Everything's a Cult
On November 18, 1978, Ruletta Paul held her one-year-old son in her arms. Placing a syringe filled with cyanide, valium, and tranquilizer into the boy’s mouth, Ruletta squeezed filling him with poison.
Ruletta then watched as he struggled to breathe, cried out in pain, and died. Once it was over, Ruletta drank a cup of the same poison killing herself.
What madness possesses a mother to kill her own son?
Ruletta thought United States paratroopers would arrive overhead at any moment, capture her and her boy, and torture them both to death.
Ruletta made the only choice she had: Suicide.
However, no paratroopers mobilized and the United States government made no plans to do so.
Ruletta was a member of the Socialist cult called The Peoples Temple. She lived in an isolated settlement in Guyana for over a year. There she listened to daily rants from cult leader Jim Jones. Her only source of news, radio, and movies came via communist propaganda. She was sleep deprived, malnourished, and surrounded by 1000 people in the same boat as her.
After Ruletta died, 907 people lined up behind her and drank the infamous Kool-Aid, 287 of them children, many having to drink the poison assisted by their parents.
When people hear of the Jonestown massacre they presume one of two things: The Peoples Temple were a bunch of weak-minded fools who died from an intellectual inadequacy, or they were victims of a mass murder perpetrated by an evil psychopath whose magic powers could make people drink poison against their will.
I believe neither. It wasn't a lack of education that caused Ruletta to drink the Kool-Aid. The Peoples Temple hosted many educated members. Nor a fault of race or class as both black and white, rich and poor died together at Jonestown. Neither a result of loneliness or suggestibility. She had a husband who loved her and pleaded with her to leave Jonestown - she stayed.
Ruletta drank the Kool-Aid for the same reason people line up at night for the latest iPhone, why some consider one political leader a hero and others consider that same leader a harbinger of doom, why some are Christian and others Moslem, and why social activists decry the prevalence of racist NAZI’s and conservatives will condemn them as rabid communists.
Her weakness was being human.
Because every single one of us drinks the Kool-Aid. And, just like Ruletta, we squirt it down our children’s throats.
Why do we do this?
The same reason Ruletta did: Fear.
Fear of Ostracism
“So, you’re telling me that at a funeral, most people would rather be the guy in the coffin than have to stand up and give a eulogy.” - Jerry Seinfeld
Human beings have all kinds of innate fears: Spiders, snakes, heights, flying, germs, darkness, and death. But, one fear dwarfs these: The fear of public speaking.
Civilisation has been around for 10,000 years, our species has been on the planet for at least 200,000 years, and our hominid ancestors millions more.
Evolution hasn't adapted to our modern lives. Our brains are running software designed to keep us alive in the wilds. As a result, irrational fears and anxieties continue to plague us.
The fear of public speaking comes from this same evolutionary basket.
For a lion, a lone human being wandering around Africa 200,000 years ago is easy pickings. The human can’t run away or fight the lion. However, imagine a band of twenty homo-sapiens. Now the Lion has to think. Twenty is a difficult proposition. They can co-operate, set traps, and ambush the lion.
Homo-sapiens are pack animals. A process of evolution designed us to exist in groups. Removal from the group would have meant certain death. A loner couldn’t hunt food or protect itself from predators. Any human that wasn’t in a tribe didn’t survive and procreate. Over time, those who feared and resisted ostracism lived, those who didn’t became something's lunch.
It’s here we get our leaders and followers. A group that had too many cooks couldn't become large enough, make quick decisions, or survive without killing each other or being killed. These groups needed a leader, and they needed everyone else to follow.
Chiefdom had its benefits, such as extra resources and mating opportunities, but this came at a cost. These benefits were prizes for rivals and young ambitious upstarts. If the leader made bad decisions, the group may rally and kick the leader out. Being the leader was dangerous and their careers short.
The followers had it easier. If they don't question the leader, never rock the boat, and follow orders, they survive. Even if a violent leadership change occurs, a good follower still has value.
The fear of public speaking results from an ancient program in our brains telling us not to speak up, not to stand out, and not to put forward new ideas. Just do what you're told, nod your head, and go along with what everyone else is doing. If the group don’t like what you have to say they may banish you. If you get kicked out, you will die. It’s safer, and your chances of survival are greater, to stay seated and keep your mouth shut.
Followers use a low-risk low reward evolutionary strategy.
The prevalence of the fear of public speaking is how we know conformist instincts are inside us and as powerful as ever.
