Cult of Personality

There are many ways we can come to define what compromises a Cult. There are a couple of podcasts on the concept of Cults and they fairly do a broad sweep of the subject which can include Bravo’s Housewives franchises to certain types of diets. My personal favorite: The Cult of Dolly Parton. I have to admit that while I respect fandom there is this point where you cross lines, but I am not sure I have heard of anyone altering their body physically and dressing like Dolly daily, relocating to Tennessee and taking up residence near Dollywood to be closer to their icon where her songs are on permanent playlist. The Cult of Kardashians however…..

But the point is that when you become obsessive to the point where all rational thought and all spare time and energy is devoted to a singular subject that you are willing to change your lifestyle, your appearance, donate your money or turn over your finances and independence in which to pursue and remain in the society in which you are a member, you are in a cult. There is the Sarah Lawrence Cult that was in the news of late and a subject of a Documentary and now a play. That is a cult.

There are cults around business, NXVIM is one that stands out as perhaps the most bizarre of those, but I would include Scientology as that is a publishing industry as well as a Real Estate Firm despite having the designation of a “Religion” enabling them tax breaks and exemptions. Nice work if you can get it.

And that is the biggest cult of all – Organized Religion. The idea that you can have a “house” as it is called for worship, draw people in to listen to someone read a version of a book, take that an interpret its meaning, then demand fealty, in turn submission of one’s soul to that and demand money in which to enable you to do it all again and then not pay taxes on earnings, that is to say a hell of a cult.

And like all Cults sex is the big tool, pencil in which to draw and of course the weapon to further the submission of now both body and soul. The Catholic Church really mastered that craft and with that there are more Revelations than in the Bible (pun intended) about other organized Churches that have similar problem, the Southern Baptists are one such example. With that the promises of investigations and repentance, the big tool of Churches that one there, in which to ostracize those who harmed others. In other words, like Police who get busted for shooting/killing/harming someone they are just moved to a new place on the Chess Board. They then spend their days hoping to not get caught again for doing the same or just at least not outed for something they did in the past and promise, pinky swear, to never do again.

When one thinks of Cults almost always you think of Religion. There are many and the cross the globe. The fill a Wiki page and include largely those centered on the concept of faith. But they are more than that. You really have to examine what a cult is, and despite the idea that they are some sort of thrown together crazies who are nuts is actually kind of right and wrong. Charlie Manson was an example of that but when you look at the Cult of Nike Shoes, aka Heaven’s Gate, they were not. They were highly organized, had a dogma, a Hierarchy and in turn financial records, established income and were to all their members it was a “religion.” If they had the appropriate tax documentation and legal registration filed that I cannot answer but I suspect they did. And yes there is a podcast about them too.

And with that the idea of Mass Suicide aka Homicide features in many cults. There was Jim Jones, the above mentioned Heaven’s Gate and this cult in Kenya that had members starve themselves while the founder managed to survive. This is not unlike the one in Tennessee, subject of another documentary The Way Down, about the Remnant Fellowship and their founding Minister, Gwen Shamblin, who died in a plane crash. Guess weight was not a problem in why that plane crashed.

And there is a debate that groups like Heaven’s Gate and many other established groups, almost all of them subjects of movies, documentaries, podcasts and books, such Wild Wild Country. And are they in fact organized religions that simply like Scientology have a different angle on historical canons or are they are a cult? Again, I think ALL and any of it are cults but again I will say that you are free to go in and out of a Church at any time and not feel compelled to shave your head, wear a costume, donate all your money and go live in social isolation dedicated to the faith. Oh wait? Never mind. Still love Audrey Hepburn in a Nun’s Story though.

I have found some similarities to cults, they are all started by Men and then they get Women involved to be the recruiters, the beards, the front faces to show the legitimacy of the organization. Even Jeffrey Epstein had Jizzehlda/Ghislaine or Beard, to pose as his companion in which to enable him to move among the movers and shakers of leadership and finance in which to gain trust, gain money and fuck young girls. The revelations of that family/cult/business is still coming to light. I love the denial by all those whose interests coalesced with Epstein in pursuit of more money (sure but really isn’t sex part of that?) I love that they never saw a “young” girl in his company or on his properties and planes. Really you didn’t? They seem to remember you.

