Category: Fourre-tout

A cult following is a nice way of saying very few people like you. Martin Mull

Jim Jones, Marshall Applewhite, David Koresh, Charles Manson, Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh…

Do you remember these people? What did they have in common? They were cult leaders whose devotees remained supportive and defiant until the bitter end…

What goes up, must go down. Isaac Newton said so about 300 years ago and his postulate still stands today. Very few people (besides astronauts) manage to stay aloft after they have reached their apogee. It is a law of physics…

Cult leaders always appreciate loyalty, but is this quality always commendable? When reflecting on this subject, the first question which comes to mind is: what motivates this sentiment?
Admiration? Affection? Very often though, loyalty is closely associated with personal gains. If you hang tightly to your leader’s coattail, you expect to be rewarded.
This does not mean that you “love” your guru… it simply means that you follow the dangling carrot.

Who are the followers? Tentative people incapable of deciding for themselves which way to go. They are remoras. After some search, they attach themselves to a larger fish and feed through it. It is much easier and more rewarding than following a solitary path.

But cult leaders are mercurial. They fancy and discard courtesans like the kings of lore. One day a person is praised, the next he is shown (often by mail or a third party) the door. A courtesan is like a Kleenex; useful one moment, disposable the next.

Loyalty is demanded by cult leaders, but they never feel bound by the same oath. Loyalty is a leadership’s prerogative. Leaders crave approval, adoration, but they are unable to reciprocate. This situation is like a bad marriage; it depends on how much abuse a spouse is willing to take, and how financially damaging a divorce would be.

Sticking with a cult leader is always a gamble. If he falls, you will fall with him but if he perdures, you will undoubtedly reap some benefits. But for some people (called moderates) a backdoor is always ready in case the ship of state starts to flounder

Ultimately, self-interest (not moral fiber) will dictate what one will do in critical decisions like Impeachment. Few Republicans will risk their career to vote their conscience.

True reckoning will take place on November 3, 2020.

Alain

Writing is not for everyone. It demands a lot of mental gymnastics and plenty of patience. But when you are infected by this disorder, you cannot help it, you have to do it.

I enjoy writing. It stimulates and engages the mind (and God knows that we all need this). If you fail to regularly stimulate your intellect, it will get flabby and become unable to reason or to make intelligent choices. You will just swallow plastic-wrapped, precooked ideas without ever trying to challenge them.

Yet there is writing and writing… and producing a blog is vastly different from concocting a thriller or a love story. When writing a story, you can let your imagination run wild. There are no fences, no rules, no taboos. You are the captain and can run your ship like Blackbeard. Anybody disagreeing with you might have to walk the plank.

When you write for a blog, it is a different story. You have to target a specific audience, using specific words. It is difficult because freelance writers are a dime a dozen, all competing for public attention. To be noticed, you need to hustle and write about a subject that might interest an audience.

To be successful, many blog writers rely on a technique called SEO (Search Engine Optimization).

“Ever heard of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs? It’s a theory of psychology that prioritizes the most fundamental human needs (like air, water, and physical safety) over more advanced needs (like esteem and social belonging). The theory is that you can’t achieve the needs at the top without ensuring the more fundamental needs are met first”.

 Most of all, you need to tailor your writing according to precise rules. You want search engines to quickly locate your site. You need to use particular keywords related to what you write about, and findt a subject that people are interested in. And last but not least, you need to come up with an intriguing title that is going to hook your audience.
I learned all this the hard way… plodding along…

Like any creator, after spending some time working on a little piece, I am keen on presenting my labor to public’s appreciation.
But what should I write about to attract a decent audience? Politics? We are all sick of it. Sports? I am mildly interested in this and I know very little about it. Science? Not really… Pétanque? Not until Spring…

The only subject that generates universal interest is sex. A unique word understood and used in practically all European languages.

Unfortunately, I discovered that this subject has been monopolized by a group of very enterprising ladies. If you are curious about any sexual technique, they will teach it to you with elaborate details. There are no taboos anymore. Hand jobs, blowjobs, masturbation, oral sex, anal sex… anything goes…

Consequently,

to be a successful blogger, should I also tackle this subject? Reveal all my past escapades? My visits at the Playboy Mansion?
A big dilemna!

What would Jesus do?

Alain

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Denial ain’t just a river in Egypt. Mark Twain

It is a torrent rushing across the planet. In our ever-changing society, denial is becoming as prevalent as the common cold. If something is judged reprehensible, difficult to accept, it is denied… vehemently.

In psychology, denial is when a person cannot or will not accept an unpleasant truth.

And for deniers, the best defense is the attack. They will question the sincerity and the morality of their accusers and try to cast doubt about everything they say.
Deniers of all sorts are legions… and they are passionate. I don’t know what motivates them, but it is certainly not objectivity.

Confronted with tons of evidence, they nevertheless persist in their preposterous assertions.
The moon landing was a hoax, the earth is flat, climate change is a leftist fabrication, the Holocaust never happened, vaccines create autism, evolution is a made-up-story… and more recently, there never was any quid pro quo…

 When faced with a threatening situation, the animal world has two options: fight or flight. While animals usually concede, presumptuous humans often decide to fight.

It is good… and bad.

It is good if you have a strong, honorable case to defend. It is bad, especially when you have a weak argument, to fight overwhelmingly supported evidence.

The motivations and causes of denialism include religion, self-interest (economic, political, or financial), and defense mechanisms meant to protect the psyche of the denialist against mentally disturbing facts and ideas.

In politics, denial is the rule, not the exception. Even when confronted with damning evidence, a politician will deny.
I never met this man, I never slept with her, I didn’t benefit from this…

Deny, deny, deny… is the mantra (a sacred utterance) of the ruling class. It is the ultimate exorcism used to combat any allegations of malfeasance.

 As Joseph Goebbels asserted “If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it”. 

 For everybody’s sake, hopefully not!

If you ever quote me, I will naturally deny saying or writing anything derogatory about the GOP (Government Of Pakistan).

Alai

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