NORTHERN LIGHTS, UKAHALA–In this From the Desk of the Commander post, Prior Bumble addresses the social and psychological phenomena behind the groupthink of hatred.
Soldiers of RFCP,
In my last post from this series, I said, “All hatred was love once.”
This means love and hatred aren’t opposites, but rather that hatred is a fallen version of love. It’s love corrupted. I feel I have a responsibility to speak on not only the light but the dark as well. Settle in.
Recently, three army officials in the CPA community were banned and ridiculed for being my friend. The same old propaganda came up:
But isn’t Prior a pEdOpHilE? Isn’t he a gRoOmEr? Isn’t he an eViL cuLt LeAdEr? Isn’t he a four-headed hydra that eats puppies?
My friends who know me closely of course replied, “In fact, he isn’t.”
This enrages those who hear it, and here is our first signal that something more than truthful analysis is going on: Strong, blind emotional reactions occur when someone is told I am NOT those things. Because it challenges a narrative they are extremely comfortable with, their response is not intrigue or receptivity, but fury. Fury shuts down any chance that they’ll accept what you’re saying. And fury is how you know something other than logic is behind the narrative.
Next come the open letters: “So all of those letters are untrue? Yeah, right. How can all those people be lying?”
I am so glad you asked.
The very first open letter against me had the unique advantage of its author working for the major publication site at CPA at the time. Therefore, it was published by a prominent third party with wide viewership. Under any other circumstance, it is unlikely such a letter would receive much notice. Disgruntled soldiers complain and hop all the time citing this or that reason in rage-quit posts. However, this letter was an entertaining read on a popular news site. Readers responded to the thrill of its controversy.
But the most important thing it did was set the precedent that open letters against Prior Bumble will receive special attention.
In a community of hundreds of people all trying to stand out, and especially younger people who seek attention, the temptation of writing a letter against me and immediately receiving thousands of views and name recognition is pretty hard to pass up.
As more and more people jumped on the bandwagon, it became standardized to hate me. As it became standardized to hate me, “Good vs. Evil” turned into “Good vs. Prior Bumble.” Something else interesting happened at this point:
The authors of hate articles against me were guaranteed acceptance, accolades, and status in CPA.
Immediate back-thumping, offers of enlistment, and thumbs-up are given to these authors–new or old.
Those two incentives–attention and status–are strong. From a sociological standpoint, all of us want status and acceptance. Writing a hateful article about me is the quickest and easiest way to become a respected celebrity in CPA. It also gives the author “moral superiority.” In other words, if the author accuses me of being a groomer, for example, it must be impossible for the author him/herself to be one, right? “I hate Prior Bumble, therefore, I am moral.” What an easy way to be moral–far too easy to be genuine.
The centralized nature of RFCP’s government prevents any one soldier from holding power equal to mine, so when what we offer–love, support, ranks, medals, etc.–isn’t enough anymore, why not write an open letter and secure a seat in CPA’s circle of acceptance?
These two incentives explain why open letters are numerous. But they do not yet explain why they are false. If so many people affirm that I am a [insert any terrible thing a person can be], aren’t the odds against them all lying?
Not really. Human nature can explain this as well.
The first possibility is that they are all telling the truth and I’m all or some of those terrible things. The problem is that I’m simply not. And there are officers, soldiers, and friends who have known me for three years and know I am not. There is testimony, evidence, and proof that I am not. But that doesn’t really matter to the authors of the articles, because they want the attention and status.
The untruthfulness, unfairness, one-sidedness, or exaggeration of those letters matters not when it serves the interests of the author.
The second possibility is that a small handful of the HUNDREDS of people I’ve met through armies, angry at me over a personal disagreement (back to “all hatred was love once”), decided to wield the enormously powerful weapon easily available to them thanks to the precedent set by the letters that came before. And they used that weapon without regard for the mischaracterization they were inflicting on me and how it would impact my life. Almost all of these authors purged their entire DM history with me before releasing their letters–they knew that, if I had those screenshots, I would be able to adequately defend myself and paint a more complete picture of things. But they burned the evidence.
The reason several letters all saying the same thing can actually be FALSE is because of groupthink.
Groupthink is a powerful phenomenon which perpetuates the endless torrent of letters against me.
Earlier I mentioned that sociologically we all want acceptance. Well, what happens to people who are brave enough to say that the narrative against Prior Bumble is wrong?
They get banned from CPA.
Royal Mist.
Greeny.
Krosive.
And then, let me ask you this: After the bans happen, what do you think others will do when they start to doubt whether I’m really a monster?
Do you think they’ll speak up?
Or will they see the bans and say nothing, going along with the bullying and hatred of me and my army, because they’re scared of the social rejection promised to them for supporting me?
This is the psychology of hatred. You who are being taught and told to hate Prior Bumble are being used by figures more powerful than you. Why? Why are they so afraid of me? Why are they so afraid of YOU, supporting me?
Most of you have never met me.
And those of you who have met me know I’m not those vile things. You dislike me for other reasons–go ahead, be my guest. But deep down, you know the accusations are false.
They just work so well for you.
Be careful, CPA. Your greatest fear is that less people hate me than you think.
I think that’s exactly what’s happening.
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