A Tale of Two Cults
November 2, 2020·46 comments·Politics
Exposing a lie doesn't always kill the narrative. Uri Geller's humiliation on live television should have ended his career. Instead, it launched it. Meanwhile, a 19th-century religious cult in Texas collapsed not because its deceptions were revealed, but because the community surrounding it made an unexpected choice. The difference between these two outcomes hinges on something no one talks about when they talk about truth.
• Uri Geller claimed psychokinetic powers, failed spectacularly under controlled conditions on Johnny Carson's show, and yet his career accelerated. The humiliation that should have ended him instead became part of his mythology.
• A religious cult in 1870s Texas took followers' money, land, and futures, promised salvation through perfection and divine knowledge, then scattered when their compound collapsed into chaos. Unlike Geller, they faced total ruin.
• The difference wasn't the severity of the deception or how thoroughly it was exposed. It was what happened after. Corsicana's townspeople chose to let the cult members back in. They were forgiven.
• Geller thrived because his audience never had to face the consequences of believing in him. They could sustain the narrative indefinitely. The Corsicana followers had to choose: stay broken or rejoin the community.
• If truth alone can't dismantle a false narrative, and shame can't either, what actually breaks the cycle? And what do we lose if we're too busy being right to offer what the other cult never got?
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Comments
Here it is – this is the post I’ve been waiting for. The complement to #BITFD. I predict that this is where you lose the fair-weather friends who have come for the burning, not for the building. The jackasses who just want to kick down the barn, not the good (and amateur but willing) carpenters who are ready to craft the new one.
Everyone would happily have fought against slavery, had they been in Lincoln’s place. Much harder to follow Lincoln’s example in promoting former enemies – Seward, Chase, and Bates – to his cabinet. I hope that the Epsilon Theory pack (and beyond) can embrace that level of citizenship – putting aside the thrill of lording over a former opponent to instead join hands in building something better.
Exactly right Rusty. We can’t move forward without mercy. Well written!
Thanks, Daniel! You are totally right that the fire brings in some audience more than others, but interestingly, outside of social media channels (i.e. Twitter), our most widely circulated notes actually tend to be of the BITFU variety. It surprised me, too, but I found it more than a little bit encouraging.
Thank you, Laurie!
Thank you Rusty, I needed to hear that today. I love the idea of all sides believing that they are right, yet granting mercy to all. It sounds like a wonderful world, but one that will probably destroy Twitter. I hope Ben’s ok with that.
It hit me after I posted my previous comment that our way forward is a so called “Circle of Mercy”, a positive feedback loop if you will… I don’t care who thinks they are right, I want to be involved in a Circle of Mercy, and today it starts with me. Thank you Rusty, I needed a reason to try and let go of my election angst, and you gave me a wonderful roadmap to my first step.
I’ve actually been a bit turned off by the phrase BITFD (not the ideas behind it), so this one felt like ET oxygen to me as I can’t wait for BIBU.
Rusty is spot on as it will take mercy to build it back up as does any damaged relationship. The victory dance feels good and can even be justified, but fair or not, it won’t lead to repair. The “no taunt” rule in football is a version of this (forced mercy, if you will) as the NFL wants to keep the game, season and league going forward.
And great writing Rusty - the stories were engaging and, by the time you got there, your conclusion had already achieved reader buy-in because of them.
Piety is a fickle friend.
fascinating. Your family’s campfire stories had to be pretty interesting growing up.
When judgement day comes , in this world or the next , what is it we all want? Judgment or Mercy?
I have not met a soul yet you wants judgement.
Maybe the Lords prayer is correct and we must first extend mercy-- before we can, in good faith, ask for it.
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