I called around to see my friend Adam today and had a cup of tea. The cup had the cover of the Graham Greene thriller Brighton Rock on it. It was timely, as this evening I saw the movie of the same name.
I won’t ruin the story, though you might know it. The film is set in 1964 with beautifully crafted scenes, raw violence, Helen Mirren at her best, John Hurt – well what more needs to be said! – I loved it. Pinkie, the young gang leader has great edge. I’d be scared of him. He’s dangerous and real. And there’s a naive girl who gets caught up in it all.
Up in California a dangerous old man by the name of Harold Camping convinced a large number of people to spend their life savings promoting the end of the world yesterday. This was all based on detailed calculations he had done from the bible, written as we know between about 4000 BCE and 300 CE. Seems like a long time ago I guess and it is on human terms but on earth terms, when the planet is about 4,500,000,000 years old it’s nothing. Camping is dangerous because of the impact he can and did have on unsuspecting and naive followers. It’s disturbing leadership at its worst.
Come on out Camping and show your face. No weasel words about getting it wrong – you made it plain that there was no doubt that the end of the world was nigh. What’s coming to you is ridicule and mockery and it’s well deserved. As I said in my blog on Sunday, it’s all luck, and your’s just ran out. You might like to use all your wealth from pumping out the rubbish you do on your “Family Radio” to pay back those that spent all their money on billboards and the like around the world on your scam.
Cult leadership is despicable. Admiration turns to followship which the leader uses for his or her ends, to satisfy ego, control and their own insecurity. If luck goes your way, they’ll get what’s coming to them. Like Harold Camping. I don’t enjoy another’s pain – for a cult leader it’s what they need though to shake their community out of the tragic trap they are in.
Stephen
Stephen Drain's Leadership Blog 