That last bit “I can’t stop liking Trump, even when it ruins my life” is super cult like.
No it is not. You probably wouldn't stop being a communist/socialist/anarchist/marxist/feminist/atheist/materialist (pick your poisons lol) either in a similar situation.
That just means that you prioritize beliefs/truth/ethics over how those affect your personal life.
And it is a completely different thing to be silent about something or to stop liking it.
That poster also specifically phrased it as "I can't change who I am", just like I could never become religious without a whole bunch of lobotomies first.
Almost all of Trump's working class (and some petite bourgeois) supporters genuinely believe that Trump is good for America and its people.
(or at least that he is the "lesser evil", but honestly, I've rarely if ever seen that kind of rhetoric from the right at all)
This is not to object to using social pressure against them (do!) or even social isolation, or to say that Trumpism is not cult like (it is).
But adherence to beliefs in spite of social consequence is more admirable than not.
And in fact the opposing tendency of excommunication is much more cult like; and is used by almost all cults (including many large organized religions).
Although the daughter, in this case, did not excommunicate them; she merely established sensible personal boundaries, and has not closed the dialog, or blocked their communication and all paths to redemption.
Specifically cult like would be the need to evangelize or profess, that it requires expressing opinions even towards those that do not want to hear about it anymore.
So maybe focus on that closely related aspect of Trumpism instead.
Please for the love of god, if we are going to use cults as analogies, then use them accurately.
I've lost track of how many times I've seen leftism/marxism being referred to as a cult like and pseudoscientific ideology, based on the same weak analogies and often misunderstandings of cults more generally.
Using this line of attack against Trump (or anything besides liberals, centrists, or actual religions) is only mending a weapon that gets used systematically against us.
But something being "a bad thing" is just too subjective.
Many people are dedicated to "bad things" without it being cult like at all.
For example people who eat meat (wait no that's like a cult) or people who oppose the metric system (cult) or people who prefer π over τ (nope clearly a cult)... hmmm...
Litterally everything I disagree with is a cult!
Or maybe cults are something else entirely.
It has much more to do with falsifiability, child indoctrination, and deliberate exploitation by cult leaders.
I can't argue with that, it is definitely fun.
But still seems better to meme along these lines: https://imgflip.com/i/4fowpx
And to focus on their inability to hold it in and their leader worship as the cult like characteristics.
Edit: and their scapegoating of the poor/immigrants/POC/LGBT/protesters, that is extremely cult like.
would you say QAnon is cult-like? i've read that church leaders are even freaking because QAnon has taken the spiritual hole left when churchgoers can't attend because of covid restrictions.
I have been ignoring them for the most part. QAnon ideas are just too absurd, so easily disproven, there is hardly any logic to it.
They seem to be more on the level of homeopathy or flat earthers; but those are not really cults.
It does seem to have some traits of a new religious movement; but I don't know where any of that will go.
Sometimes I think it'd be a worthwhile effort to try and show these people the errors of their ways but then I realize they would literally kill me if they had the opportunity
That last bit "I can't stop liking Trump, even when it ruins my life" is super cult like.
No it is not. You probably wouldn't stop being a communist/socialist/anarchist/marxist/feminist/atheist/materialist (pick your poisons lol) either in a similar situation.
That just means that you prioritize beliefs/truth/ethics over how those affect your personal life.
And it is a completely different thing to be silent about something or to stop liking it.
That poster also specifically phrased it as "I can't change who I am", just like I could never become religious without a whole bunch of lobotomies first.
Almost all of Trump's working class (and some petite bourgeois) supporters genuinely believe that Trump is good for America and its people.
(or at least that he is the "lesser evil", but honestly, I've rarely if ever seen that kind of rhetoric from the right at all)
This is not to object to using social pressure against them (do!) or even social isolation, or to say that Trumpism is not cult like (it is).
But adherence to beliefs in spite of social consequence is more admirable than not.
And in fact the opposing tendency of excommunication is much more cult like; and is used by almost all cults (including many large organized religions).
Although the daughter, in this case, did not excommunicate them; she merely established sensible personal boundaries, and has not closed the dialog, or blocked their communication and all paths to redemption.
Specifically cult like would be the need to evangelize or profess, that it requires expressing opinions even towards those that do not want to hear about it anymore.
So maybe focus on that closely related aspect of Trumpism instead.
Please for the love of god, if we are going to use cults as analogies, then use them accurately.
I've lost track of how many times I've seen leftism/marxism being referred to as a cult like and pseudoscientific ideology, based on the same weak analogies and often misunderstandings of cults more generally.
Using this line of attack against Trump (or anything besides liberals, centrists, or actual religions) is only mending a weapon that gets used systematically against us.
Counterpoint: being dedicated to a bad thing is a cult, being dedicated to a good thing is not.
But something being "a bad thing" is just too subjective.
Many people are dedicated to "bad things" without it being cult like at all.
For example people who eat meat (wait no that's like a cult) or people who oppose the metric system (cult) or people who prefer π over τ (nope clearly a cult)... hmmm...
Litterally everything I disagree with is a cult!
Or maybe cults are something else entirely.
It has much more to do with falsifiability, child indoctrination, and deliberate exploitation by cult leaders.
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I can't argue with that, it is definitely fun.
But still seems better to meme along these lines: https://imgflip.com/i/4fowpx
And to focus on their inability to hold it in and their leader worship as the cult like characteristics.
Edit: and their scapegoating of the poor/immigrants/POC/LGBT/protesters, that is extremely cult like.
would you say QAnon is cult-like? i've read that church leaders are even freaking because QAnon has taken the spiritual hole left when churchgoers can't attend because of covid restrictions.
But QAnon is more than a political ideology. It’s a spiritual worldview that co-opts many Christian-sounding ideas to promote verifiably false claims about actual human beings. QAnon has features akin to syncretism — the practice of blending traditional Christian beliefs with other spiritual systems, such as Santeria. Q explicitly uses Bible verses to urge adherents to stand firm against evil elites.
I really don't know enough about QAnon to say.
I have been ignoring them for the most part. QAnon ideas are just too absurd, so easily disproven, there is hardly any logic to it.
They seem to be more on the level of homeopathy or flat earthers; but those are not really cults.
It does seem to have some traits of a new religious movement; but I don't know where any of that will go.
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Lets not assume this Trumpster is a good faith actor and telling the story honestly.
Oh definitely, guarantee you she's leaving out a ton of stuff.
Sometimes I think it'd be a worthwhile effort to try and show these people the errors of their ways but then I realize they would literally kill me if they had the opportunity
Propaganda is too fucking strong, folks