What a cult looks like

[Radical Activist]

I was just thinking of some defining characteristics of a cult.

One is that salvation/happiness/whatever can come ONLY through the cult leader. It is focused on a charismatic individual who is the only answer.
For example, instead of "yes WE can" you might hear "yes SHE will" reflecting that only the leader can bring change. Only the cult leader has the experience to give you want you want. You can't do it for yourself.

Another aspect of cults is that its followers make excuses for the leader when they are repeatedly lied to and promises aren't fulfilled. We've been lied to by Bill and Hillary Clinton so many times over the last 16 years that I've lost count. Yet people still make excuses for the lies, mud and deception and fall for it again and again. That's a sign of a blind cult follower.

Yet another is that followers allow other parts of their life to suffer because nothing is more important than following the cult leader. For example, allowing the Democratic Party to fracture and risk losing the election in November because nothing is more important than the leader's ambition.

The Clinton supporters who throw the cult word around need to look in the mirror.

[depakid]

1. I have news -it isn't "Clinton supporters" who've noticed the parallels

I've heard these observations from a lot of people -many of them abroad, who don't have much interest in the campaigns one way or another.

[Shakespeare]

2. And they're just as wrong as those who throw around the word "nazi" casually.

It's ugly hyperbole, and utterly unnecessary.

This is what a cult really looks like:


So please stop calling Obama supporters "cult members" or "koolaid drinkers." I'm not an Obama supporter, but I find this slur particularly ugly. We're all democrats, and we're all in this together, no matter who ends up with the nomination.

[depakid]

8. No, they're not wrong at all. They've simply read the literature

or have experience, and made their own independent assessments about what they've seen from the campaign- some of which IS decidedly cult-like -and some of which you can see right here on this forum.

Behaviors are what they are -and observations about them aren't "meant" as a slur, just a take from people thinking critically about what they're seeing.

[Shakespeare]

12. Aren't meant as a slur? Riiiiight.

Yeah, it's meant as a slur, and it's also meant to marginalize and belittle.

The words are tossed around cavalierly, and they shouldn't be. It's lazy analysis, lazy analogizing, and doesn't add a damn thing to the larger conversation. The last thing it is is critical thinking.

I was an Edwards supporter, so it's fascinating to me to watch both sides go at it. And from what I've observed, the Hillary supporters are every bit as rabid and passionate--sometimes good, sometimes bad--as the Obama supporters. The Obama supporters are no more "cult like" than the Hillary supporters.

[depakid]

20. Sorry -but an observation is just that

None of my Assuie and British friends who I've heard this from (back in November and December) was trying to insult anyone- and believe me, they're not lazy analysts. They have access to far better and more probing media than the vast majority of Americans do.

Some of what they find disturbing- as do I, is set out pretty well here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/dominic-lawson/dominic-lawson-obama-must-beware-of-turning-into-a-cult-787298.html

(and BTW, I'm not a Dominic Lawson fan (nor a Clinton suppporter, LOL -so don't shoot the messenger, but in this case, I think he sees what a lot of folks do).

[Radical Activist]

21. I don't find use of Biblical language and metaphors distrubing.

Its a basic part of American society and culture and what it tells me is that Obama is electable. The author seems prejudiced against anything remotely religious and ignorant of the important part religion has played in progressive movements from William Jennings Bryan to Martin Luther King. No, that doesn't make Obama a cult leader. I don't think anything that sounds remotely Christian should be banned from public discourse and shunned as though the mere mention of faith is somehow obscene. That attitude disgusts me.

[Radical Activist]

6. News?

I don't get your point. Do you think I've never heard people at DU throwing the cult word around at Obama supporters?

[depakid]

11. The point is that not all people who have critical comments are Clinton supporters

and there's some truth to what they're saying. We're not talking partisans hacks here, or right wing assholes. I've heard these overtones from ordinary educated people (along with commentators).

Seems to me, the best way not to evoke perceptions of being "cult-like" is not to behave that way....

[sniffa]

3. The leader also usually deprives them of their money, against their will

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x5020094

[Radical Activist]

4. "It is happening to others"

Scary. That could cause major legal problems even if its a rogue staffer or a computer glitch.

[MADem]

5. If that were true, of course.

http://opensecrets.org/indivs/search_hp.asp?txtName=callahan%2C+Kathy&NumOfThou=0&txt2008=Y&submit=Go%21

[JVS]

14. LOL!

[QC]

7. "I know you are, but what am I?"

That's what passes for a valid argument around here lately.

[Window]

9. K/R.

:kick:

[Samantha]

10. I cringe whenever I see that word used in a political connotation

I submitted this thread a short time ago on the subject. In the case of the Obama campaign, it is apparent the use of this word by those in opposition meant it simply to defile the campaign's objectives.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=132x4478860

Food for thought on the subject ....

Sam

[corkhead]

13. "cult" is a strong, offensive word IMHO, but this is what I think of RE the Clinton camp:

[Radical Activist]

15. ?

Outdated propaganda films?

[corkhead]

18. they are masters of projection

and it IS very old

[Radical Activist]

19. Oh!

Bush and the talk radio crowd have the same problem.

[Johnny__Motown]

16. Like Hillary being the only possibility of a woman president for 100 years"

Cultish.. also not true

[Radical Activist]

17. Another good example

of telling people that they can only get what they want through the cult leader. I didn't think of that one.

[Jed Dilligan]

22. Did you see the "We are Clinton" thread

Reminded me of the cult in Hot Fuzz: "The Greater Good!"

:rofl:

[better tomorrow]

23. Isn't Bill one who goes to the Bilderberger meetings and all? Talk about cults....