Has George Bush achieved cult status?

[Poiuyt]

This is from the blog "My Left Wing." It makes some great points, especially about Bush's ability to communicate certainty:

http://www.soapblox.net/myleftwing/showDiary.do?diaryId=1673

The new American religion: George Bush as a cult figure.
by: Eternal Hope
August 21, 2005 at 13:49:41 America/Los_Angeles


"A reader on my blog comments that George Bush is like God to the right-wingers. She makes a very good point; the new American religion is the belief that George Bush is the most infallible person since the Bible was completed 2000 years ago.

This religion, which I will call Bushism, is a logical extension of fundamentalist Christianity. Fundamentalist Christianity is a belief system in which the Bible is infallible and the final authority by which to determine right from wrong. Derived from the Bible is a set of beliefs by which fundamentalists determine who is really Christian and who is not:"

snip -

Bushism is an extension of this belief system. It is an apolcalyptic belief system which goes beyond normal fundamentalism and into the realm of politics. Before we continue, we shoud make clear that not all fundamentalists are Bushists. This belief system holds that George Bush is the greatest man to arise since the Bible was finished 2000 years ago and the Apostle John passed away. Therefore, according to this belief system, George Bush is infallable and anything he says is gospel truth.

snip-

Religious figures -- good or bad -- have the kind of appeal they do because they have an aura of certainty about them. Jesus, Mohammed, Abraham, Moses, Buddha, Confucius, Lao-Tse, and other religious figures communicated to their followers with a near-absolute degree of certainty the meaning of life to people who were lost and looking for answers in an uncertain world. The gift of being able to communicate certainty to an uncertain world is a rare gift which cannot be taken lightly. It can be used for great good as well as great harm.

George Bush has such a gift of communicating certainty. However, he has grossly misused that gift and has wreaked great harm on this world as a result. The hundreds of thousands of people killed in Iraq along with the many broken lives that have taken place are a direct result of the fanaticism of his legions of followers, Congressional enablers, and appointees who allowed themselves to be seduced by Bush's cult of personality and check their brains at the voting booth.

more -

[politicaholic]

1. This makes me glad I'm an atheist...

I don't have to take the time to switch Gods or rearrange my belief system, I can just slip into insanity with dignity.

[Whoa_Nelly]

5. Here, Here!

:applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause: :applause:

Remaining dignified as well

[Arkana]

11. I hear that, my friend.

I just swore off all religion after about 15 and never went back. Atheism is so much more dignified than what I would have had to do.

[DIKB]

2. I knew they worshipped him

LONG AGO. There was a LTTE in my state paper, where they stated that God had placed * in our highest office (you'd think it would have been done miraculously if that were true), and he was there to save our country. The title was, I shit you not, "God Granted But Not Guaranteed"

I remember reading it and wanting to vomit, they WORSHIP this sick SOB.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

14. Some might say that it was a "miracle."

[Dr.Phool]

3. I've been saying that for quite a while

Personality Cult. Just like Mao, Kim Ill Sung, Kim Jong Ill.

Same kind of blind fanatical following.

[proud patriot]

4. IMHO

YES ! ! !

[DELUSIONAL]

6. he can communicate to idiots -- but one has to be an idiot FIRST

There are gullible types who want a leader and once a "leader" has been appointed (Chosen by the neocons) then the gullible idiots will see the illusion of a leader.

Bushie reads what others write -- it is very rare to hear bushie's own words -- because that's when he really stumbles.

Bushie can sort of kind of -- use the religious jargon and this is enough to fool the gullible idiots.

The educated ones who follow him -- hope that he will keep their fortunes intact. Their reason to follow him is pure greed.

So bushie has basically two camp followers the gullible idiots -- and the greed crowd -- with a few single issue voters.

He really doesn't have a very large base -- I'd say a real hard core 15% and then another 10% with mixed reasons to be a bushie follower.

The very worst thing to happen -- would be for anything to happen to bushie -- he will be turned into a martyr and the next guy will invoke his name for every devious criminal act that this current crowd can't get away with. So I'm very glad bushie is well protected.

Some of the cult members can be weaned from the kool-aid -- but the 15% core -- these folks are going to go berserk when their king is exposed to the rest of the believers. They could become very dangerous.

The only way the neocon crowd can pull off this theft under the noses of the majority is because they count on liberals and progressives to be non-violent.

I had a Soc. course call "Social Disorganization" years and years ago and the Prof. predicted all this stuff when the wackos become mainstream.

[Poiuyt]

10. Oh Lord! Bush as a martyr!

Then the RW will want both Reagan's and Bush's head to be on Mt Rushmore.

[ComerPerro]

7. You are exactly right

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

8. You mean like Jim Jones ... they drank kool aid too you know.

:crazy:

[jokerman93]

9. Rev. Moon anyone?

Sun Myung Moon went to school for over thirty years on mob manipulation, cult formation and thought control. Does anyone doubt for a minute that his expertise and influence haven't been instrumental in helping the BFEE establish this statist cult religion out of his fundie base?

Check out the Tim LaHaye Ministries - and that whole series of "Left Behind" brainwashing scripts. Funded by Moon. Connect the dots. This is indeed a cult we're dealing with. A dangerous one with blood on its hands and biblical lemming dreams of total war and annihilation to come. It's not Jim Jones and it's not kool-aide this time folks. It's Junior Bush, Nukuler bombs, economic disruption and environmental catastrophe.

:nuke:

Wish I were wrong, but just because no one's hanging out a shingle that says "Cults R Us" it doesn't mean it isn't so.

:tinfoilhat:

Sure I'm paranoid. But I'm also on to something...

[durutti]

12. And when his "prophecies" turn out to be wrong...

His followers' belief just grows stronger.

Yup, definitely cult-like.

[Straight Shooter]

13. Every true believer needs a Great Deceiver

That's a line from a song I once wrote. They need a reason to exist, no matter how pathetic the reason is.

[Bluebear]

15. YEARS ago.

He has had his devoted followers under some kind of weird spell for five years.

[jsamuel]

16. As I posted a long time ago: Cult of Personality

Look it up quickly, you won't be sorry...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality

[flordehinojos]

17. all dictators achieve precisely for that kind of status...bush has worked

very hard to achieve it...and he has among some stupid people.