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It might look odd but to me it is no difference in saying that charismatic religious leaders are good at convincing people, even if the vast majority that repre
by belorn 7y ago
It might look odd but to me it is no difference in saying that charismatic religious leaders are good at convincing people, even if the vast majority that represent non-believers think that the person is nuts.
I am sure that I am not the first person looking at the polarization of US politics and finding similarities to religion, and with religion it makes sense that the more conflict there is between religions, the more set in stone people's beliefs become. It is likely even a effective strategy for religious leaders in position of power to fuel that conflict in order to cement their followers' conviction even further.
- perl4ever 7y agoPeople make similar comments a lot, but something sounds off to me about this sort of summary. We haven't been gradually moving towards this quasi-religious situation, as evidenced by past polling, which I linked to. It's just this administration. So I think the evidence suggests that something about the current president is fundamentally different, maybe that he is for most people a symbol or placeholder and not a person. Although, looking again at the polls from 2008-16, it might be that the current situation is something that happened gradually during that time period, and 2016 was not really a discontinuity. Edit: Also, my point was it doesn't seem like he's changed people's minds. Being a religious leader may or may not mean you converted people.