We Are All Cultists (revisited)
While walking around the other day a group of college girls were walking towards me, going the other direction.
How do I know they were college girls? Simple. By the way they were dressed, the fact they were walking in a small designated group, their manner of speech, the way they sported a look-alike physical appearance and mannerism.
Most people are not individuals who have their own distinct mannerisms, speech habits, or mode of dress. They tend to identify with certain groups or factions. They adapt themselves to the modes of whichever ones they're attached to.
You have the "bro" cult: the obsessive "male bonding" and assigned "male interests". And the cocky "gangster" style of speech and mannerisms.
And the "inner-city" cult: when someone mentions that "they don't mind being around black people so long as they don't start 'acting black'" there is something to that observation, racist connotations or not.
And the "white trash" cult: uncouth mannerisms, hair-trigger militant demeanor, fashion-impaired wardrobes and sloppy grooming, the worst taste in music, and chronic drug addiction that rivals even the "inner-city" cult.
Intelligentsia cult: super suave in mannerism, resting their laurels (and entire worth as human beings) on the vast amounts of memorized knowledge (mostly clinical and literal in nature) they've accrued incrementally via academic pursuits and instructions. Tend to take for granted they're part of a "super breed" of humanity, superior to the "common folk".
Suburbanite cult: Professional types; obsessed with the secular realm---money, material possessions (especially trendy ones), respectable social status. Tending towards silent discrimination against "lessers" and "undesirables", dominating personalities and attitudes, tendency towards assuming a "secondary authority" over everything around them.
LGBT cult: base their life primarily on their sexual identities and preferences.
I could go on and on, but you get the essential idea. Just about every faction and subculture can be considered a cult, because of how the individuals who subscribe to them shape their whole being around trying to "be a part of" them.
While walking around the other day a group of college girls were walking towards me, going the other direction.
How do I know they were college girls? Simple. By the way they were dressed, the fact they were walking in a small designated group, their manner of speech, the way they sported a look-alike physical appearance and mannerism.
Most people are not individuals who have their own distinct mannerisms, speech habits, or mode of dress. They tend to identify with certain groups or factions. They adapt themselves to the modes of whichever ones they're attached to.
You have the "bro" cult: the obsessive "male bonding" and assigned "male interests". And the cocky "gangster" style of speech and mannerisms.
And the "inner-city" cult: when someone mentions that "they don't mind being around black people so long as they don't start 'acting black'" there is something to that observation, racist connotations or not.
And the "white trash" cult: uncouth mannerisms, hair-trigger militant demeanor, fashion-impaired wardrobes and sloppy grooming, the worst taste in music, and chronic drug addiction that rivals even the "inner-city" cult.
Intelligentsia cult: super suave in mannerism, resting their laurels (and entire worth as human beings) on the vast amounts of memorized knowledge (mostly clinical and literal in nature) they've accrued incrementally via academic pursuits and instructions. Tend to take for granted they're part of a "super breed" of humanity, superior to the "common folk".
Suburbanite cult: Professional types; obsessed with the secular realm---money, material possessions (especially trendy ones), respectable social status. Tending towards silent discrimination against "lessers" and "undesirables", dominating personalities and attitudes, tendency towards assuming a "secondary authority" over everything around them.
LGBT cult: base their life primarily on their sexual identities and preferences.
I could go on and on, but you get the essential idea. Just about every faction and subculture can be considered a cult, because of how the individuals who subscribe to them shape their whole being around trying to "be a part of" them.
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