Not so long ago it seamed that there was a pretty general divide. One side believed that winning was the only goal and no method was out of bounds to achieve that win..In doing so the abandoned any honor or reason, and made corruption an ideology. The other side, believing in honor and reason, frequently got rolled and beat up,not understanding the power that was available to them. Not always cleanly defined and values slipped from time to time, and of course mixed victories and defeats.
Now there seems a third group not in fantasy world, but in an effort to fight the constant attacks against them have adopted the methods of their attacker, not understanding that like Sauron's Ring those methods cannot be used to achieve good results. The clues of how to achieve good results are all about, but as the saying goes “the clue-train pulled into the station five times a day but they never got on”. So I have tried to put together a list of clues, about how to become a team, a tribe,or an enterprise, without becoming a Cult.
#1 Democracy is a conversation among Humans. Those who demand a megaphone based on power oppose Democracy
#2 The Conversation is among all Humans not the Demographic groups, those who pander to one group only in public circumstances hurt the validity of all the others, and thus their own.
#3 Humans sound like humans pretend humans sound like robots
#4 Real Humans are unique, no two have the same data sets, or the same opinion about everything
#5 Humans recognize each other by those differences. Propaganda like mass produced "art" may look pretty the first time but the repetition destroys that illusion. The same thing seen twice is not repetition, many different things that look the same is.
#6 No thing you can say will not be heard by someone with a lot more knowledge of the subject than you. Your failure to recognize a fraudulent claim will be called out and injure your credibility.
#7 Google makes instant experts in the middle of a conversation but only those with a working baloney detection kit, will not embarrass themselves. However such awareness is not owned by you any more than any other observation that anyone else can see, even if you were the first to notice it.
#8 Data is not opinion dependent on POV to be true. Opinions can be formed based on data but they cannot create it Just because they have an opinion does not prove the falsity of the data.
#9 Humans form tribes based on shared goals and data sets Where the data is contrived they form cults and sound like robots Tribes are usually led by popular acclimation, Cults are run by an elite not to be questioned by their own members.
#10 A tribe wants data from everywhere to add to their shared goal. A cult cannot allow data from non Cult approved sources,lest their illusion be destroyed
#11 A Tribe will call out specific cult propaganda organs that any data should be tested. A Cult will have a list of what they approve, and generically reject those not on the approved list, insisting that all are in collusion against the Cult.
#12 There are no secrets. The Cult may prevent its members from knowing, but everyone else will be laughing at them. A Tribe does not benefit from secrets, and they are not sought,
#13 Where there are positive values tribes will speak honestly. The goals will be popular and therefore nothing to hide. Honesty and rich communication in the open will be the best policy.
#14 Cults are run with two sets of data, one for the elite, one for the sheep, the first self delusional to justify their fraud, the second calculated to elicit behavior among followers. If the goals of the elite were known they would be extremely unpopular, so every aspect of reality needs to be distorted hidden, secret, as clouded and twisted as possible no matter who is looking. Even that they are doing that needs to be denied.
#15 The Tribe's goals will be shared goals. To achieve them all must prosper. Anyone benefiting at the expense of others will be seen as embezzlement, and thrown off or punished. For this reason there is no slush funds, superpacs, elite string pullers or zombie bots. Financial power is always limited, Expenses are concentrated while return on investment is spread among all. For this reason small donations are sought endlessly and hated by fundraiser and members a lot.
#16 The Cult will only exist for the benefit of that elite, those beyond the Cult and even the lesser members will only be robbed and exploited. For this reason slush funds, fronts, subversion and hijacking of legitimate institutions is common. Many costs are spread to others but return on investment will be concentrated,so any Cult will be self funding, and extremely profitable for the elite.
#17 A Cult's propaganda will only be silly or annoying to those not in the Cult. By contrast a single fact or bit of reason can undo massive amounts of propaganda For this reason the Cult will demand its own speech, but consider even physical attack on those who speak otherwise as defense of that speech
#18 For the Cult winning everything is the only thing. The logic does not matter, promises are only good as leverage on others, no principle need survive any change of circumstance, and the opposite position can be arrived in an instant. Honor is just leverage on others, Empathy is weakness, Compromise is losing, even if the outcome of compromise is superior results. See promise.
#19 For Normal Humans Principles are Static, They get nuanced as one ages but rarely changed. Your honor is how you see yourself, and how you have held your principles. Empathy is the measure. Only you can injure your honor, and only by personal sacrifice can you heal it, but the scar will remain. Recognized or not Real Religion is little else.
#20 For Psychopaths, Empathy is unknown, recognized in others as weakness they do not possess and a tool to prove their superiority. Recognizing that such ego is unpopular, most will create an image projected to others that they will call honor, but is totally different than normal honor With no empathy or guilt, normal honor cannot exist, so there is only the image, and that will be protected vigorously, lest they be found out.
#21 Normal people working together form tribes, as social groups or enterprises as combined effort for a common result they can share. Psychopaths are constantly assaulting such efforts for personal gain, with no concern for any damage caused. Like the European Cuckoo, they pretend to be the very best as what they portray themselves, and some fools will be blinded by the pretense.
#22 Cults are formed by psychopaths that become the elites, and the manner which fools are recruited to the lower ranks is called brainwashing. However both fool an brainwashing are far more subtle than the words would suggest. Normal tribes and enterprises are also subverted and hijacked and become Cults many times without the members understanding all that is done in their name.
# 23 If someone or a group is very dramatic about any insult damaging their honor, that is a clue. If someone or a group takes opposite principles depending on the situation that is a clue. If their position is promoted everywhere but they freak out at a single contrary voice, all the while complaining that they are so treated, then that is a clue. If the facts finally get up and put their shoes on only to find that the lie has devastated the countryside and no longer discussed, then that is also a clue.
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