Yes folks Money is a type of cult, where the Billionaires and Millionaires meet, greet, fuck and do it all again in pursuit of money and fame. And all of that comes or do I mean cum, in the forms of buying, planes, boats, art or homes in which to prove how your bank account and dick are the biggest. Look at Newport or Beverly Hills, the Hamptons, Manhattan where they have erect ones lining the sky. Islands or Ranches are another way to hide one’s crimes right in the open and with that they are telling us to fuck off as this is an exclusive cult where membership is closed.

There would be no NXIVM or many cults without the Multi Level Marketing one sees in other business oriented “cults” such as Amway and Herbalife. That is how that nut, Raniere, in NXIVM made a living prior to his founding of that cult. MLMs have been called many names, including network marketing, social marketing, pyramid schemes, Ponzi schemes, product-based sales, referral marketing, and direct sales. MLMs are pyramid schemes that focus on recruiting people to recruit others, presumably giving a cut of the income up the chain. Bernie Madoff anyone?

When you dedicate yourself to preserving a belief, a lifestyle, a type of faith falls in line. Without that you have well just life and free will, and cults do not want free will, they want submission and obsession. The idea that you will have a better life, maybe not on this planet or even when alive but later so keep on believing, starving, earning, worshiping or fucking. That last one is always the biggest element in most cults. Remember they are almost all started by Men. Gwen broke that glass ceiling literally and is now with her God so I assume she can eat now, you don’t need food in heaven. And that Men are well men and they are ruled by the Dick. Why do you think all are Warriors of God and carry a big Sword there?

There are many cults and many types of them. The John Birch Society, the KKK, the White Supremacy movements that have many extensions the same way the Southern Baptists have Churches. Where to you think White Christian Nationalism comes from? I often recall the Westboro Baptist Church. But think of all the Pro Life Movements, where they literally killed Doctors, so much for pro life. And Politics make for strange bedfellows and none are more strange than the obsessive histrionic belief in Donald Trump. I have long said he hit the boxes of having money and fame. We all know that both are due to bluster and production values that the show The Apprentice provided. Like all Churches, Businesses have the Front of the House and the Back of the House. The back runs it all, they collect the money, hide the money and disperse the money, to themselves. It is all a type of grifting, or the long con. And without a certain type of believers that continue to come through the doors there is no way a business can last and you need that door open 24/7. Thank GOD for the Internet as now you never are closed.

The rise of Social Media parallels the rise of White Supremacy as it enabled, permitted, tolerated and allowed it. There were always factions and groups who in their isolation found support but then you have a massive communication too to facilitate it. Fox News and Tucker Carlson became the de facto propaganda machine and in turn those incidents of violence prompted by racial and religious animosity were easily dismissed and the faux rise of “antifa” became the new warrior cry and ones to blame. In my day it was Hippies, before that Communists and so on. The same way the lay elections at Soccer Moms, Tea Partiers and other “groups” that will be the determining factor are just concocted by the Media in which to bring eyes to screens, now those screens are more than Televisions, they are Phones, Computers, IPads and any form of technology one uses to find like. And as in all Math equations, like likes like.

As I watched the recent film on Showtime on Waco and I began to realize the complex web of how Guns and how those with guns meet, interact and the individuals, almost all exclusively white men who are lost and misdirected and use often Religion as their expression of frustration it allowed me to learn more about the way we use whatever tool we have in our kit to become a weapon. McVeigh was prompted by Waco and led him to find an enabler or more than one (which we still do not know and never will) I do find it ironic that it was the current DOJ Head, Merrick Garland who Prosecuted him but I am not sure I agree that it was flawless as he failed to realize that others were involved to help him plan and act upon it. And when we look at many of the mass shootings they are prompted by far more than a lone wolf who did not get laid, were bullied, were Racist, were Homophobic, Misogynist, Anti Semitic or whatever “ist” you need to validate your rage.

