Potentially Interesting Development

[thesummerqueen]

They don't teach them the basic skills to get on outside of their community, effectively trapping members for the rest of their lives.

The basis of most successful cults.

My object in telling you about the transference thing was to point out the other part of being a successful cult: to insist that the members are somehow special - more than any other group - and that they will be reviled for it but must understand that it's not because they're wrong, or even just different, but because people covet what they have and what they are. Even some Christian groups will call Jews the Chosen People.

These people want to feel special. They want an explanation for why they get punished for clinging onto their religion. They want to have distinction.

The sad thing is, distinction only happens in the secular side. Jews, thanks to certain cultural values, are some of the funniest and smartest people you will ever meet. But this is pretty much only happens where secularism and the cultural inheritance collide. The orthodox are still chasing that fame and glory. They'd love to claim Einstein. They'd love to claim Jon Stewart's success (not so much his content). They'd love to claim a hundred scientists and artists. Most of them, if not all, were and are secular, or very loose Jews.