Jonestown was Ruletta’s tribe. She couldn’t leave for the same reason so many people fear public speaking. Ostracism is death. There was an ancient force deep inside Ruletta’s mind that wouldn’t let her leave.
The “Ball Toss Paradigm” is an experiment conducted by The Purdue University that tests social rejection. During the experiment, three people pass a ball around. Two of them are actors and one of them is the test subject. After a time, the actors throw the ball to each other, ostracising the test subject.
The test subjects display depression, anxiety, anger, and aggression when left out of the game, and results show these emotions even in confident and healthy people.
If a simple ball tossing game is enough to spiral someone healthy into a pit of despair, what chance did Ruletta have of leaving Jonestown?
Prisoners sent to solitary confinement experience ostracism so much, some wanted dead by their inmates would rather take their chances in the general population than spend another day in the hole.
This is how averse we are to ostracism. An instinctual fear embedded so deep in our psyche we don’t even notice it’s there. It’s so powerful it overcomes our ability to rationalize - just like it did to Ruletta. Each of us prisoners of a desperate need to belong.
What groups are you a member of? Are there beliefs you hold true because of these affiliations? Politics, religion, Facebook feeds, and workplaces are all pulling at the strings of banishment fears.
Just like Ruletta we are all living in our own little Jonestowns, and just like Ruletta, we find it so hard to leave.
Social Islands
“I would of had too, especially if I saw other people doing it.” - Stephan Jones, Son of Jim Jones, when asked if he would have drunk the Kool-aid had he been present in Jones Town.
Jim Jones kept his followers bound and isolated. Before moving to Guayana, The People’s Temple called California home, where their left-wing political ideology was welcome.
For members, the temple made up their entire social and working lives. Not only did they attend the Sunday service, but some worked long hours for the temple, socialized with temple members, traveled around the country with the temple, and lived in temple housing.
This caused the temple members to become isolated. Not isolated as in being removed from other humans, rather they experienced group isolation.
Most of their mental diets comprised Jim Jones’ teaching and temple values and beliefs. Since they all socialized with each other, it was unlikely competing viewpoints and values could ever enter their minds and override their beliefs.
It was when Jones received word the media was about to publish negative information regarding the temple (including Jones’ sexual misconduct and abuse towards temple members), Jones isolated the group even further. By moving the group to rural Guyana, Jones isolated it from the negative media storm that was brewing.
Living on social islands is dangerous. The human instinct to fear ostracism is so great, your subconscious brain will take whatever the group's beliefs are as truths disregarding any rational objections. Remember, your subconscious wants you to stay in the group at any cost.
The 1950s Asch Conformity Experiments showcased the power of groupthink. Psychologist Solomon Asch conducted experiments to see the effects of conformity on perception. He placed eight people in a room, seven of them were actors and one was the test subject. He then produced a card that showed three straight lines, called ABC lines, of different lengths. Another card, called the reference card, had one straight line. Participants had to select which ABC line matched the line on the reference card.
The seven actors all went first and picked the same wrong answer. The test subject picked last. Even though the correct answer was always obvious, the effect of the seven actors selecting the wrong answer first caused one-third of the test subjects to “conform” and also pick the wrong answer.
Solomon Asch’s test subjects were not friends with the actors and were aware they were taking part in an experiment.
Imagine the mind of Ruletta Paul. She had spent years in a giant Asch conformity experiment with 1000 people she considered family picking the wrong answer. Even though from the outside, it would have been easy to see the destructive destiny of Jonestown, Ruletta’s mind was incapable of seeing reason.
The company Google also practices social isolation to maintain loyal and obedient staff members. People who work there are not employees, they're Googlites. The Google office isn’t an office at all, it’s a giant campus called the Googleplex equipped with cafes, restaurants, snack bars, on-site barbers and hairdressers, gyms, swimming pools, laundry’s, games rooms, and a day care center.
Googlites work long hours, socialize with colleagues and attend Google sponsored extra-curricular activities. The only reason to leave is to go home and sleep. The Googleplex is a Silicon Valley based Jonestown. Isolated to such a degree, the Googlites become victims of group think where company “values” trump rationality and open discussion.
Former Googlite, James Damore, found this out the hard way. In July 2017 Damore wrote an internal memo where he described Google as an “ideological echo chamber”. Damore also dared to suggest that there are biological differences between males and females, a scientific fact maybe, but contrary to the religion of the Googlites. His punishment? Ostracism. The message was clear, speak out against the Google cult and you’re fired.