Jeffrey Toobin has written a new book, Homegrown, documenting some of this history behind Waco and the fanaticism that grew out of the 90s. The culmination of that was in fact Columbine. I had read the great book by Dave Cullen on the subject and knew the boys were not in fact bullied or sad losers. They had been in fact arrested and with that they conned their Parents, the Authorities that they were not a problem. But the myths remain. The same way a Teacher called that trigger by the drawings by one of them, the same was true in Michigan and yet the Parents there did know and in turn took off running. Denial is the same as complicity in many of these young men who are enabled to get guns, to hide the second life in the same way a Man hides a Mistress. Talk about Cults again and its relationship to reality TV take a look at Scandoval. What a farce that took up hours of rage and mob mentality to denigrate an idiot on a “reality” show and his affair. Do you actually know these people? Why do you care? Apply that rationale to the angry white men/boys who for some reason seen others as enemy’s and wish to do them harm. And when I got into an online argument with someone who was convinced that Columbine was a standard school shooting (again are any?) I pointed to the facts behind their reasoning, how they were perceived in legal filings as “good young promising men” by Therapists and Law Enforcement. Their parents relieved and meanwhile they planned on. Their killing of most of the victims was in the School Library and they took pleasure while shooting them. It is not a pretty story but again we have a gun problem, we have a massive mental health problem and we have no way of stopping or circumventing any of it. Time and time again we have failed to see signs, ignore flags and in turn we are so afraid we in fact contribute to it by buying more guns. And I will write a post about the history of how guns became the most significant issue in America today, a type of de facto defense mechanism that has little to do with the 2nd Amendment but more about money and strategy by the NRA and Gun Manufacturers. As all things in life there is always history and a back story.

But without a leader, a type of person, either dead or alive, in which to draw members there is no cult. Think Jesus and that is the starring member of that cult. When one looks at many “cult” fanatics there are usually patterns of behavior and failed businesses that often push one to form a type of community and in turn prove the naysayers wrong. The intent may be benign, but usually it evolves and becomes grander in both scope and scale. They almost always do. But as Americans we are illiterate, we like to emote, we like to believe what we believe and refuse to spend anytime doing the homework, taking the time to ask questions, and expect that our “instincts” are right. Really? Your instincts? We have two: Fight or flight. And with that we have some with higher order thinking skills motivated largely by the biggest motivator – Money. Money is the only thing that matters regardless of Class, Race, Gender etc, etc etc. And anyone who tells you different is either a Charlatan aka a Cult Leader or a Pathological liar aka a Cult Leader. Some are better than others at manipulating people to BELIEVE and not all of it is about a belief but it is about money. See Elizabeth Holmes and Theranos on that one.

It all falls to those who are Believers, Followers and those who are Leaders. And they are distinctly different. It is the Cult of Personality.

The Doomsday Cult

I have been obsessed with true crime and cults since the onset of the pandemic which seems rather fitting given the state of the world with regards to the rise of the autocrat across the globe who seem determined to do their best to wreak havoc on Democracy and the return of the new and improved Taliban seemed destined to prove that we are truly in deep shit when it comes to seeing the world as one embracing independence and freedom, the markers of what forms the concept of Democracy. We sure had a good run of it these last 250 years, no? Well not in the sense of pure equality and parity across race, gender and sexuality, but we were close, so close then we started to go fuck that shit and attempt to really test that document everyone seems to quote and love unless it does something that upsets them and then fuck that shit, it’s toilet paper.

As I watch the Taliban resume their ancient tribal bullshit in Afghanistan I cannot fail to remind myself that 20 years ago they were supporters of a lunatic with a desperate need for American attention and after numerous attacks on American symbols and one on the WTC before 9/11 it seemed as if nothing was enough but killing over 3000 people finally got the attention they needed. Which of course in true political fashion, deny deny deny, that it was they or anyone they were associated with led to 9/11. Really? Well why we wasted billions fighting a war apparently we did not need to and frankly went on long after the asshole who did plan the attack was killed, we invented this thing that all the kids do – Social Media – and that may be the best thing ever as suddenly the same cretins who avoid modern thought have zero problems using it to recruit and spread the message of ancient logic and thought created by men under some false flag of religion and faith in an invisible being who seems to have numerous names and identities for some other man who was placed on the planet to spread the word and thoughts of this invisible being. How they communicated and in what language and method is unclear but I vote for telepathy. Call him Gabriel, Mohammed, Jesus, Buddha, whatthefuckever, it is all just BULLSHIT.

