From the mountain top

Social media has shown us why cults have little trouble with recruiting. One simply needs to see interviews with Trump supporters to see rabid beliefs which simply block out inconvenient reality. Think of any topic and you are certain to find fervor which borders on the fanatical.

Before social media really took off and people were more cautious about exposing their beliefs we might have thought that extreme views were more rare. Those susceptible were just the tip of a deeper iceberg which showed us that we are driven more by deep emotional needs than by logic and critical thought. Belonging to a group that accepts us is far more important than its foundational dogma.

It's easy to make fun of ridiculous ideas but sometimes the consequences for the people who fall for them can be dire. I remember a neighbor of mine saying that her brother had lost his life savings after joining the Scientology cult. He was University educated and came from a middle class family but that did not prevent his descent into a rabbit hole he was hard pressed to exit.

The filter of shame is off now and people are less easily embarrassed to trumpet their beliefs from the mountain tops. Perhaps the likes of Trump made looking foolish just a little more permissible.