It has been a few weeks now since our city of Boise was descended upon by the followers of Bundy. They belong to many groups and go by many names, and every individual seems to have their own agenda. Is it a crowd of crusaders or terrorists? I guess a person's views on this man and his followers are based purely on one thing. Whether or not you agree with what he is currently fighting for.
Agreement on issues should not and isn’t a great way of judging the character and veracity of leadership for an individual. Common issue agreement is the lube for any narracasscist to manipulate and facilitate controlling a follower. Bundy is an expert at this. Like Jim Jones, Shoko Ashara, or Marshall Applewhite and many more in our history Bundy seems to have no unique qualities about him. He doesn’t have particular good looks, he is not a particularly eloquent speaker, he doesn’t have billions stashed away, and he isn’t some military veteran with accolades or political ties. At the same time, he manages to amass loyalty King Arthur wouldn’t smirk at. How does he do this?
It's quite simple but also quite effective and it's a tactic used by cult leaders throughout history, pressure point manipulation. Bundy has no specific rules or regulations for his followers. No unique directions are given other than the random special event where they terrorize a community. He has this loose structure to avoid accountability for the actions of such followers but more importantly flexibility. It gives him the flexibility to change and evolve to any issue he currently thinks will be the most useful to enrage a base and gather support.
This tactic is diabolical and has no limits or bounds. He will use and has used any issue which is important to someone on a level that emotion drives instead of logic. Once Bundy has a person in this state of mind logic leaves and it's a body controlled by emotion. Emotions make people easy to manipulate. Whether government tyranny or local government social services kidnapping Bundy has no limits. Any instability or trigger an individual has is creates a perfect gateway to be controlled.
At first, Bundy and his family were a distant internet story. Then he moved to my community and began to ammas followers and gain power. I have personally seen friends go from he is obviously crazy to he has a point. Hell, I have even said it myself once or twice.
After a minute or two of pondering the totality of Bundy as a person, I realized even though he is correct on this issue he just happens to be correct. It doesn’t excuse his methods and the veracity of his argument is purely opinion and perspective. If I excused his behavior this time because we aligned in our thinking I am no better than the power-hungry Bundy himself. If one has moral convenience one has no morals at all.
Bundy is not a hero, not a leader, and not a fighter for freedom. He is simply a man, a man good at what he does, and that's to manipulate and use people to gain power only to shed them away even after they die fighting for him. This article is only an amuse-bouche for what's to come. For me investigating this man and for him trying to gain power. The tortoise and the hare. Its a race for local civility in Boise, Idaho. Come take this challenge with me and stand up to this terrorist.
