And people in the thread even go so far as to claim that the conservatives, the Trump voters, THEY're the cult. The lack of self awareness is absolutely monumental. I can't help but laugh at the absurdity.
While I don't think conservatives are the cult, they
could be the cult. That's one of the most telling characteristics of a cult: pointing to extreme examples and caricatures of other groups in order to say "no, no,
those are the cultists. See?" as a defense mechanism to hide their own predilections.
By most normal standards, the behavior of the other group is usually pretty bad, which is exactly why they are selected. Why prop your movement up against meek evangelicals baking cookies for the elementary school when you could use the Westboro Baptist church as your foil instead? Why prop your movement against hard-working black families that just want to make their way in the world when you can use racist caricatures and old tropes instead? In a reality-starved cult environment, being shown examples of "the
real cult behavior" is an excellent way to prevent self-awareness because it keeps attention on the outside instead of letting the light shine into the group (and into their hearts).
This is unfortunately a part of any mass movement and can crop up among any ideology that is sufficiently driven by feelings of moral superiority. Churches, spiritual gurus, dictators, pop-stars, and politicians have all preyed upon this same weakness of the human heart.
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