JackSkeptic wrote:It's from the Communist manifesto but like all cults it's very religious, they even have the 'amen' equivalent at the end.
Anyway one of the reasons I stopped any sort of atheist activism is the realization some humans just have to believe something even if it is total bunk as long as it pushes all emotional buttons and explains everything. Even Scientists like Myers fall for it. So for every person who stops believing in god they are just as likely to fall for something else, like Neo Progessivism. Especially as it allows them to remain abusive, self righteous, sexist and racist yet be praised for it. It takes no real effort or thought and you can virtue signal all day long to feed you emotional needs.
Humans have not yet evolved to be resistant to this.
Humans will likely never evolve to be completely resistant to this, unless we build up support very efficient support networks for those who are (or see themselves as) outcasts.
Human nature is tribalistic to its core, because we're herd animals. Until very recently (in evolutionary terms) most humans were born, lived and died in the same group, which was usually their extended family. They rarely (if ever) met strangers who weren't direct competitors (and therefore enemies).
This has changed. Due to various technological and social developments basic tribal mentality (where your tribe is often your extended family) has shifted to a set of more complex relationships between individuals and society. Many people today interact mostly with complete strangers on a regular basis. Many of us live far from our parents and family, and we often don't know our neighbors. Many of us live without a clear "group" to belong to.
For a lot of people this situation causes a lot of stress. Depression is common among people who are for one reason or another (ostracism, emigration, work) isolated from a "community", from a "family". We're simply not made to be loners.
This easily explains why many people wish to join a community, no matter which. Once you join a group it's easy to fall prey to group mentality. Group-thinking causes in-group morality and out-group hostility. Systems of belief are simply ways which help different individuals to coalesce into a group. Traditions and rituals are a way to smooth down differences and focus the group on the common goal. People stop thinking for themselves and start repeating what the group wants. Eventually, if the group is successful enough the rituals lose their meaning and become simply identifiers for the in-group status (basically they're a way to say "one of us! one of us!").
Groups made up of lonely people are particularly heterogeneous and many of them need to signal their group indicators in a loud, pervasive way.
This is why cults exist. Cults are a substitute for the traditional family-group-tribe. They're the extreme expression of group mentality. The only ties that cult members have are within the cult. Everyone who doesn't belong to the cult is an enemy, impure, a "suppressive person", etc.
"Social justice" is only the latest in a long line of cults (to be more precise, social justice is a collection of cults, not all of which go together in perfect harmony). It's centered on universities or the Internet, where people from different backgrounds and with weak social ties (often because they've been ostracized for one reason or another) come to find social support from groups which claim to be fighting for a righteous cause.
For example fat people who feel inferior, ostracized or depressed can find a place where they are appreciated, apparently unconditionally. The same is true for many different kinds of social outcasts or people who perceive themselves to be social outcasts (non-heterosexual people, minorities, nerds, atheists, etc.)
"Social justice" cults give those people focus, social support ("safe spaces", group hugs, etc.) and a common goal or purpose. People like Trigglypuff, who no doubt feel ostracized and rejected in some areas of their life, cling to the respect, support and sense of purpose they get from the Social Justice Fat Activism cult at their university. She's not going to give up that respect and support anytime soon.
And to be fair, why should she? She's not likely to be respected or appreciated outside of her cult, especially not now that she's turned into a minor celebrity. In her case giving up Fat Activism would mean social suicide.
This is also the case for many other people who are involved in the various SJ cults. Some of them will eventually find a way to build up a social support network which isn't totally dependent on their cult. Many of them won't and they will stay in the cult.
But considering just how much they've invested in the cult, and how hard it is for them to build a social support network outside of it (especially if they've been a member during their formative years), it's hard to seriously blame them. The best way to leave a cult is to never join it. If you live a cult you start from zero, and that's not for everyone.
Maybe in the future we'll need to help some people recover from the damage of the SJ cults, just like some people help former Scientologists.
