Have you ever seen the Righteous Gemstones?
A fantastic comedy satire of the American south Christian “churches” which are cults, plain and simple. It has a fabulous cast of actors, led by the patriarch “Dr Eli Gemstone” played by the quite superb in everything he does, John Goodman. I thoroughly recommend it.
While it is extremely well written the best part of it is how this is a family cult, run by a few people who all do their part to keep their congregation in place. They all play their part.
Cults are rarely started by one person, they are a thought, or a number of them, discussed between a few people, that become a dogmatic view, they pull in others with confirmation bias and paranoia, when this happens you get the people who are easily led and boom, you then get the drip feeding of certain information, which is always agenda based, and is delivered in a structure, such as with no other perspective taken, and you have a militant belief system, with attached dogma.
All cults, religious, terrorist, money all have one thing in common, they have an agenda, and they want to control a narrative.
There is a cult within the Celtic fan base.
They have been referred to by different names, mainly brats, but they are a cult.
They show all the behavioural characteristics of a cult.
They are paranoid, show a shocking confirmation bias, Dichotomous thinking and are unable to take any other perspective, dismissive of facts, think they know everything and are completely incapable of any critical thinking process and, most importantly, like all members of a cult they think they see something that others don’t.
The are led by a select few members of “fan media” whose word and opinions are sacred and must never be questioned or you are labelled and attacked, not by them directly of course, by their minions on social media, but these few have almost complete control over the thoughts of their cult members about the club and people therein.
Their agenda? They have stated they want change at the club, both political and financial, and they want to decide who runs the club. Cults are always clear about what they want. They hide it in plain sight.
Recently this has been shown in the attacks on the team, like it did during the Covid season, the lack of support for the entire club and the January transfer window.
Like any cult they claim, “we have expectations”, when what the actually mean is “we feel entitled to….”.
They believe they should get certain things based on their emotions and beliefs. Like every other cult “we believe this, so we demand this”.
There are three parts to a cult, there is the information gatekeeping, the “secret”, every cult has an inside man, they guy who gets the info, he (and it is usually a man) and only he has the truth. In the financial cults, like Ponzi schemes, this is the “market knowledge” con.
The next part is the scripture, the writings, the evidence in the “word” if you look into the Qanon cult this was information relayed through text apps after an event but written in a way to convince people it had been delivered prior to the event.
Then there is the delivery of the message, en-masse, to control the thoughts and actions of the members, this information is always delivered in a way to illicit a specific emotional response, usually in a mass gathering for people (where do you think the Catholic cult gets the word Mass?) and only in a way that the cult leaders decide is the way they want it delivered and for their own agenda.
There is a cult in the Celtic support.
They are the brats, now that term is being used in a dismissive way, but it is much more serious than that. This cult believes they are “The True” Celtic fan, which is very indicative of cultish behaviour in that they feel they are “The Chosen”…”The Ones”…”The original”.
The three sections of this exist, there is the “inside man”, they guy who gets all the information that re-enforces their belief system, Phil MacGhiolliaBhain, the journalist who is “in the know” he gets the sacred word, like David Koresh did, and delivers it. Sometimes he does it on his own site and sometimes he passes it down to his prophet(s).
It is then laid in scripture by these prophets, in a number of blogs, but this is led by The Celtic blog, “Phil said that Peter Lawwell exclaimed the club lost millions in 2012, so this must mean….” – “God said that the meek shall inherit the earth, so be poor and work for the church all your life”.
Read Phil’s latest piece on his blog “I am told….” ” You could open the door to possibility…”which both mean “I don’t know but I have to push an agenda” Additionally he mentions the word used by the manager “braver” now that could mean a number of things from the cult perspective it MUST mean we didn’t offer enough money, from another it could mean that we need a squad cull first but to his followers and cult members this must be the works possible issue… now I don’t know but either way where is the support for the club and team rather than all doom and gloom, Cults must have doom and gloom though, it keeps the agenda up.
It is then proclaimed on podcasts and video message to millions, in a talk format with people all saying the exact same thing, no other perspectives and when anyone even tries, they are either ignored or there is a pre-planned response like all mass gatherings of religions all over the world – ACSOM.
Now they will all say they are not connected, but this is demonstrably not true as they all reference each other, another part of the cult leadership triangle because it re-enforces that they have an “inner circle”.
Disclaimer time, I cannot say I have any proof of this, what I am doing is using critical thinking and my own common sense and education to make decisions, I am sure they wont like that, but Cults don’t like that.
This cult has existed, as far as I can see, since the 90s when Celts for change was active, when that group was successful, some of them wanted more. Like the early Christians, who just wanted to do good, it was taken over by the greedy to make money as a church. The principle stands.
