Quite often an inspired thinker comes up with ideas, whether religious, philosophical, political, or whatever, which he or she believes have importance for a wider audience. The thinker develops the ideas and turns them into a message, which catches on. People hear the message, think about it, agree with it or disagree. The message takes on importance. It becomes a message in and of itself, with its own value, whether right or wrong.
As time goes on and the message gains in popularity, it happens that the messenger himself or herself gains in popularity and becomes more popular than the original message. People now listen to the messenger instead of listening to the message. The messenger becomes the message!
And again, quite often, the messenger accepts this happening and he or she starts believing, along with the populous, that he or she is in fact the message. This leads to the messenger and the populous viewing any questioning of the message, no matter how well coined and rational it may be, to be an attack on the person of the messenger. Eventually any questioner is seen as an enemy of the messenger and of the people, and, therefore, must be eliminated by any means.
What was once a message to be thought about and deliberated in a rational way becomes a cult of the messenger and his or her followers. A cult that becomes all-important and destroys any rational deliberation and acceptance of the original message, whether right or wrong.
Jake Hjorth, Grand Marais
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