We have the equivalent here and they are called Evangelicals, particularly the sect of Fundamentalists who put the bat into shit crazy. And they are coddled and patronized and the irony is that these are the same fuckwits who were so Anti Muslim that they wanted them out of the country. Why are they too conservative for you? I mean really?

The Republican Party of America is a cult. A true cult at this point, a doomsday one with a figurehead like Marshall Applewhite of Heaven’s Gate and his acolytes with their bowl cut haircuts, the desire to emasculate men short of castration who don’t agree with the philosophy of anti vaxx, covid denying, chest thumping racism and misogyny, to beat the shit out of anyone who dares to not believe. Scientology is a passive aggressive version as they have no desire to kill followers but they do make any naysayers lives a living hell with dogged pursuit, hiring detectives, going through garbage and doing whatever it takes to cast doubt on the critics. Harvey Weinstein did that as reporters began to chase down his behavior and we have story after story of how companies will go to any length to save their corporate secrets. Watch the movie, No Sudden Move, which is an amusing take on espionage in the business world.

Right now we have a crippled man in a wheelchair who runs Texas fighting Covid as he rages against anyone who well doesn’t want to contract Covid! Go figure. Then we have the doppleganger in Florida, a Yale grad no less (again Bush went there so go figure) determined to be the biggest dick in the dick off contest. This from the Washington Post has DiSantis concluding:

In a Wednesday interview with Fox News, DeSantis defended his response, saying Florida is seeing “great success” in treating covid patients with monoclonal antibodies — an effective, widely available therapy that few people are receiving. The governor, considered a potential contender against Biden in the 2024 presidential election, saidthe treatment should have been “a bigger part of this whole response throughout the country from the beginning.”

“You know, he said he was going to end covid. He hasn’t done that,” DeSantis told Fox News host Jesse Watters. “At the end of the day, he is trying to find a way to distract from the failures of his presidency.”

Let me explain this: A treatment is NOT a cure, it is just that a treatment and not everyone responds to this same experimental treatment in the same way. So to the anti vaxx crowd who have some resistance to the vaccines as they were rolled out too soon and seem experimental, what do you think this is?

And lastly the idea that a political party is a cult look at the Trumptards. Even David Brooks is beginning to realize that while he made fun of liberal elite, the Bobos, he now has seen the second coming of the new anti-elite, the call and response cohort that descending into QAnon madness and came to the Capital to hang Mike Pence and break stuff up and shit. This makes me miss the Technocrat class just a little but then again we have the 60s retro cool Biden so its all good.

But the fact that grown adults, well educated and in public policy actually govern under the notion that public health is a nuisance, that differing opinions and democratic rule is a problem then we got a lot of problems with the Doomsday cult. It did not end well with the Heaven’s Gate or Jim Jones so this doesn’t seem to be on a track to change that record or the song that is playing.

The clown car has crashed into the wall that Trump never built, his Lawyers are being sanctioned, the crazy vote counter nutfucks have Covid so their Arizona recount is on pause, ah the irony, and the Proud Boys are playing laser tag with real guns in Portland and this is the world that Trump wrought. He did not bring it he tapped into it and now that keg is spouting flood waters. No wonder Mother Nature is tearing up the planet.

And those who determined to remain unvaxxed, who challenge the authority that no one actually cares about with spouting false dogma and history to excuse, explain and justify their refusal are walking into the eye of the storm. The woman who works at our front desk has come up with more bullshit and lies that has made me question her relationship with her partner to believe that they have a co-dependent one that skirts domestic violence. Control and power are the issues that many of the cult members must submit to when being dominated, all of it a type of sexual preference being also sublimated in a way to deny and in turn prove control. The anti vaxx crowd remind me of the pray the gay away crazies who are deeply in denial and angry about being who they are. Try therapy or just get Covid and that will end it. Ah suicide by virus.

