The Obama Cult

[myrrh]

I was going to write up how I think that people have now begun to worship Obama, but before I did so I typed 'obama cult' into google, and saw that tons of people already had. This (http://www.nysun.com/new-york/obama-cult-not-for-everyone/71569/) article is interesting and from back in Feb.

Now, I am not suggesting that anyway here is like this, but there are thousands and thousands of people who treat him like he is Jesus returned! My mother is one of them. She goes crazy over him, and sends me all this crap email, like pictures of him and his family in various daily activities. Then she goes and tells my wife how he was in a restaurant near her house and they saved the mug he drank from! WTF?! As if it some holy relic. In that article I linked to, it says that people were fainting at his rallies!

Is it just me, or does anyone else notice this?

[Sean]

Yeah, it's a little over the top. But it's also pretty indicative of how desperate people around the world were for a US President that would change the course of action we've been on for the past 8 years.

[BeautifulBurnout]

I will agree that there is media obsession with him, because he is the first non-white US Presidential Candidate/President Elect. But it is largely whipped up by the media themselves who are anxious to ride the wave of his popularity, and know that, irrespective of the political colour, it is something that interests everyone either positively or negatively.

In contrast, those who refer to it as an Obama Cult, or talk of people thinking it's The Second Coming of Christ and so forth tend to be from the loony right in the US. In other words, they are claims made by people who hate or fear him about the people who admire and support him - on the Guardian Comment is Free section, it was frequent that anyone supporting Obama in a thread would be told by the right-wingnuts that they had "drunk the Kool-Aid", which is both spiteful and derisory.

I think he is more treated like a celebrity than a "god", and the example of the coffee cup would have happened if it had been George Clooney drinking from it. What's more, he has been able to tap into the youth of the States and energise them enough to actually get their asses away from their puter screens for long enough to go out and vote for him, and they feel like he speaks for them. And given today's obsession by the young with celebrity - a recent survey showed that most teenagers think that being "famous" is more important that any other ambition for their future - it is understandable that they react to Obama as they would a celebrity. But it is incorrect to describe this as "cultish", any more than being a fan of George Clooney would mean there was a "Clooney Cult".

So, no. There is no "Obama Cult" other than that which is being invented as a way of smearing his supporters, imo.

[cacophony]

cult of personality, yes.

[//\/\/]

people fainted at beatles gigs; the beatles said they were bigger than jesus; people faint at obama gatherings; obama is bigger than the beatles; so obabma is bigger than jesus - OMG - HE IS THE MESSIAH!!!!


(or will he just turn out to be a naughty boy?)

[Deckard]

(i think he'll turn out to be a very naughty boy)

Some of the comments on HuffPo are amusing in their unrestrained hero worship. I recall one woman (I assume it was a woman) insisting how she would never say this about any other President, but she'd willingly have Obama's kids if he asked.

On second thoughts, that sounds more like something the secret services should investigate...

[myrrh]

I think he is more treated like a celebrity than a "god", and the example of the coffee cup would have happened if it had been George Clooney drinking from it. What's more, he has been able to tap into the youth of the States and energise them enough to actually get their asses away from their puter screens for long enough to go out and vote for him, and they feel like he speaks for them. And given today's obsession by the young with celebrity - a recent survey showed that most teenagers think that being "famous" is more important that any other ambition for their future - it is understandable that they react to Obama as they would a celebrity. But it is incorrect to describe this as "cultish", any more than being a fan of George Clooney would mean there was a "Clooney Cult".

So, no. There is no "Obama Cult" other than that which is being invented as a way of smearing his supporters, imo.

I disagree because I am not out to smear his supporters. I am just making observations on the things happening.

It is rather sad that people want to be 'famous' more than anything, but just shows the current condition of society. At the same time, one can say that modern day celebrities have attained the position of idols or 'gods' from the understanding of what the definition of worship is.

worship |ˈwər sh əp|
noun

the feeling or expression of reverence and adoration for a deity : the worship of God | ancestor worship.

• the acts or rites that make up a formal expression of reverence for a deity; a religious ceremony or ceremonies : the church was opened for public worship.

• adoration or devotion comparable to religious homage, shown toward a person or principle : Krushchev threw the worship of Stalin overboard.

--
So according to this definition, then people are worshiping him. Then if we look at the definition of cult:

cult |kəlt|
noun

a system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object : the cult of St. Olaf.

• a relatively small group of people having religious beliefs or practices regarded by others as strange or sinister : a network of Satan-worshiping cults.

• a misplaced or excessive admiration for a particular person or thing : a cult of personality surrounding the leaders.

• [usu. as adj. ] a person or thing that is popular or fashionable, esp. among a particular section of society : a cult film.

