Reply #67: Mythsaje, you're quite correct.

[sofa king]

I once read a highly entertaining article about end-of-the-world cults and what happens to the cult members after the world fails to end. A helluva lot of them stay in the cult! Now, why would someone go and do something as stupid as that?

The answer turns out to have a lot more to do with the cult follower than the cult leader. The cult leader can say pretty much anything ("your prayers averted the disaster" is the one to remember should your own flock become unruly). The cult follower swallows just about anything because it's easier to believe anything other than the ugly truth, which is that the follower has been misled and betrayed... and the follower is a fucking moron.

For more information on the above, I recommend any Judas Priest album, especially, "Defenders of the Faith."

The Christian right wing has brought the same tactics to the political table, and the dumbest fish in the pond are still swallowing the same bait. Only now it's a national problem instead of an individual tragedy.