The 50th Law (with 50 Cent)

Causes and cults:
People have a profound need to believe in
something, and in the absence of great unifying belief systems, this
void is easily filled by all kinds of microcauses and cults. We notice that
such groups tend not to last very long. Within ten years they already
seem passé. During their brief existence, their adherents will substitute
extreme conviction and hyperbelief for a clear vision of what they are
after. For this purpose, enemies are quickly found and are said to be
the source of all that is wrong in the world. Such groups become the
means for people to vent their personal frustrations, envy, and hatred.
They also get to feel superior, as part of some clique with special access
to the truth.
We can recognize a microcause or cult by the vagueness of what its
disciples want. They cannot describe the kind of world or society they
desire in concrete, practical terms. Much of their raison d’être revolves
around negative definitions—get rid of these people or those practices
and the world will become a paradise. They have no sense of strategy
or defined ways of reaching their nebulous goals, which is a clear sign
that their group is merely about the release of emotions.
Often such groups will depend on large public gatherings in which
people can become intoxicated by numbers and shared feelings. Wily
rulers throughout history have used this to great effect. People in a
crowd are highly suggestible. Through short, simple phrases, with lots
of repetition, they can be made to chant back slogans and swallow the
most absurd and irrational ideas. In a crowd people can feel relieved of
any personal responsibility, which can lead to violence. They feel
transported beyond themselves and not so puny, but such enlargement
is an illusion. They are actually made smaller by losing their will and
their individual voice.

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Allying ourselves with a cause can be an important part of our sense
of purpose, as it was for Martin Luther King Jr. But it must emerge
from an internal process in which we have thought deeply about the
subject and are committing ourselves to the cause as part of our life’s
work. We are not simply a cog in the machinery of such a group but
active contributors, bringing our uniqueness into play and not
mimicking the company line. We are not joining out of a need to
gratify our ego or to vent ugly emotions, but rather out of a hunger for
justice and truth that springs from deep within our own sense of
purpose.