I do think that there is that element the challenge moment that says I can do this, outlast, outwit and survive Covid. No folks that is a Reality Show and there is no million dollar check at the end but a million dollar bill in hospital and medical costs there will be.

Maybe we all need a vacation. Have you been to the White Lotus I hear its a killer resort.

Cult-ocracy

The Trump Presidency is akin to a cult. A strange leader with unusual viewpoints, uses text and gibberish with a touch of bully to manipulate and intimidate if not coerce compliance. In NXIVM it was called “collateral” which consisted of nude photos, comments and admissions of times of shame/embarrassment to hold against them for ostensibly a way to further extort money or cooperation. The same with Scientology who uses similar techniques, the days of Esalen, EST and others have also employed such strategy that encourage their members to remain a part of what is largely a pyramid scheme.

The Republican Party is now a cult, with one singular goal – ultimate retention of powere. They don’t actually want to govern, they want to hold power and in turn pursue an agenda that aligns with those who finance the top of the pyramid scheme. In NXIVM it was Claire Bronfam, the Seagram heiress. In Scientology it is usually the A list celebrities and that is the usual formula for how cults are paid for and operate. Bernie Madoff would be an example of a type of a cult leader, and he too was a singular force that destroyed lives including both his children, one who would die of suicide, the other an illness that undoubtedly went neglected due to shame of exposure and having to face others in a time of need that often requires one to sublimate their selves to others in authority. Steve Jobs is another that comes to mind. The slavish devotion despite the rhetoric, the abuse and the of course God Complex that led him to ignore conventional treatment until finally he realized he could not “out think” the diseases, so he hopscotched over others waiting for transplants and all for naught. He is dead but the weird cultish fetishism still remains.

Aspiration and money are the tenents to power. Trump has always desired to be a member of the moneyed class and his crude attempts to be a member of the elite of New York were ham fisted bullying to ensure that whatever success he had it was one achieved from secretive loans, duplicitous dealings and of course abuse and bullying of underlings, via numerous lawsuits and fraudulent contracts. He continues that strategy today with his God Complex firmly intact down to the Covid car parade and the Evita balcony moment that was surreal if not expected from a man who now thinks he is cured of Covid, and who dictated the drug cocktail prescribed from a long list of other concoctions and treatments that were either dangerous or unproven. This current one is no different and in true pyramid scheme benefited the top dog.

The insanity on display is in fact legendary Broadway insouciance and is out of the Dictator Playbook of crazy but it is one shared by Cult leaders and their odd dedication to continuing to manipulate others into continuing to believe, to suspend logic and defy rational thought that this motherfucker is not just crazy but dangerous. Watching Wild Wild Country or the Bikram Yoga documentaries show how even men who are not old white dudes can manage using ancient concepts and ideas to get folks to suspend their own lives in pursuit of the lives of another. Again watch NXIVM to see that in real time play out as it is happening now and what is distressing is to see a young Black woman enable herself to be branded and call a white man master is another example of how we continue to use ancient tropes and concepts to manipulate and dominate when it comes to the pursuit of money. The Church has been doing it for years and now we find the current candidate for the Supreme Court also at one point involved in a similar oppressive movement.

So it is difficult to believe if not say so fucking what? The people are all educated, many wealthy and of course are not forced to stay but if you realize how shame, how blackmail works you understand that it is easier to remain, write a check and nod emphatically when asked about how this person has helped you attain your goals. Who knows what Ms. Barrett was thinking then or now about this group as it seems to be the antithesis of its foundation for a woman to go to law school, become a Judge and in turn have a large family while pursuing other larger professional ambitions. Unless you are a puppet so that may explain that. And again as Cults do they have no problem propelling others into success and fame as that brings more acolytes and in turn more money into the fold. Ask Tom Cruise about that.

