Criticism and the future Lord Voldemort

I have learned to recognise signs and symptoms of behaviour and scenarios commonly found in and associated with cults, cult leaders and cult members.

Now that I know what to look for, I can see examples everywhere. 

There is even some relevant material in the Harry Potter books: Lord Voldemort speaks and behaves like a cult leader.

The young Tom Riddle, Lord Voldemort to be, shows signs of what is to come. His response to criticism is very typical of the way people involved with cults react; I have encountered this reaction many times myself. 

Response to allegations and criticism

We need to be informed, balanced and objective and consider the source when deciding whether allegations involving cults and cult leaders are true or not. There are such things as revenge, spite and envy; people do lie and exaggerate; people do try to drag down or even destroy someone who is above them or sabotage the work of an organisation that is working to make the world a better place.

The reactions of the accused and their supporters to allegations and criticism may help us decide whether or not the claims are justified and true. Automatic dismissal and denial, ad hominem insults, counter-accusations and the attack-dog syndrome are all dead giveaways!

Tom Riddle and the rejected criticism

J. K. Rowling nails it when writing about the future Lord Voldemort and his first group of supporters.

A few more words about words and their value

The recent articles inspired by Upton Sinclair’s words about the difficulty of getting someone to understand something when his salary is at stake cover some of the many factors that cause someone to be unable or unwilling to listen.

Although the people who are trying to get through to someone may blame themselves for their failure, in these cases it is not their fault that they are unable to get their ideas across.

However, if none of the suggested practical, psychological or metaphysical factors apply, they may need to think about what they are saying and how they are saying it. They may need to look at how much authority and influence they have when speaking: it may be a question of how much effectiveness and value their words have.

Some further thoughts about Upton Sinclair’s proposition

The American novelist Upton Sinclair had this to say about the difficulty in getting through to people:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

The previous article expanded on this statement and listed some external factors that might be involved in addition to someone’s salary.

It is not just about employees and possible losses in the outer world: Upton Sinclair’s proposition can be applied to the inner world of many people when psychological factors are involved.

There may also be some unseen influences at work in the form of good and evil forces.

Some psychological factors

Psychological defence mechanisms may be at work in many cases where people just don’t or won’t get or accept an inconvenient, unwelcome truth. For example, we may try very hard but unsuccessfully to get through to someone that they need to take responsibility for their actions.

Upton Sinclair and the difficulty in getting through to people

The starting point for this article is the well-known proposition from the American novelist Upton Sinclair:

"It is difficult to get a man to understand something, when his salary depends upon his not understanding it!"

While true up to a point, this seems both incomplete and partly off the mark.

In some cases there is a lot more than a salary at stake, and it may be less a matter of a man’s not understanding something than of his understanding it only too well but refusing to accept it or admit that he knows it.

If someone did accept or admit that they know and understand an inconvenient truth, they might be expected or forced to do something about it. This might entail taking a stand; it might mean the loss of their existing role and plan of action; it might mean the loss of acceptance, credibility, any chance of promotion and even their professional reputation.

Ignorance really is bliss in many cases.

Sinister and significant elements and scenarios

Previous articles contain many examples of elements, features, games, syndromes and scenarios that I am particularly interested in. Cases and references come from my own or someone else’s personal experience and from fiction or biographical works.

I see them as red flags, warning signs that unseen influences may be at work.

I thought it might be useful to compile a list of some of the most sinister and significant of these elements:  

-People benefitting from convenient and/or suspicious deaths;

-People getting things at other people’s expense;

-People inflicting terrible injuries of various kinds and carrying on as if nothing has happened, adding insult to injury by expecting their victims to play the ‘business as usual’ game too;

-People behaving unprofessionally and out of character;

- People playing the reversal game that is characteristic of evil. For example, behaving as if they were the victim when they are the victimiser and presenting black as white;

-The backfiring scenario, where people do not get what they wanted, planned for and expected because it all goes horribly wrong. They may even get the exact opposite of what they wanted; sometimes they lose what they already had;

-The fifth-rate travesty scenario, when what people get seems to them to be a very cheap copy of what they actually wanted;

-The time when jubilant people think that they are in at the start of something big and exciting, only for a time to come when they look back sadly, realising that that was as good as it got;

-The ‘all avenues closed’ scenario when people are forced onto what seems like the only path available, the only way out. This path often leads to something worse or even to destruction;

-The attack-dog syndrome;

-The sole supplier syndrome;

People of interest with big anomalies in their lives, the ‘good idea’ that results in suffering and the ‘as if’ game deserve a mention too.

When I see these elements in operation, I suspect that there is an energy vampire, a cult, a black occultist or a witch in the case; where relevant, I suspect that psychological black magic is at work.