Today I read a review of a book claiming that some Trump supporters resemble a cult. I have also recently been pointed to another book claiming that Trump is working to undermine a global conspiracy. Here is the book making the case that Trump leads a cult. And here is the book about the conspiracy.
Then the thought occurred to me that cults and conspiracies are opposite sides of the same coin. I have recently talked about how the left values rationality, while the right values faith. What you value also determines what you fear or despise. So here are some new definitions that link the concepts of “cult” and “conspiracy”:
A “cult” is a group of people we see as threatening because of their faith.
A “conspiracy” is a group of people we see as threatening because of their rationality (i.e., their strategy).
Basically, progressives see their enemies as a cult, and conservatives see their enemies as a conspiracy. So, if I were going to make a political quiz one of my questions would be: “what is a bigger threat to our democracy: cults or conspiracies?”
Let me point out that both of these are real phenomena. But an analysis of what causes us to identify others as a cult (or a conspiracy) is perhaps even more interesting than an analysis of the groups themselves.
Here is another interesting question: Can someone be simultaneously a member of a cult and a conspiracy? Perhaps, but there is certainly a lot of tension between the ideas. To truly be a member of a cult, you must be driven by “blind faith”. To truly be a member of a conspiracy you must, in some sense, “know what you are doing.”