How many Googlites are selecting the wrong answer on the ABC card just because everyone else is?
There are many ways you can find yourself marooned on a social island. We seek friends, groups, and institutions that agree with us and share our values. We also look for information that supports our beliefs driving us further down the rabbit hole of confirmation bias.
Today, millions of people line up to drink the poison via the infamous Facebook feed. Social media and online discussion boards are a hotbed for group think and brainwashing. Users of Facebook can select what shows up in their feed and what doesn't. These feeds squash information that contradicts users beliefs - done by the user or Facebook itself. This creates a virtual “ideological echo chamber”, a digital social island for your brain, where victims select the wrong ABC line.
A casual inspection of Facebook and Twitter will reveal thousands of digital cults. Members of these cults are so unaccustomed to seeing information and arguments contrary to their beliefs, due to their tailor-made feeds, when they see a competing argument, they attack the source with all the vitriol, spite and hate they can muster.
Digital social islands also infest Reddit, an online discussion board where users upvote and downvote content based on appeal. In most Reddit groups, posts that “echo” the accepted beliefs of the group receive upvotes, any post made that disagrees is downvoted. Brainwashing ensures as Reddit sub-cult members lack exposure to competing ideologies.
The effects of online cults cause people to become convinced in the truth of irrational positions and no amount of rational argument can change their mind. Just like Ruletta Paul, social media followers, and online forum members are sure their perception of the world is correct, as they entertain no other perception.
If you only select friends, online information sources, books, movies, pundits, workplaces and family members that all agree with the same beliefs, your tribal brain, fearing ostracism, will take those beliefs as truth, regardless of the rationale behind them.
Under these conditions, the same messages get echoed again and again.
Repeating the Big Lie
“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it.” - Joseph Goebbels, Nazi Propagandist.
A tribe has beliefs, customs, culture, and values. However, tribal culture evolves. This may be due to generational shifts, nomadic travel, or leadership changes. The subconscious, always fearing ostracism, scans the tribe’s culture to pick up these changes. When it hears a message, belief, idea, or value repeated by different sources within the tribe, it will take them as truth before the conscious mind applies any logical reason.
If you are living on a social island, as mentioned above, you become susceptible to the effect of repeating the big lie. If all your friends, work colleagues, and social media feeds are repeating the same piece of false information, it will incline you to take it as truth. Your subconscious takes a shortcut. Why waste time investigating? Everyone else is saying it, how could they all be wrong?
Compounding the problem, the more outlandish the lie, the more likely you are to believe it. There is a tendency for the rational brain, when it arrives on the scene, to think since the information being repeated is outlandish and crazy, it must be true - how can anyone make that up?
The best example of this brainwashing is in mass media, today referred to as “fake news”. Since 2016, American and European media outlets have been hyping the “Russian narrative”. The Russian narrative is a series of claims stating “Russians” are interfering with Western elections, spreading propaganda via the internet, and paying individuals to shill for Russia. They litter news articles with terms such as “Russian bots” and “Russian trolls”. There is never any reasonable attempt made explaining how 150 million Russians are colluding to destabilize the west - that’s not the point. The goal is to keep repeating the Russian narrative until it soaks into the hive mind of society. Repeat this outlandish lie long enough, and everyday people will believe Russia is bad, Russians are bad, and everybody who disagrees is a Russian shill.
In 2015, a study conducted by Vanderbilt University confirmed the power of repeating a lie. The study tested peoples knowledge of trivia where participants answered true or false to a series of statements. However, researches spent several sessions beforehand repeating falsehoods to the participants. When the participants heard statements that were false, the majority answered “true”. What's worse, the researches also found sometimes participants would answer “true” even when they knew the statement was false. Repeating lies can influence people to lie themselves.
Jim Jones repeated big lies to Ruletta Paul every day. Jones would use loudspeakers positioned around the camp to deliver long-winded rants. These rants would repeat information such as the United States government was a white supremacist organisation plotting to attack Jonestown, the United States was an evil capitalist society run by NAZIs, since the members of The People Temple were living integrated (whites and blacks together) the government had taken a special interest in taking The Temple out, and this attack could happen at any moment.
Ruletta also watched Soviet and North Korean propaganda movies. These movies would depict Americans and the American government as evil racists responsible for killing communists. She also listened to communist radio where fabricated atrocities committed by the United States government resounded across the airwaves daily.
There were no other media or news sources available to Ruletta. She did not understand what was going on in the outside world apart from what Jim Jones, the Soviets, and North Korea told her. With these outlandish lies repeated daily, we can see how she came to believe suicide was her best choice.
