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takethisforexampleI love making fun of all that zodiac bullshit about “making strides in your career” and “finding interpersonal success”. Earlier in my teens, I sort of arrogantly juxtaposed myself to mainstream pseudoscience and learned a lot about it, despite having a harsh approach. Truthfully, the zodiac interests me in the same way that I despise it because it’s easy to make fun of. I often wonder why people get so caught up in their horoscopes when it is obviously just a made up superstition, but I have no right to scoff at those people, do I? Every human sits and waits and wishes for the affirmations that the zodiac always promises. Money, love, success, whatever. And in that sense, horoscopes are smart for taking advantage of that universal human desire. I might look down on people who are vulnerable or unwitting enough to believe in that stuff, but I understand why it works. The same way I understand why witchcraft works, The Watchtower Society, Christianity, Heaven’s Gate, and even Nazism.
Now, I’m not saying that any of these things are on the same scale as one another (obviously believing in zodiacs is not the same as Nazism), but they all have something in common. I’m hardly the first to talk about it. All of these groups and communities are similar in that they spread their ideology by means of satisfying basic human desires. Vulnerable people fall for these things because they don’t have the intuition, at least at that moment, to see past this repeating strategy.
Zodiac signs affirm a person’s behavior and provide stability and direction to a person’s life. Witchcraft, in a similar way, relies on affirmation and ritual to garner these things. These practices are benign enough to not impede a person’s normal life for the most part, but they still apply meaning and comfort in a false way.
More intensely, Christianity, or any religion for that matter, provides all of the above in addition to community. And that is a key component of how these belief systems function. Nowadays, indoctrination of the youth is largely how these religions perpetuate, but they are still able to effectively recruit outsiders. People who can’t tell any better, who have questions they can’t answer, or who feel they have nothing left. Regardless of a person’s situation, their faith will always provide that feeling of belonging, which is by far the most important social quality for most humans if you ask me. Religion makes that easy, and in all cases abuses that desire by weaving a person’s perspective on life into a narrow string even if they tell you otherwise. I would go as far as saying that the practices of modern religions are cult-like or at least close to it. In America I’ve grown up seeing how Christianity and Catholicism breed hatred for all types of people and practices, and that has always been outlandish to me. Christians in particular feel a sense of unity from judging things they were raised not to understand, and that is the most human thing I’ve ever heard. At it’s core, modern American faith is a capitalist construct to a degree that I am not nearly informed enough to explain. But I know that it is money-hungry and keen on pushing a very specific agenda. God forbid, literally, that I see a naked woman on television or get an abortion or identify the way I do. The American deviation from original biblical texts is also laughable. We pray to a white Jesus and say that God hates gay people as if he said it right there in the book. Millions upon millions of dollars pour into the pockets of religious leaders and organizations every year to pay off yachts, tropical vacations, and huge cookie cutter mansions in the midwest. If not that, then something more nefarious. Those people know exactly what they are doing and I have no doubt about that.
When you zoom out, it’s easy to see the commonalities of all faiths in their modern context. They are businesses that have the incentive of exercising control over large portions of their respective societies. The reason they work is because they satisfy people’s need to feel a part of something and establish a sense of normality. Followers have all the support they could ever ask for, guidelines for life, and when they die they know exactly where they will be going. Religion is the answer to every question, the thing that two people have in common, and the structure for a “happy” life. And if you ask me, it’s an excuse for someone to feel like a good person because they can’t figure that one out for themselves. As long as it is lucrative, religion will continue to create these homogeneous, sterile people. I think this system is easily observed in my country. Corey told me that a notable part of America in the eyes of other countries is its rampant Christianity, which at first confused me. It had never occurred to me that faith functioned differently elsewhere, but it does.
In any iteration, I believe that organized religion is fucking disgusting.
And even something like that seems benign when you look at textbook cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses or Heaven’s Gate. JW is the easiest cult to pick apart in terms of analyzing means of control over it’s members. The Watchtower Society is smart with how it isolates itself and has a thorough understanding of how media works. Every year it releases mounds of media specifically catered to the religion. I’m talking weird stuff, like doomsday scenarios and children cartoons about telling people to stop being gay. There really isn’t much reason for members to watch content that isn’t made by or approved by The Watchtower Society, which further permeates the organization’s beliefs into the minds of its members. The authorities of the cult also keep a strict set of rules for followers. JWs can’t have solid careers and are encouraged to be working class with families. They are also encouraged or forced to spend as much time at the Kingdom Hall or with the religion as possible. They can’t have birthdays, hobbies, or any sense of individuality. There’s also some strange ones like a ban on tight pants because they are associated with gay men. But pants aside, what breaks my heart about JWs is that they are taught to believe that their faith should be the at forefront of their lives, and that nothing good exists outside of it. For people who are raised into the cult, that is largely true. The fear of being disfellowshipped is so strong with members that they live in a constant state of perfection. If they deviate even once, they can lose everything they have ever known, and that jump is too great and too intimidating for people to leave even if they have suspicions. You seriously can’t blame them. If a person leaves the cult, they lose their family, their friends, and their sense of belonging. Combine that with the fact that The Watchtower Society sucks money out of its members and you are faced with a fully functioning business, one that is self sustaining and profits off of its blatant exploitation of oblivious people who are actually encouraged to remain impoverished for the sake of Jehovah.
