I truly enjoy your writing that brings psychology into the picture. It helps explain so many things that don't make logical sense. As an engineer I like to think there should be logic in everything, but...
Also as a retired engineer, I liked to think there should be logic in everything. As a philosopher and an observer of the world, I'm beginning to think all is ultimately chaos and that logic & order are merely the gilt on the turd.
Really astute analysis. And very helpful in understanding the Trump cult phenomenon!! I had a MAGA friend and I had to drop her because she was irrational/beyond reason. She thrived on the conspiracy shit. She needed it. She was deranged but thought everyone else was. And so it goes.
Flooding the plain. Mass confusion and disinformation mixed with facts. It is all intentional both sides. Wish I hadn’t voted for him - but the lack of primary by dems was disturbing. Thought how bad could he be second go round. 😂Sigh. Who would you suggest as good leaders? Who would you want for next president?
The Epstein files and that of Non-Human Intelligences and Unknown Anomalous Phenomenon.
I know Experiencers/Contactees personally and I read enough reports from John Mack, Jacques Valeé and John Keel to know that there is an intentionally hidden (occulted you could say) infornation-based sublayer for Reality, for if the truth/gnosis of these secret physics ever came out those Murder Clowns at the top would lose all power forever.
I liked reading this. I knew from day one that the Epstein files would do absolutely nothing. I tried to warn people. The only thing that has happened is that child rape is normalized and has grown exponentially.
Ok, but other politicians *are* routinely felled by scandals. What makes Trump so resistant? Is it his persona? The unusual gullibility of his base? The moment of declining empire we find ourselves in?
I think you really nailed it, but maybe being a cult just does not explain enough what is going on here. I am not an expert and have no psychological profession, but I observe a lot. To me it looks that the fine grained part is that due to a total lack of solutions they stick to the idea they have been given from the cult leaders. Everyone is just simply holding up the simplest thing to believe in and no one wants to let loose in fear of being lost again. Maybe it feels like finally being home somewhere and it seems like feeling good within a strongly defined peer group where the brother and sisterhood is celebrated with really simple and kind of tangible values no one has to think about too much. In my opinion losing a stable and rather simple system to a chaotic one drives more and more people "back" to simple and easily understandable systems. What is missing is the "good" alternative to the "bad" cult, giving people the same security and easy to understand framework which does not need to be intellectual to get it. So, finally it is not about the "bad" cult doing a good job, it is the "good" one missing leaders and ideas on how to build and convey the "better" option as an alternative and get the weight back from where it lost the balance.
People are attracted to cults because they can't find stability or a sense of connection or value in their own lives. So yes, it seems like the same conditions that make someone vulnerable to a cult are the same ones that make them vulnerable to fascist movements. They share so much in common.
I think the Epstein files promises and false reassurances were mainly just a fantasy (a desperate magical thinking one), and also a distraction from the total lack of viability of the opposition party. I was surprised they released as many as they did, as my prediction was that they would lie, alter, redact, and withhold as they always do to journalists. Surely they did, but there's still a lot there. I write about the structural and institutional rot that precedes fascism, and Trump is just the type of Buffonish and dystopic figure Chris Hedges says is always "vomited up" in the death throes of Empire. He is a symptom not the cause. Also, as I always say, in order to sell people snake oil, you have to make them sick first. The sick society was created first and then Trump was presented as the cure to keep corporate regulatory capture and the oligarchic Mafia state fed. @Sarah Kendzior Kendzior, incidentally, was onto Epstein before most people were.
Wrote a short fiction on exactly this — the careful man who arranged to be present at everything and responsible for nothing. No names. The box does the work; the reader supplies the man.
Makes perfect sense. When you consider the people wearing T shirts that say “I’m voting for the convicted felon” or “Real men wear diapers”, this is not much of a stretch.
It’s the core if every religion or cult, and the thing that binds them : to believe things that are factually impossible to be true. That’s why it are ‘belief-systems’ and not ‘fact-searching-systems’, so it is logic that the more unreasable their beliefs become, the fiercer their belief becomes. It’s the same thing with market fundamentalists who believe capitalism solves problems because off the invisable hand off the market and it will provide prosperity for all. Their answer to the fact reality shows it is false: lore deregulation, more marked-fundamentalism. Ignoring them and building an alternatif is often much more effectif
This analysis is illuminating, Jessica. Bleak, but illuminating. Do you think reporting on the Epstein files will influence non-MAGA voters? Those who are not very engaged politically?
Really great analysis, it’s the largest cult the world has ever seen.
Yep. Never underestimate a cult's depth of denial or who they're willing to throw under the bus to protect their belief system.
I’ve seen a number of people who I thought were intelligent ignore all logic, reason, and morals. It’s scary.
I truly enjoy your writing that brings psychology into the picture. It helps explain so many things that don't make logical sense. As an engineer I like to think there should be logic in everything, but...