If you recall when Fergus came in, he was very quickly the bad guy because he would not spend like Ibrox was, or so we were being told. This was not the way to go forward they exclaimed. This is not fair; we demand you spend money. Even going so far as to boo Fergus on the day he raised the flag. A fact they omit from history. Like other cults dismiss facts, such as the flat-earth cult who dismiss science and photographic evidence. The expectation and entitlement begin there as they believed that it was they who delivered the change when in fact it was the bank, indirectly actually it was David Murray who instructed his pals on the BoS board to pull funding from Celtic, the fan movement Celts for Change did not have the decision-making capability that these current cult members think they did.
Like any cult when things are going well, they tend to be quiet, others aren’t really taking notice of them, so they don’t say much, like the Catholic edict of non-involvement in the holocaust. Let them be, we are being ignored.
However, when they see a weakness, a point where they can increase their power base, they pounce. The recent issues in Gaza being an example of this, the Israeli state used that attack on them to inflict more suffering on Gaza.
Now I am using the most prominent examples here of course but I do not for one minute compare football to these current, or historical issues, it is analogy only.
What the Celtic cult does is this, when there is a fall off in form, when we have a transitional season they ramp up their output of “its all the club’s fault”….”its all Lawell’s fault” using false equivalencies or minor issues to promote how everything is wrong and it needs to be changed immediately.
Like all cults there is logic in some of what they say, there is always an element of truth, but it is enhanced and used as weapons against those they hate so they can push their agenda.
Never taking external factors or issues out with the club’s control into the equation. Cult members aren’t capable of that.
Things such as changing manager when we didn’t want to, players getting used to a new system, injury ravaged, the manager coming in so late to the club that the transfers he would want were not able to be done. None of this is ever considered when these people attack the club.
This past week has seen a ramp up in their behaviours, we did not sign what they felt they were entitled to get so it must be an attack on them with no consideration to the bigger picture and prioritising which is what I see.
Now when anyone points this out it becomes “oh so you agree with……” or you are called childish names like “happy clapper” even though you make it clear that is not what you are doing, they cant take the perspective you have because they have to push their agenda.
What these people are not doing, is supporting the club and the team.
You can question what happens at the club and still show support. Their dichotomous thinking does not allow them to do that.
For example we have an issue with the scouting team, we have never truly replaced John Park, there has been reasons for this, Brendan Rodgers asked for and got Lee Congerton first time round and he wasn’t up to it, Ange asked for Mark Lawwell and got him, neither were right and the Scouting needs to change. It should be noted that we got they guys the managers wanted but that does not suit the narrative.
I would like to break some points down on their recent output, while I do not believe for one second that any of them will take any of it in, I do believe there are sensible fans who agree more with me than these fucking clowns.
First our squad.
The first thing they use, ad-nauseum, is what the manager said about 4 quality players, which is paraphrased to “I feel we need 4 quality players”. He did not say he needed them in January, nor has he indicated that he felt this would happen, but it is being used against the club, and certain people, which I will come to, therein as another weapon in their attack and re-enforce their own confirmation bias.
They discuss the summer spending and how we bought too many players and not the correct quality, what they are not discussing here is the fact that the previous manager kept the club hanging on and had made his own moves in the transfer window, in order to get more leverage at Spurs, a job which he always knew he was taking, Ange approved all but Luis Palma. Now did Brendan re-approve these, maybe, however the deals were done. That is ignored as it doesn’t match up with the confirmation bias.
In addition to this we have a very bloated squad and, as has been seen in the past 48 hours or so, we are beginning to trim it, now that shows me that there has been discussion about spending and wages in an effort to support squad improvement in the summer however take The Celtic Blog attacks on the club which have lamented how we are letting players go and not replacing them but previously moaning that we had these players on the books you see that anything the club and manager do is seen as wrong and attacked.
They moan about the quality of the squad, well lets actually look at that (with the backups):
GK – Joe Hart (Scott Bain)
LB – Greg Taylor (Bernabai)
CH – CCV – (Lagerbielke, Welsh)
CH – Liam Scales (Nawrocki, Kobayashi)
RB – Ali Johnston (Tony Ralston)
D/CM – Calmac (Iwata)
CM – Matt O’Riley (Holm)
CM – Reo Hatate (Bernardo)
RW – Liel Abada (Yang, Forrest)
CF – Kyogo (Oh, Idah)
LW – Maeda (Palma, Kuhn)
However, our squad is not nearly as bad as this cult makes out. Additionally think about the injuries we have had this season, Celtic have been without 3 of their best players in CCV, Hatate and Maeda for half of this season already, which team doesn’t have an issue when losing 3 players? However this is just ignored by these people, add in the fact they boo when we win, and you see what you are dealing with, the team are lacking confidence, you saw that in the second half against Aberdeen, we dominated the first half and came out with a lack of belief, we got better later on when we changed the shape but you see a complete lack of belief, yes the manager has responsibility to help that but so do the fans.
It’s not perfect, no one is saying it is, there are changes required but we know we tried to get cover for left back and GK and what these cult members don’t ever consider is that sometimes it just doesn’t happen, and it seems, from this perspective, that we are not trying to sign numbers we are going for quality over quantity, was the quality we wanted available in January, there was not a lot of movement at all, all over Europe.