As for Nazism, it’s actually not as complicated as people think because it has some congruency with less despicable things of the same nature. Nazism is a sense of belonging that is built out of immense brainwashing and hatred. I’m talking people who have seriously hit rock bottom and have nothing left to live for. There is a Nazi problem in prisons, where inmates become so hungry for safety and family that they don’t care what beliefs they must adopt. It isn’t the initial recruitment that makes a Nazi. It’s living with constant exposure to Nazism that ultimately creates one, especially if Nazis are the ones providing that feeling of belonging. In recent decades that threat has moved online, and encountering literal Nazis on the internet is not exactly an uncommon phenomenon. Young people especially are subject to grooming, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know people who were victims of this in the past. Nazism thrives online because it targets confused children and people who have nothing else to live for. People who were definitely failed in one way or another. In real life, it festers in every city even if it is a small presence. Unlike religion or Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s actually hated in the eyes of most people, but that doesn’t mean its strategies aren’t similar. Just like everything else, it exploits that need to fit in somewhere, even if somewhere is anywhere.
In many ways I am angry that people must live in these states. I could extend this “desire to belong” thing to all aspects of modern societies and everything we are exposed to on a regular basis. Everything from conspiracy theorists to sports fans to American patriots. I could talk for ages about how weird it is that we wear clothing or use silverware, along with all the other universal standards of normalcy but it would be a waste of time. The bottomline is that everyone looks for a sense of belonging. Most people look for the things they want to hear whether they recognize it or not, and most people wants to feel loved. It really isn’t a bad thing until it manifests in the form of paranormal beliefs and hate groups. And I do think there are people, very few people, who can live without it. I’m certainly not one of them and nobody I know is, but there are always outliers.
As for me feeling like I belong, well I’ll find that place one day. Or maybe I won’t, and I’ll remain a butterfly the way I have for so long. That’s fine by me because I am fascinated by everything and have a lot of hobbies, but I already know that what I’m looking for isn’t there. Belonging, for me, is something I can’t really describe but I see it in other people and I think that feeling will come when I have either a partner or a child. Someone I can devote everything to and be loved deeply in return, and know that everything I work for will have been worth it for that person. Besides that I think the closest I can get is involved with music, radio, and my local scenes. But hey, that’s just me. I know some people my age who get the same feeling from going to cosplay conventions and that’s cool, too. It’s such a specific and personal thing, and I hate to see it twisted in the ways I described.
However, I have no faith that any of the systems in place will change anytime soon. Sorry. I'm not much of a wishful thinker.
Now, I’m not saying that any of these things are on the same scale as one another (obviously believing in zodiacs is not the same as Nazism), but they all have something in common. I’m hardly the first to talk about it. All of these groups and communities are similar in that they spread their ideology by means of satisfying basic human desires. Vulnerable people fall for these things because they don’t have the intuition, at least at that moment, to see past this repeating strategy.
Zodiac signs affirm a person’s behavior and provide stability and direction to a person’s life. Witchcraft, in a similar way, relies on affirmation and ritual to garner these things. These practices are benign enough to not impede a person’s normal life for the most part, but they still apply meaning and comfort in a false way.
More intensely, Christianity, or any religion for that matter, provides all of the above in addition to community. And that is a key component of how these belief systems function. Nowadays, indoctrination of the youth is largely how these religions perpetuate, but they are still able to effectively recruit outsiders. People who can’t tell any better, who have questions they can’t answer, or who feel they have nothing left. Regardless of a person’s situation, their faith will always provide that feeling of belonging, which is by far the most important social quality for most humans if you ask me. Religion makes that easy, and in all cases abuses that desire by weaving a person’s perspective on life into a narrow string even if they tell you otherwise. I would go as far as saying that the practices of modern religions are cult-like or at least close to it. In America I’ve grown up seeing how Christianity and Catholicism breed hatred for all types of people and practices, and that has always been outlandish to me. Christians in particular feel a sense of unity from judging things they were raised not to understand, and that is the most human thing I’ve ever heard. At it’s core, modern American faith is a capitalist construct to a degree that I am not nearly informed enough to explain. But I know that it is money-hungry and keen on pushing a very specific agenda. God forbid, literally, that I see a naked woman on television or get an abortion or identify the way I do. The American deviation from original biblical texts is also laughable. We pray to a white Jesus and say that God hates gay people as if he said it right there in the book. Millions upon millions of dollars pour into the pockets of religious leaders and organizations every year to pay off yachts, tropical vacations, and huge cookie cutter mansions in the midwest. If not that, then something more nefarious. Those people know exactly what they are doing and I have no doubt about that.
