How do we reprogram a cult with 30% in its spell, which billionaire media machines reinforce daily? [View all]
They are a cult, and the cultmakers’ organizational power is growing. Its biggest strength has been in the brainwashing mechanisms that have been set up to immerse people in right wing ideology, and program them like robots to interpret everything in the same ways. Breitbart on Sirius? Oh, yeah, that’s what we need. Pre-packaged and filtered content after net neutrality rules are reversed? Great. Expansion of Sinclair into more markets? Check. Witch hunts helpful in taking down or intimidating outspoken countervailing voices? Got them too.
This cult is led not by Jim Jones or even by Trump, but by voices coming over Fox News and Breitbart. Well funded voices, and their funding may become self sustaining if the Koch Brothers and Mercers and Adelsons get their wish to leave their massive estates tax free in the hands of ideological organizations. The mechanisms to defend the cult have been perfected, because cult members have been trained to reject all other sources of information, particularly major news media of NY Times and Washington Post.
It would be hard to overestimate the danger the country and its democracy is in. Authoritarianism and extremist ideologies are solidifying their position every day. The Resistance needs brave, loud voices in Congress and the Senate who can break through the spell. The Resistance needs methods to drive “paradigm shifts” en masse. The Resistance needs tools to stop the automatic funneling of our resources through the very channels that are holding us captive (I.e., cable bills that put FOX News on every TV in the country, for example; or oil and gas lobbyists that twist legislation and legislators to suit their needs).
Does anyone know how to reprogram a cult?
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