideas are born by keeping your eyes and ears open. Giving pause to wonder can elicit a thought-provoking nuance that takes you down a path of reflection.
After a wonderful Fourth of July and watching the 4.5-hour epic movie “Gettysburg” to end the day, a correlation of thought patterns formed to put personal observations to paper. Like most exercises in mental acuity (a lost art), one revelation leads to another and that one leads to another, etc. (the domino theory of thought). The final domino fell on the song “The Cult of Personality” by the band Living Colour, specifically these lyrics:
“I sell the things you need to be. I’m the smiling face on your TV. Oh, I’m the cult of personality. I exploit you, still you love me. I tell you one and one makes three…”
The whole song makes references to how many have fallen for the hype. Many have succumbed to aligning themselves not with ideas, but with identity politics, a well-defined term that applies to both sides. The right thinks the term only applies to the left – wrong. There are numerous studies that have dug into how we perceive our own social sense and how we view others.
In the case of selecting a political leader, if someone is very specific about analyzing every candidate, read all their opinion papers, and make a choice based on facts, you are practicing “rational choice theory.” The problem with that today is that so many ignore facts. I almost feel inclined to use the term true facts (which is redundant) due to consistent obliteration of truth by so many.
Then there is the idea where one votes for or follows a person because that potential leader reminds us of ourselves which is termed “Social Cognition.” By expanding on this idea of how we follow someone “who gets us” the tribalism can become staunch.
In effect a cult is born and prospers under various false flags. This all leads to entrenched servile pandering to the golden calf of the moment. There is more to the idea though of blindly following someone just because that person is just like us.
It starts with a cult leader being able to easily manipulate cult members who live in a news bubble. These cultists seek all their information from few sources that do more preaching than facts. By gleaning their news from a closed loop system, they fall prey to the concept of “epistemic closure.”
Another key component that a cult leader espouses is revenge. This tactic can draw in people that have felt forgotten and maligned. Those followers like the idea that their prophet will get even for them.
The cultists look for a bigger bully to right their perceived grievances which led them to feel angry, lost, and frustrated. Revenge offers cult followers to reclaim feelings of self-respect and control. The cult followers also need a savior to right the wrongs. An opportunistic cult overseer will slyly create a problem then “solve” it shortly thereafter. Then the self-made savior will boldly state that they are the only one that could have fixed that issue.
In a metaphorical sense the cult overlord ties a Gordian knot and then cuts through it to prove to the tribe that the world they live in is now safer due to their cult leader’s actions. The followers will fall in line and become extremely dependent on this false miracle worker.
Generally, at this point members of this cult club are so firmly entrenched in their beliefs that no amount of discussion, logic or truth will eviscerate their commitment to their boss. Even if there are some inner concerns that they have been duped, they are so deep in their devotion that to jump ship would lead to the conclusion that they were wrong all along.
That would lead to feelings of embarrassment and shame. Those emotions are usually avoided at all costs by individuals so the only recourse is to double down and stay the course.
Those nagging reminders that they may be wrong are buried and covered up with emotional discharges of anger and near hatred of those that do not believe like they do.
They look to others to bolster their ego and there are plenty that will do so. They will scour their closed information system to find some false “news” story that helps them to suppress the doubt. There will always be someone or something to support their distorted world view. Belonging to this cult is everything.
Every day is filtered through this cult of personality. It is now a self-made prison for them. Many of these prisoners have the key in their pocket but are too ashamed to use it.
Stephen Podwojski is a retired, well-traveled former hotel consultant and training specialist. He was also a long time original member of the Register Mail Community Roundtable.
This article originally appeared on Galesburg Register-Mail: Many Paths: ‘Cult of Personality’ could be the theme song for today’s politics | Opinion
Reporting by Stephen Podwojski / Galesburg Register-Mail
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