FFP has teams spooked and this affected everyone.
This is where the squad trimming comes in, now there has been rumours of a standoff between the board and the manager about signings, now critical thinking has to take place here, if there has been a standoff and the manager has said that he wants to oversee the signings there may have been a counter point that the budget, salary and fees must also be managed and with the outgoings one could see that perspective. Well, I can.
There are bullshit stories doing the rounds, I do not believe that we refused to let James McCarthy leave because the club involved in the loan would not take the majority of his wage. It doesn’t add up, but as with any cult if it is repeated enough, they will believe it.
These fans also discuss the familial links the club has in coaching, directors and managers specifically the familial links and they use this as one of the “reasons” things are going so bad. Remember a club which has won 17 of 23 titles, and 5 trebles in 7 years, during those times all of these people have been involved. Yet this is seen as not good enough, now there are questions as to why there are so many links and there is a validity to wondering why, however they cannot say that they have not been successful during that time.
Can we be better? Always, and we can definitely be better in Europe but that does not equate to being in crisis. Which is what this cult are saying.
This title is not gone, even though on halfwit I was around on Saturday actually said “5 minutes to save our season” with 14 games to go and we are top of the table. That is what being in a cult does to you.
Another part of this is what is happening at Ibrox, our “voices of the fans” talk that club should not care what they are doing but at the same time the club should do everything the can, but not mortgage the future, to bury them.
Newsflash: It is not Celtic’s responsibility to attack, bury or do anything else to any other football club or organisation now I see that this has been said recently by The Celtic Blog however this is the first time he has said this, he has promoted the opposite before, this is also indicative of cult leadership in that it can be used to say “I do say this too” to keep the weak minded on side.
The fans that are part of this cult see this, as any cult members do, as an attack on themselves, by the club not attacking “them” they are attacking “us”. They see Ibrox being fawned over in the mainstream media, and they are wetting themselves, rather than support their own club they concentrate on what is going on there, they deny this of course, but their tone, and actions, show different.
All cults need a demon. They all call it different names, but it boils down to the same thing, an evil entity who controls and hates them and must be excorcised from their world. For this group it is Peter Lawwell, and any of his spawn. No one says that he is perfect there are things I don’t believe he should have done however this dogma that he is working against the club is patent nonsense, does he like his job and salary, yes, I am sure he does however that does not prove anything. He is being paid for working and that is where this comes from, these people do not understand what he does, and feel they are entitled to know exactly every move he makes. They are not. Which is another characteristic of a cult, tell us what we want to know, or we will attack you.
The rhetoric from these people on a man that they have never met is quite telling, think about where it comes from. Their messiah and “in the know” man, Phil Mac, who talks repeatedly about what PL allegedly said in 2012, remember he was asked a direct question “is there a financial impact on Celtic by the Ibrox club going out of business” and he answered “yes 5m pounds”, direct question, direct answer. Now that has been used as a weapon against him ever since, so would you talk to the people who were using your words against you. No, but Cults can’t process that.
Phil also comments on how PL feels that he is the smartest guy in the room, so he is confident in his own knowledge and abilities, that sounds to me like someone is intimidated by that. Another cult characteristic, they are often, all, from the top down, very insecure.
Again, I have never met PL, I don’t know what he is like, I look at what he has delivered at Celtic, 2 decades of domination domestically, the best we have ever had, the best financial structure of our history, respect at FIFA and UEFA, respect in the boardroom. He has made bad decisions yes, he should not have been party to the 5WA officially or unofficially, he should not have re-hired Neil Lennon and moving him on from the CEO role was overdue, but during his involvement with the club can anyone say we have not been successful? But you need a demon. Right?
The board at Celtic makes good and bad decisions, as all boards do but by any measurable scale Celtic are run successfully, this cult seems to want us to be run like the Ibrox board.
He is, just now, being blamed for the scouting and recruitment. My limited knowledge of the structure of high-end boards would mean that he is not, and cannot, be involved in that, same as with contracts. Others are responsible to the PLC and shareholders if he was making decisions this would corporate mismanagement. Possibly illegal, but they need to blame him for all of it.
This cult is dangerous to the future of the club but more importantly they are a danger to the club just now, we are in a title fight and the fans must support the club and the team, but this vocal group do not do that, they tell players they are not good enough, they tell the manager and board they are not up to it. Where is the support and belief?
The Celtic Blog, and remember he makes money off of it, is now full of these clickbait blogs repeating the same stories over and over, he then puts something up to re-enforce the narrative, then you get the Podcasts saying the same shit over and over, never having an alternative perspective, all ACSOM ever has is “ I just cant see it happening” ..”I just don’t think the board will do this….” It never gives an alternative view of why things may not happen.
There are sensible voices out there, they are there but we have to be more vocal.
Now I predict that when I put this up I will get the usual attacks, that is all they are capable of but I will strand up to them.
All cults need to be stood up to, cults are bullies, brats who just feel entitled to what they demand.
The Celtic Family 