Prejudice, conformity and fear
Prejudice starts very simply with blind conformity.
Conformity towards any set ideal means that acceptance of others, who fail to share the same ideal recognized by the rest of the flock, is highly unlikely.
Levels of such herd conformity range from rival streets gangs to superpowers threatening each other with total annihilation. Conformity to an ideal is also at times based on insecurity and fear; fear of the Black man; fear of the White man fear of the Heathen, etc.
Conformity presents a type of psychic shield against the apprehension of facing life alone for many.
Little frightened fish shoal together against the fear of the larger predator! Chest-puffing youths flock together in secret dread of other gangs of the same. Church congregations make respectful genuflections against the rest of the non-believing world, yet behind the scenes they tell the converted that the folks who don’t share their restrictive brand of worldview are on a one way ticket to Hell!
Fear results in conformity and conformity leads to discrimination! It’s that simple!
In essence we are talking about inherent tribalism and personal intolerance that is cunningly instilled then cultivated in us, by the self-seeking powers that be, from birth.
Consider also the hugely effective Christian mind-control technique of everyone being ‘born’ a sinner.
So what exactly is the Church’s restrictive choice? Eternal damnation for your lovely little, new-born baby; or get with the traditional program and baptise it pronto into the Jesus Club to be saved. That of course is NO choice at all although millions have swallowed this fear-based, religious subterfuge hook, line and sinker.
Politicians and sanctimonious religious leaders are expert at cultivating subconscious fears in the populace against anyone who is perceived to be just that little bit different.
For instance, historically the early Church’s propaganda did an exceptionally good job of discriminating against all elderly women living alone with its archetypal image of a hook-nosed, witch/hag on a broomstick. The same appalling subconscious bias still exists today.
At Halloween for example we see the same old witch stereotypes displayed. The main populace is still indoctrinated to loathe/fear/mock the allegedly wicked witch/hag figure that in effect is a highly discriminatory image against the entire Pagan religion!
Fundamentalism has been screwing with our heads for centuries, in order to keep its mind-control monopoly on us all!
On a global cultural scale, West or East – both look to the other side as the eternal Satan. And let’s face it, poor old Satan has been the best friend the church has ‘ever’ had!
Christianity would not be where it is today without the constant assistance of Satan. He’s kept the Church is business for centuries, for without him as the ‘Bad Guy’ scapegoat figure who else are they going to blame for life’s manifold disasters?
Satan has been cleverly cultivated by shrewd religious activists as the ‘Evil One,’ who has nothing better to do all day than create misery, stress and disaster, with Jesus as the white-light tonic to cure the ailment.
So the eternal pantomime goes….
In the red corner we have Jesus, (hooray) the mythical white-robed figure allegedly campaigning (like a smiling Miss World contestant) for world peace and ultimate good. In the blue corner we have Satan (boo hiss), the nasty lad who everyone wants to throw rotten tomatoes at.
Basically folks that is ‘it’ in a nutshell!
All the centuries of ecclesiastical baloney, misleading theocratical claptrap and doctrinal slight- of-hand spouted out by the Church masters masks this central truism.
If Jesus Christ had sincerely ever existed, then today he would be laughing his sandals off at the collective absurdity done in his name by the naïve fools that claim to worship him.
Such naive, dualistic dross has today outlived any effectiveness it may once have possessed. The early Church simply had to create a satanic bogeyman, as its allegedly ‘all-powerful’ Jesus figure could not have been expected to take the blame for all of life’s mishaps.
Fundamentalists still of course squeal about hell and damnation for the ‘None-believer’ but their fires of misleading propaganda are burning low.
Their flaky claims for biblical certainty have been exposed as utter nonsense in many arenas. Their comical claims for a genuine historical existence concerning their alleged Jesus figure have been shown to be based only on hand-me-down, Dark Age Church half truths and distorted texts from other cherry-picked sources. Their supposed ‘Gospel-truths’ have been shown to be nothing on the sort!
Humanity has been sorely misled for 2000 years and its high time it woke up from this church-induced slumber!
Nevertheless, in the dangerously unstable societies of today we need to guard against herd instinct and blind fundamentalist conformity now more than ever.
The stakes of ‘not’ keeping an open mind are high and may cost us all very dearly.