I was asked why people seem to think Trump is the Baby Jesus and continue to defend and support him all while acting batshit crazy. Well belief is a dish once served is one hard to digest and in turn shit out. I put it in much cruder terms, it is when a man demands you suck his cock and then asks you to swallow his disgusting jizz. To be seen as a powerful woman you do or if you do spit it out, where? On the sheets than you then wash to erase the stain of that act. Slut shaming is a powerful manipulative tool that men pull out of their tool boxes quite a bit in which to manipulate and coerce women. If in fact Trump was Patient Zero and he passed it onto Hicks that may explain his standard playbook response that women like to touch, lick and be kissed, what can you do? Ah the pussy tape is back.

I am not alone in my thinking how Trump is reminiscent of a Cult leader like David Koresh, which is a must about Waco worth watching. Or that of Jim Jones and other religious crackpots who use faux spirituality to spread the word and pass the plate. When I finally began to see the similarities it is when I realized how fucked we are in the country. Listening to a woman say that she thought of death by Covid as the ultimate out while also professing to not care about any of this with regards to Trump it was again a strong reminder of how afraid and alone we are when it comes to actually expressing this to others as to be exposed or be rejected. Another said to me that he would not give Trump a vote as the issue of the second stimulus was enough to reject him. Oh that was the reason? Trump is the penultimate cult leader in his persona with such tactics:  ‘absolute confidence, grandiosity sowing fear and confusion, lying about the facts and belittling critics’. He has the malignant narcissistic personality disorder and an overwhelming need for attention and domination. Next up purple Nike’s, robes and a shootout at the White House to ensure that he will not go gracefully when asked to eventually leave the premise. They never do. Understanding the cult philosophy and the mind of a con artist in the way Dirty John or others is key to explaining why and how rational people seem to accept, tolerate and ignore the signs that this person is not what they claim to be. But we cannot ignore that the secondary businesses or industry’s that gain from this cult also are complicit in wanting to retain a hand as they too are generating power and wealth, and not greater one that the media; an industry battered of late with social media supplanting their access and in turn the consolidations, and purchasing of local media to the point some places have no local source of information has contributed greatly to the rise of the Cult of Trump. And law enforcement is largely white men so the Comey Rule applies, a douche is a douche until he gets a book deal and tries to explain, apologize, excuse or wave off responsibility. By denying accountability you are successfully blaming others and in the Cult of Trump there was no bigger exit than Comey who is still trying to get back in through exoneration of his poor decisions. It takes a great deal to get anyone in authority to believe, accept and actually do anything and funny it is usually the media that enables or contributes to that. The shoe leather of Michelle McNamara and her book on the Golden State Killer was undoubtedly the reason why it kept the case alive as much evidence and time had passed to make it not worth their time. Ah time the precious commodity of white men. How many times have we heard that one.

Victims in this culture are given many times front and center staging, we have a victimized culture that picks and chooses the mothers against drunk drivers, opiates, sex trafficking, guns and whatever the current pop culture trope is. Sometimes laws are made, named after the victim, more lives in the process destroyed by fake science and excessive laws but what the fuck we have Jimmy’s law and yet nothing really changes, but more money is made by agents who serve the government and come up with some other bullshit in which to sell it, much of it useless and expensive. And time and time again, mini series, documentaries or podcasts that we hear from victims of con artists and others who seemingly know of the crimes and commiserations of others and yet they hand over their wallets, their vaginas and whatever demanded of them to retain access to this magnetic idiot who looks like a car repair man (Love Fraud), a middle school teacher (Keith of NXIVM), an orderly (Dirty John) or a fat overweight used car salesman (Trump). They are never attractive, intelligent or even charismatic other than using you to mirror them. Whatever you say they say but they add gibberish and nonsense often half gleaned from books, usually the Bible the best book of frauds, to get you to swallow that jizz and then wash up afterwards.

We have to clean this shit up regardless. You can drink all the bleach you want, ask Jim Jones followers about that cocktail. Oh wait you can’t. His was not the first that ended badly.