Born Suckers

In the 70s and 80s an “eastern” type of religious commune was established in Northern Oregon by Bhagwan Sree Rajneesh. In time it commanded many followers both on-site and around the world. It soon became clear that this group was even wackier than many other religious groups. Many of the followers gave all of their possessions and income to the Rajneesh and since he declared his love for Rolls Royces he eventually acquired dozens of the expensive cars used to drive around the commune grounds. His top deputy began poisoning followers she disliked, citizens in the local community and two city councilmen.
All of this would be just mildly interesting except that it was found later that the majority of his followers were professionals; doctors, lawyers, accountants; people with a high degree of education.
This baffled me for the longest time. How could these “smart” people fall for this line of bullshit to the point of giving up everything they had worked for.
Finally, after much thought, I realized a couple of things.
First: people want to be committed and will go the great lengths to prove it to themselves. Sending in five bucks ain’t going to cut it. And remember, this was the generation who, having rejected their parent’s ways, were eager to commit themselves to something with real meaning.
Second: Intelligence and higher education does not necessarily make you smarter. It is still possible to be, what is known as, an educated fool. Education is not necessarily a safeguard against stupidity. It helps but there’s no guarantee.
My point is that just because people are educated, intelligent, experienced, hold high office, speak with great eloquence, dress well and are wonderfully charming, does not mean that they know what the hell they are talking about. I have learned to maintain a healthy skepticism about everything, especially about politics, right and left; and religions, all of them.
Remember brothers and sisters, “There’s a sucker born every minute’. Amen