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The Bizarre Trump Sect: A Plato-Like Allegory For Our Time Printer friendly page Print This
By Dallas Darling
Submitted by Author
Wednesday, Jun 20, 2018

It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so, and will follow it by suppressing opposition, subverting all education to seize early the minds of the young, and by killing, locking up, or driving underground all heretics.

- Robert A. Heinlein, Postscript to Revolt in 2100

We may not completely isolate ourselves with brick and mortar, but we can confine the ranges of our experiences in many subtle ways. Such was the case of those belonging to the bizarre Trump Sect. Not only did their leader forbid any contact with any differing view-something he called Fake News, but his trolls taught that the only way to knowledge and the truth was one continuous scripted reality show starring himself: Donald Trump. What’s more, everyone in the sect shared a common trait: they joined the sect during a particularly stressful period of time that made them susceptible to an authoritarian personality and group which claimed to have all the answers to their problems.

Communing With “The Donald”
Since most Trumpians had been born with a common disposition-the need to belong and a reluctance to question their authoritative world, it was easy for The Donald and FOX News, Rush Limbaugh, and Sean Hannity, to gain power. They did so not with physical coercion but by controlling their followers’ minds. The unconscious pre-programming of false stories, coupled with repeated warnings of of how dangerous and uncertain the world was, produced a binary and conflict-ridden us-versus-them mentality. Tossing in a divinely inspired mission to slay the ultimate enemy, an enemy that was out to destroy them and “their” America-even if it was only imaginary, made it all the more exceptional.

To Think Or Not To Think, That Is The Question
Their pretense was not hard to maintain until Jim, a disciple who was too thoughtful and inquisitive, left the Trump Sect to visit the places he’d seen on the altar boxes and ceremonial voice machines. What he found shocked him. When he got to FOX News’s Rockefeller Center, there were only converted studios with performers far removed from the actual struggling workers and Forgotten Americans they reported about. The same occurred when he visited The Rush Limbaugh Show in Florida and Sean Hannity in New York. They too were disengaged from the 50-some children that were being taken each day from fleeing families. They also lived much better than those back in the commune.

The Sticker Price and Shock of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
When he arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, he discovered that even the Fake News narrative was Fake News. Not only were tax cuts mainly benefiting corporations, but wages were stagnant. With inflation and the price of goods rising six percent, including gas prices doubling and health insurance-including children’s-programs slashed, the only thing exceptional was the tens of millions of Americans who were suffering even more. He also found that it took a dictator to know a dictator. If the price was high enough  and if they massaged his ego enough, foreign authoritarian leaders could buy The Donald and his pricelings. In the end, politics always trumped legality and human rights.

Cult of Ignorance Not Welcomed
Though Jim was very anxious to return to the commune-like base and tell his fellow Trumpian believers what he had discovered, he was a little cautious, knowing that some would probably accuse him of being brainwashed by the world or, worse yet, having gone mad. It didn’t take long for his hunch to be right. Not only did some automatically dismiss him as a lunatic, but others ridiculed him for ever leaving their commune. Claiming his mind must have played tricks on him, they moreover chased him from their mental authoritarian state and forbade him to ever enter again. Others, meanwhile, congratulated themselves for not having embraced the “cult of ignorance” as Jim did.

Plato’s Cave Today
Although the story of the Trump Sect is just an allegory, similar to the one in Plato’s “Republic,” it may be more fact than fiction, more truth than falsehood. Indeed, there are some who claim the world of ordinary experience is fake, and that the doors to the real world can only be opened by them and their initiation rites. There are also those who never question what they’re told, and simply accept everything what life presents them at face value despite many contradictions. They not only believe “in” the Trump Reality Show, but accept uncritically what its manufactured and corporate discoursers purport-both of which are structures of authoritarian power that profit from exploiting humanity.

Bizarre Sects ‘R’ Us
What about the rest of us who pride ourselves on the fact that we’re not a member of the bizarre Trump Sect. Do we confine the ranges of our experience in many subtle ways? If we just read a few newspapers, aren’t we limiting the intellectual space which we inhabit?  And if we only discuss politics with people who share our “broad opinions,” are we erecting another metaphorical fence around our own little worlds? Consequently, we then should try to see the world from another’s point of view, or to at least walk a mile in their bare feet. Looking beyond the walls of our shrinking, comfortable world and “little sects” that we’ve constructed for ourselves may be the greatest challenge of our times.(1)

Spotting the Jim’s Within
Another challenge we face is spotting the Jim’s within, not to mention remaining feckless in the face of destructive authoritarians and their nihilistic movements. Distinguishing between the deluded fools who play fast and loose with the truth or have illusory worldviews from those who have genuinely discovered an unseen dimension of life which may have eluded us is necessary if our society is to survive. If nothing is so sad than the death of an illusion, personal or national, so too is the life that’s been lived for a bizarre sect, one that doesn’t only ignore the facts which disrupt its lies but is far removed from the realities and sufferings of most Americans and that of the world.

 

Dallas Darling is the author of Politics 501: An A-Z Reading on Conscientious Political Thought and Action, Some Nations Above God: 52 Weekly Reflections On Modern-Day Imperialism, Militarism, And Consumerism in the Context of John’s Apocalyptic Vision, and The Other Side Of Christianity: Reflections on Faith, Politics, Spirituality, History, and Peace. He is a correspondent for www.WN.com. You can read more of Dallas’ writings at www.beverlydarling.com and  www.WN.com/dallasdarling.

(1) Baggini, Julian. The Pig That Wants To Be Eaten: 100 Experiments For The Armchair Philosopher. New York, New York: Plume Publishers, 2005., p. 56.



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