In Ruletta Paul’s mind, the United States tortured and murdered communists, and it did the same to their children. Ruletta didn’t let them take her or her son alive.
Repeat anything enough times and people will believe it. Did you know you shouldn’t swim right after you eat, water in toilets rotate anti-clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere, you can see the Great Wall of China from space, we only use 10% of our brains, bats are blind, and Vikings had horns on their helmets?
What’s worse, sometimes the lie is nice and easy to accept and the truth a bitter hard pill to swallow.
But swallow it we must if we will defeat the devil of tribalism.
The Enemy Devil
“To me, Satan ultimately represents rebellion.” - Marilyn Manson
Every cult has a devil. For Jonestown, it was The United States government. However, Christians have Satan, NAZIS had Jews, and Alex Jones of Infowars has his intergalactic baby eating shape-shifting new world order reptilians.
A Satan is too seductive for any cult, tribe, or group to pass up. There are two main reasons for this:
1) A Satan enables the group to apportion blame. The reason our lives are unfulfilled, the reason the world is so horrible and the reason our efforts are futile is because of [insert racial group, political party, country, gender, mythological figure, or religion here]. If we can eliminate this bogeyman, everything will be ok.
2) A Satan is the single greatest thing a group can have to ensure cohesiveness. Regardless of the overarching tribal ideology, a group comprises individuals. The chance that each person will agree with the other on every point is zero. By inventing a Satan, the group can form a united front in the face of a common enemy.
In 2017, a civil war broke out within the Bitcoin community over how to upgrade the network. Unable to come to a compromise, the Blockchain forked and two separate Blockchains formed. Now each faction could go their separate ways. However, these two factions succumbed to the effects of groupthink tribalism.
On one hand, you had the Bitcoin core cult. This group was quick to create a Satan out of a long time cryptocurrency advocate Roger Ver. To the Bitcoin Core faithful, Ver wasn’t a human being with a different opinion, he was the epitome of evil, responsible for a host of crimes including theft, embezzlement, insider trading, fraud, scams and so forth.
On the other side of this dichotomy, the Bitcoin Cash separatists fell into the same tribal trap. For the Bitcoin Cashists, Blockstream, a cryptocurrency development company, became their version of Satan. Blockstream was an evil corporation in bed with the big banks, allied with the Illuminati, and hell-bent on destroying Bitcoin for the benefit of its big bank overlords.
Each camp created a Satan, a figure they could all unite behind to maintain their group’s cohesiveness. Few members of these two groups could see the foolishness behind their claims.
The propensity for groups to invent devils becomes dangerous when that devil manifests itself as a different racial group. The Russian Narrative (mentioned above), is an attempt by the mass media to create a Satan out of Russia. As western societies become fractured they introduce a Satan, “The Russians”, to maintain the societies cohesiveness. By apportioning blame onto the Russians, the crumbling political climate can unite as one against the Russian menace. Taken to its extreme, this can lead an entire country to war.
War and violence, however, are beyond governments. Since 2016, two cults have engaged in an online ideological battle raged on social media. On one hand, you have the Social Justice Warriors, a gaggle of left-wing ideologues, on the other, conservatives, sometimes referred to as the Alt-Right, a collection of right-wing reactionaries.
Each group has created a Satan out of the other. The Social Justice Warriors decree the death of “White men”, the evilest and vilest humans on earth. These white men are racists hell bent on degrading women and murdering minorities.
The conservatives have their own Satan. Pictured as an overweight female with dyed blue hair that, if not stopped, will destroy Western Civilisation.
Both groups have become so sure of these cartoonist devil imaginations, they have taken their war off the internet and committed acts of violence on the streets.
We evolved in tribal units that competed. The tribes that could make Satans out of other groups maintained their cohesiveness and defeated the tribes that did not.
Ruletta Paul had her own Satan. The Peoples Temple considered themselves socialist revolutionaries and were quick to create a Satan out of the United States government. The government had taken an interest in the goings on at Jonestown due to requests from concerned relatives of Temple members. However, for Ruletta Paul, the government was an evil capitalist regime on a mission to destroy the communist community of Jonestown.
Convinced The United States Government was on its way to torture and murder her, Ruletta and the residents of Jonestown, incapable of mounting a defense against such a powerful foe, chose suicide. Through their deaths, they hoped to shame the capitalists and embolden their communist comrades around the world to continue fighting for the cause.