When you zoom out, it’s easy to see the commonalities of all faiths in their modern context. They are businesses that have the incentive of exercising control over large portions of their respective societies. The reason they work is because they satisfy people’s need to feel a part of something and establish a sense of normality. Followers have all the support they could ever ask for, guidelines for life, and when they die they know exactly where they will be going. Religion is the answer to every question, the thing that two people have in common, and the structure for a “happy” life. And if you ask me, it’s an excuse for someone to feel like a good person because they can’t figure that one out for themselves. As long as it is lucrative, religion will continue to create these homogeneous, sterile people. I think this system is easily observed in my country. Corey told me that a notable part of America in the eyes of other countries is its rampant Christianity, which at first confused me. It had never occurred to me that faith functioned differently elsewhere, but it does.
In any iteration, I believe that organized religion is fucking disgusting.
And even something like that seems benign when you look at textbook cults like Jehovah’s Witnesses or Heaven’s Gate. JW is the easiest cult to pick apart in terms of analyzing means of control over it’s members. The Watchtower Society is smart with how it isolates itself and has a thorough understanding of how media works. Every year it releases mounds of media specifically catered to the religion. I’m talking weird stuff, like doomsday scenarios and children cartoons about telling people to stop being gay. There really isn’t much reason for members to watch content that isn’t made by or approved by The Watchtower Society, which further permeates the organization’s beliefs into the minds of its members. The authorities of the cult also keep a strict set of rules for followers. JWs can’t have solid careers and are encouraged to be working class with families. They are also encouraged or forced to spend as much time at the Kingdom Hall or with the religion as possible. They can’t have birthdays, hobbies, or any sense of individuality. There’s also some strange ones like a ban on tight pants because they are associated with gay men. But pants aside, what breaks my heart about JWs is that they are taught to believe that their faith should be the at forefront of their lives, and that nothing good exists outside of it. For people who are raised into the cult, that is largely true. The fear of being disfellowshipped is so strong with members that they live in a constant state of perfection. If they deviate even once, they can lose everything they have ever known, and that jump is too great and too intimidating for people to leave even if they have suspicions. You seriously can’t blame them. If a person leaves the cult, they lose their family, their friends, and their sense of belonging. Combine that with the fact that The Watchtower Society sucks money out of its members and you are faced with a fully functioning business, one that is self sustaining and profits off of its blatant exploitation of oblivious people who are actually encouraged to remain impoverished for the sake of Jehovah.
As for Nazism, it’s actually not as complicated as people think because it has some congruency with less despicable things of the same nature. Nazism is a sense of belonging that is built out of immense brainwashing and hatred. I’m talking people who have seriously hit rock bottom and have nothing left to live for. There is a Nazi problem in prisons, where inmates become so hungry for safety and family that they don’t care what beliefs they must adopt. It isn’t the initial recruitment that makes a Nazi. It’s living with constant exposure to Nazism that ultimately creates one, especially if Nazis are the ones providing that feeling of belonging. In recent decades that threat has moved online, and encountering literal Nazis on the internet is not exactly an uncommon phenomenon. Young people especially are subject to grooming, and I’d be lying if I said I didn’t know people who were victims of this in the past. Nazism thrives online because it targets confused children and people who have nothing else to live for. People who were definitely failed in one way or another. In real life, it festers in every city even if it is a small presence. Unlike religion or Jehovah’s Witnesses, it’s actually hated in the eyes of most people, but that doesn’t mean its strategies aren’t similar. Just like everything else, it exploits that need to fit in somewhere, even if somewhere is anywhere.
In many ways I am angry that people must live in these states. I could extend this “desire to belong” thing to all aspects of modern societies and everything we are exposed to on a regular basis. Everything from conspiracy theorists to sports fans to American patriots. I could talk for ages about how weird it is that we wear clothing or use silverware, along with all the other universal standards of normalcy but it would be a waste of time. The bottomline is that everyone looks for a sense of belonging. Most people look for the things they want to hear whether they recognize it or not, and most people wants to feel loved. It really isn’t a bad thing until it manifests in the form of paranormal beliefs and hate groups. And I do think there are people, very few people, who can live without it. I’m certainly not one of them and nobody I know is, but there are always outliers.
As for me feeling like I belong, well I’ll find that place one day. Or maybe I won’t, and I’ll remain a butterfly the way I have for so long. That’s fine by me because I am fascinated by everything and have a lot of hobbies, but I already know that what I’m looking for isn’t there. Belonging, for me, is something I can’t really describe but I see it in other people and I think that feeling will come when I have either a partner or a child. Someone I can devote everything to and be loved deeply in return, and know that everything I work for will have been worth it for that person. Besides that I think the closest I can get is involved with music, radio, and my local scenes. But hey, that’s just me. I know some people my age who get the same feeling from going to cosplay conventions and that’s cool, too. It’s such a specific and personal thing, and I hate to see it twisted in the ways I described.
However, I have no faith that any of the systems in place will change anytime soon. Sorry. I'm not much of a wishful thinker.
no subject
Date: 2021-11-15 06:09 pm (UTC)Axé