Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Day of the Demagogue



On November 18, some thirty-one years ago, over 900 people died in Guyana because of a demagogue. Just a short time ago, two people died in Sedona because of a demagogue. What is a demagogue? Well, here is one definition:
"Charismatic leaders willing to use emotionally-manipulative appeals coupled with simplistic and subjective explanations to mobilize constituencies."
We, as a people defined by the name "Buddhist," must learn to understand that we do not need Dharma Demagogues to incite us. We do not need Dharma Police to protect us. We do not need psycho, false guides to spout New Age homilies about this and that all over MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, or any other social media where the sharks troll for minnows.

We do not need Oprah or any permutation thereof to tell us what to do with our lives.

What we do need is to practice. Just practice.

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