A group that has fashioned a Satan for themselves has already descended into the pit of irrational groupthink.
After all, who was Satan anyway if not a charismatic contrarian?
The Charismatic Leader
“Charisma is a sparkle in people that one can’t buy. It’s an invisible energy with visible effects.” - Marianne Williamson
For ancient tribes survival meant boldness, quick decisions, strength, and bravery. Cowardice, indecisiveness, or lengthy pondering meant death.
Leaders of these early human bands were selected based on these traits. It’s these personality traits that are today known as charisma.
Something draws us to people who possess the magical traits of charisma because for most of our evolution these traits were essential to our survival. When a leader presents themselves to a group displaying these qualities, like casting a spell, the group falls into line and executes the leaders will.
The charismatic leader differs from everyone else. Unlike the followers, the charismatic leader appears to have freed themselves from the subconscious fear of ostracism. Able to stand up and speak out without fear, willing to go against social norms, and able to do so without concern for the opinions of others, the charismatic leader has defeated the one thing we fear more than death: The fear of Ostracism.
We respect the charismatic leader for this as we know how difficult this freedom is to achieve. We hope that by following the charismatic leader we will gain our own freedom. Our charismatic leader will defeat the enemy devil and guide us to the promised land.
In 2016 businessman and reality television star, Donald Trump, ran for president of the United States. Trump presented himself to the American people as bold, decisive, and courageous. He identified “the enemy devil” and used emotional rhetoric to call this enemy out. Millions fell under the spell of charisma. There was no need for his followers to take personal responsibility for their economic state, Trump will save them, Trump will defeat the enemy devil, and Trump will make America great again.
The realm of politics isn’t the only place people succumb to charisma. Industrialist Elon Musk has created his own cult-like religion equipped with legions of the Musk faithful. Musk poses as an innovator revolutionizing established industries. It is Musk who will save us from the enemy devil of fossil fuels and lead us to the technological promised land.
It's not just men who are able to leverage charisma to build irrational cult followings. Spokesperson for the Rajneesh Movement, Ma Anand Sheela, displayed boldness and courage when interviewed on American television. Her unapologetic attitude, use of foul language, and complete disregard for the greater society’s opinion of the Rajneeshees inspired thousands to accept her as a leader and build the cult’s city in Oregon.
Before Musk appeared on the scene promising to save our souls from the matrix, Elizabeth Holmes, CEO of Theranos, positioned herself as a revolutionary destined to challenge the established medical industry with new and innovative technology. It was Holmes who would save us from the enemy devil of crippling health care costs. Although she possessed the same charismatic leadership traits as Musk, Holmes could not produce a space car, electric toy, or any working product, and her fraud was discovered.
The charismatic leader either consciously or unconsciously uses the effects of groupthink to their advantage. They use their leadership position to gather followers, repeat lies, and offer a path to defeating the enemy devil.
Celebrities, authors, scientists, pundits, YouTubers, and Twitch streamers, if successful, all use the magic power of charisma and group think to build their large followings.
These faux leaders are easy to spot. They always appeal to emotion, never to solid facts. They offer hope, positive vibes, feelings of outrage towards the enemy devil, and a sense of superiority in their followers - never a concrete rational plan. Concrete plans can fail, and rationale is boring.
These leaders will appear to want to improve the lives of others. They are fighting for your well being. It’s your future and the future of your children they are “sacrificing” their lives for. For the followers this is seductive. By supporting the leader, we need not fight to improve our lives. The leader will take us to the promised land. All we need to do is give them our time and money - which they are never shy to request.
Ruletta Paul fell under the charismatic spell of Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones. Jones grew up in the American South and learned his trade in the Pentecostal Churches of the Bible Belt. Pentecostal churches live and die on the charisma possessed by their leaders. Services of these churches are high energy. Pastors scream and shout from the pulpit making wild claims about Satan and how through the Pastor, and donations, the power of Jesus can be given to the followers and the evil Satan defeated.
All Jim Jones had to do was replace Christianity with Communism and the fate of Ruletta Paul and the followers of The Peoples Temple was sealed.
Jones used his abundant charisma to hypnotize Ruletta. He was bold, brave, and confident. His motivation appeared to come from a desire to free his people from the evils of capitalism and the United States Government. And, he literally led his people to the promised land - an inhospitable camp in rural Guyana.
For Ruletta, Jones was a savior. She did anything he asked, followed him to the ends of the earth, and even died for him.