--

So, wouldn't all this qualify that the Cult of Obama exists?

[King of Snake]

while it's all definitely over the top, I'd still rather see people obsessing over Obama than over, say, Paris Hilton.

[Deckard]

I think the point BB was making was that a lot of the anti-Obama crowd are repeatedly resorting to crude smears of "cult", "messiah", etc in a deliberate attempt to diminish the credibility of anyone who declares their support for him. The suggestion that these people are only supporting him because they're awe-struck, they're worshipping him, they're blindly following their leader - all the things associated with a cult - is the perfect example of a smear.

In this case, it also serves as a convenient way to diminish the strengths of the candidate himself - building him up artificially high so that it becomes easier to knock him down.

These are classic juvenile tactics that some people resort to when faced with someone or something impressive and difficult to criticize, despite still desperately wanting to attack them.

Regardless, a point to keep in mind is that even if there is an Obama cult, even if a certain percentage of the population do talk of him as if he's a Messiah (and of course there are those who do) - that shouldn't reflect on Obama himself - his abilities, talents, weaknesses, political positions, good and bad, are the same, regardless.

I would guess that most of Obama's supporters are realistic about dashed hopes and expectations and are fully aware that the honeymoon never lasts. However it's not in his opponents' interests that they acknowledge that his supporters acknowledge that (if you can untangle that!)

The culture wars will almost certainly continue.

[cacophony]

while it's all definitely over the top, I'd still rather see people obsessing over Obama than over, say, Paris Hilton.
i think there's a danger of turning the presidency and the political importance surrounding the position into something of a fashion show. i'd rather see people obsessing over celebrities when the obsession is more suitable for celebrities. i'd rather see people obsessing over obama's actual actions rather than flipping out with joy over what kind of dog he'll get and whether his family will join the local gym.

that said, i think it's completely retarded to throw out the word "messiah." there should be a new godwin's law for that. it's the most hyperbolic interpretation of celebrity idolization and it's almost insultingly "pearls to the swine" in its condescention.

[BeautifulBurnout]

Couldn't help laughing at Steve Bell in the Guardian though:

Blessed are the Carmakers (http://www.guardian.co.uk/theguardian/cartoon/2008/nov/11/barack-obama-us-elections-cars)

[Deckard]

Haha!

What will be interesting is seeing what the cartoonists and satirists eventually pick as the defining feature of Obama which then takes on a life of its own. As he inevitably become less revered, as he becomes more tainted through events (specifically, his responses/non-responses to those events), we would normally expect his physical features to start to be used to accentuate that transformation. Think of Rumsfeld who became the decaying corpse, Bush as the pea-brained, big-fingered chimpanzee sheriff riding backwards on his horse (ie. facing its arse!) And for us Brits, Blair's smile becoming a sort of demonic clown-like grin, splattered with the blood of all those who perished in Iraq, and Brown as a great bloated useless lump, an expressionless rock.

At the moment, the caricatures are obviously centered around the Messiah he-who-can-do-no-wrong thing - and physically they're still mostly holding back. Will his skinnyness be used against him in some way I wonder? If he's perceived as weak and wimpish, he will be the skinny boy at school. If he turns out to be a warmonger, then I can easily imagine Bell's colleague Martin Rowson turning him into a skeleton - morally dead, another corpse (though Rowson tends to turn everyone into corpses these days).

His stylish clothes and slickness might be aped as well - the man who's all style and spin, but no substance.

Now where have we heard that before?

[Strangelet]

So, wouldn't all this qualify that the Cult of Obama exists?

well yeah with definitions like those, you could say the donnie osmond fan club is a cult.

its the way humans are. so what, are we never going to be able to have a public figure that is generally loved?

[//\/\/]

here's a nice example of the right spinning the issue - implant the obama cult, then link it to something else more harrowing

"It’s the 30-year anniversary of the mass murder/suicide at Jonestown. The toll was chilling: more than 900 lives ended, including 305 innocent children. We should never forget the deadly consequences of the cult of personality."

http://michellemalkin.com/2008/11/18/remembering-jonestown/

[BeautifulBurnout]

OMG Obama is going to make 54% of the US population commit suicide! :eek:

I keep telling you, that woman is off her rocker. I don't even bother going there because she just has me saying very very rude words to my puter...

[//\/\/]

i don't enjoy her bile; but it's worth keeping an eye on if only because she seems to set the fox news agenda...

[den]

Every day the Chicago Tribune puts giant links to articles and special sections on Obama on their website. There was even an article and online poll asking people if they had 'Obama Sex' the night of the election. I really hope that this circle-jerk journalism will stop. The sooner he gets down to business, the better.