Also as a retired engineer, I liked to think there should be logic in everything. As a philosopher and an observer of the world, I'm beginning to think all is ultimately chaos and that logic & order are merely the gilt on the turd.
Indeed. It doesn't help that so many politicians and corporations encourage people to abandon their logic at every turn.
Really astute analysis. And very helpful in understanding the Trump cult phenomenon!! I had a MAGA friend and I had to drop her because she was irrational/beyond reason. She thrived on the conspiracy shit. She needed it. She was deranged but thought everyone else was. And so it goes.
That would be my sister and only sibling. She went so far over the edge that she disowned me.
Ugh, sorry to hear that.
Flooding the plain. Mass confusion and disinformation mixed with facts. It is all intentional both sides. Wish I hadn’t voted for him - but the lack of primary by dems was disturbing. Thought how bad could he be second go round. 😂Sigh. Who would you suggest as good leaders? Who would you want for next president?
I'm scared to throw out any names because someone will hate them. :)
Also explains Jehovahs Witnesses. I have converts in my family. All you wrote is true about them. BTW I’m supposedly destined to burn in hell.
Two things can be true at the same time.
The Epstein files and that of Non-Human Intelligences and Unknown Anomalous Phenomenon.
I know Experiencers/Contactees personally and I read enough reports from John Mack, Jacques Valeé and John Keel to know that there is an intentionally hidden (occulted you could say) infornation-based sublayer for Reality, for if the truth/gnosis of these secret physics ever came out those Murder Clowns at the top would lose all power forever.
I liked reading this. I knew from day one that the Epstein files would do absolutely nothing. I tried to warn people. The only thing that has happened is that child rape is normalized and has grown exponentially.
Ok, but other politicians *are* routinely felled by scandals. What makes Trump so resistant? Is it his persona? The unusual gullibility of his base? The moment of declining empire we find ourselves in?
I think you really nailed it, but maybe being a cult just does not explain enough what is going on here. I am not an expert and have no psychological profession, but I observe a lot. To me it looks that the fine grained part is that due to a total lack of solutions they stick to the idea they have been given from the cult leaders. Everyone is just simply holding up the simplest thing to believe in and no one wants to let loose in fear of being lost again. Maybe it feels like finally being home somewhere and it seems like feeling good within a strongly defined peer group where the brother and sisterhood is celebrated with really simple and kind of tangible values no one has to think about too much. In my opinion losing a stable and rather simple system to a chaotic one drives more and more people "back" to simple and easily understandable systems. What is missing is the "good" alternative to the "bad" cult, giving people the same security and easy to understand framework which does not need to be intellectual to get it. So, finally it is not about the "bad" cult doing a good job, it is the "good" one missing leaders and ideas on how to build and convey the "better" option as an alternative and get the weight back from where it lost the balance.
People are attracted to cults because they can't find stability or a sense of connection or value in their own lives. So yes, it seems like the same conditions that make someone vulnerable to a cult are the same ones that make them vulnerable to fascist movements. They share so much in common.
I think the Epstein files promises and false reassurances were mainly just a fantasy (a desperate magical thinking one), and also a distraction from the total lack of viability of the opposition party. I was surprised they released as many as they did, as my prediction was that they would lie, alter, redact, and withhold as they always do to journalists. Surely they did, but there's still a lot there. I write about the structural and institutional rot that precedes fascism, and Trump is just the type of Buffonish and dystopic figure Chris Hedges says is always "vomited up" in the death throes of Empire. He is a symptom not the cause. Also, as I always say, in order to sell people snake oil, you have to make them sick first. The sick society was created first and then Trump was presented as the cure to keep corporate regulatory capture and the oligarchic Mafia state fed. @Sarah Kendzior Kendzior, incidentally, was onto Epstein before most people were.
Wrote a short fiction on exactly this — the careful man who arranged to be present at everything and responsible for nothing. No names. The box does the work; the reader supplies the man.
https://rossboulton1.substack.com/p/i-signed-the-book?utm_source=app-post-stats-page&r=2leuaj&utm_medium=
This seems to be Zionist b.s. Massie lost for one reason - AIPAC.
Makes perfect sense. When you consider the people wearing T shirts that say “I’m voting for the convicted felon” or “Real men wear diapers”, this is not much of a stretch.
This is REALLY good!
It’s the core if every religion or cult, and the thing that binds them : to believe things that are factually impossible to be true. That’s why it are ‘belief-systems’ and not ‘fact-searching-systems’, so it is logic that the more unreasable their beliefs become, the fiercer their belief becomes. It’s the same thing with market fundamentalists who believe capitalism solves problems because off the invisable hand off the market and it will provide prosperity for all. Their answer to the fact reality shows it is false: lore deregulation, more marked-fundamentalism. Ignoring them and building an alternatif is often much more effectif
This analysis is illuminating, Jessica. Bleak, but illuminating. Do you think reporting on the Epstein files will influence non-MAGA voters? Those who are not very engaged politically?