Conclusion
On that fateful day in Guyana, there was another woman in Jonestown: Christine Miller.
As Ruletta Paul took her son to the front of the line, something stirred inside Christine Miller. Perhaps it was an act of love for her fellow Temple members or the thought of children being led to a senseless death but, Christine asked a question:
“What about Russia?”
There was talk from Jones that he was in contact with the Soviets and planning a rescue. The idea was the Soviets would airlift Temple members out of Jonestown and relocate them to Russia.
Christine asked this question to offer an alternative to suicide.
Jones and other members shouted her down.
It was a lie anyway. There was never any discussion with the Soviets to organize a rescue. There was nothing, apart from Jones himself, to be rescued from.
However, Christine wasn’t asking about Russia, she was trying to save everyone's lives. Christine was the most independent of the group. Unlike the rest of the Temple members, Christine never handed over her wealth to Jim Jones and kept her habit of dressing ostentatiously, even though the rest chose the drab communist look.
Christine was a fierce individual. Her question, “what about Russia?”, was more than just a question. It was a plea for rationality. We don’t have to do this, we can think for ourselves.
We have to follow Christine’s example because everything’s a cult.
Governments, political movements, religions, PR companies, Google, Facebook, activists, corporations, universities, and so on, are all competing to hijack your subconscious fear of ostracism.
They want to get into your brain, isolate you, repeat lies to you, direct your hatred towards a manufactured devil, and provide you with soulless charismatic celebrities to follow.
They’ve been doing this for thousands of years.
They do this to further their interests, not yours.
But, what is in your best interest?
To surround yourself with positive influences, to question everything and take nothing as fact, and to evolve with new information is the path to freedom.
Having a brain full of someone else’s dogma, someone else’s opinions, and someone else’s warped suicidal depression is the path to slavery and death.
It was the path to death for Ruletta and her son, and it will be the end of us all.
As the world moves deeper into the pit of irrationality and the rise of tribalism can be seen everywhere, it’s never been more important to ask “What about Russia?”
To defeat the fear of ostracism, to surround yourself with a diverse group of positive people, to only allow the repetition of positive messages, to take responsibility for yourself and not blame a fictitious devil, to swear allegiance to no one and no one's dogma and to possess charisma of your own is too free yourself from tribalism.
Mindless group think must end. Put down the Kool-aid and help usher in a new age: The age of the rational individual.
Christine Miller (Source)
-------------------------
Sources:
https://books.google.com.au/books?id=D8MCb1xqqo8C&pg
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_rejection
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asch_conformity_experiments
https://computer.howstuffworks.com/googleplex
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/xge-0000098.pdf
https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32381
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-10-08/solitary-confinement-mental-health/5789062
https://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/features/xge-0000098.pdf
Images:
https://jonestown.sdsu.edu/?page_id=32381
STEEM is going to the moon! ;)
PS - This is a great read for a Sunday night before bed....it's got me thinking.
One of the pest posts I have ever read on Steemit.
Hope we see you more frequent.
Very thorough article.
You make some great connections about the power of "groupthink" and its ability to control the human mind.
It is interesting that it can be more comfortable to follow the norm, even when it means personal disaster or death, than to think for oneself and deal with our fears.
Thank you for the valuable content, and great read!
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Good writeup and quite spot on.
I was covering the Bitcoin schism in some posts earlier, particularly The Big Reddit Bitcoin Schism, and Bitcoin Visions. It occurred to me that "bigblockers" and "smallblockers" shared the same visions, they differed on "how to get there". Came to think, you're quite right, for the very most I believe the biggest difference is "what charismatic leader do you believe in", or "what charismatic leader does your friends believe in". I believe very few actually took the time to objectively look into arguments from both sides.
This is something that happens from time to time, and it doesn't get better with Facebook and Reddit. Besides the Bitcoin schism, I also have personal experience with a similar incident in the Norwegian Pirate Party
The consequences can be really bad; so much energy and efforts spent on arguing, and so little on actually solving problems. People like me, I was a Bitcoin evangelist but due to the infighting and capacity problems I gave up, lost motivation and stopped promoting Bitcoins. Bitcoin market dominance fell from around 80% to around 30% due to the infighting and capacity problems. I think the crypto space as such has lost some 5-6 years due to this, perhaps we've lost the golden chance to get adoption for digital, permissionless and decentralized payment systems.
I also fully believe this happened completely without any conspiracies, though if a conspiracy is involved, I believe some clever PR-company has been manipulating people and opinions on both sides of the schism.
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