Novel Idea

[Makaro]

OK, I just got this excellent idea for a satire.

The premise is that two college students, named Harlan and Brigham, start a cult to make money. Cynically they go about studying how religious movements get started and what draws people to them. They make up a religion and attract followers from sidewalk displays, holding recovery groups, and scouting in the New Age community. They indoctrinate their converts so extensively that they resemble a private army. All seems to be going well until Harlan actually starts to believe he's a messanger from a higher power. Hilarity does not ensue.

The satire is meant to mock the absurd way people will believe almost anything as well as how those in power can be corrupted.

What do you think?

 

[Jehane]

Write it. I like Harlan; he cracks me up!

 

[Tariel]

it sounds interesting, definately, but unless you don't mind being hunted down and murdered in your sleep make sure you handle the topic with extreme care.

 

[Lessien]

What Tariel said. Be very careful.

 

[Makaro]

Thank you for the advice. I'm aware that people will think that my personal views are identical to those of my cynical, opportunistic protagonists. I created these two characters in order to portray how unethical people can exploit humanity's ability to believe and do great things for their beliefs. I should definately be careful.

I was not sure what to make about the "being murdered in your sleep" remark. Murdered by whom? Cultists, or angry Christians?

 

[Tariel]

The floor I live on is home to four people in possesion of swords and one pyromaniac. Among most of the people I know, being mudered in your sleep just means that people in general might be offended by it. I didn't have a specific group in mind.

If you're careful it shouldn't be a problem (except watch out for the pyromaniac. She just likes to murder people.)

 

[Paladin Dave]

Just keep in mind that not everyone who whole-heartedly follows a faith does so blindly and without reason, is all I can say. If I believed everything I heard, I would be tearing my hair out and trying to decide which religion I should be. But you're not trying to make that kind of statement about ALL members of an organized religion, right?

 

[Makaro]

Not everyone is so willing to believe, but there is a sizable number of people out there who are. Jim Jones amassed 900 people to his side two decades ago with his paranoid ranting. I would think the deliberate efforts to invent a religion for personal profit would be much more successful. Unless the engineers of the cult start to believe their own rhetoric. That's where things fall apart.

 

[Jehane]

If you ever get anything down on paper please post. I would be really interested in reading this story. It is an intriguing premise & while I understand Tariel & Lessien's concernes I think it is too good an idea to waste.

 

[Tariel]

If you ever get anything down on paper please post. I would be really interested in reading this story. It is an intriguing premise & while I understand Tariel & Lessien's concernes I think it is too good an idea to waste.

oh I agree It's a very good idea. But like all very good ideas, it needs to be handled with care.

 

[Makaro]

This is Brigham, the narrarator and one of the founders, reflecting on his feelings as he looks out onto a worshipping crowd at a cult meeting. This is the first time he feels guilt about what he has created, althoug he is still cynical.




I looked out into the crowd and was struck by the bliss and unearthly peace I saw in their faces. They had reached a state that most people only experience a handful of times in their mediocre lives. They felt united, and in communion with something infinitely greater than themselves. With their arms raised, the congregation had reached a spiritual pinnacle that they would never reach again, or if they did, it would not compare to the heights they were reaching at that moment. I reflected on the great conspiracy, the great charade that Harlan and I had put on. We were charlatans and con men, but were we truly harming these people? We lied to them, invented deceitful, soothing fabrications that they believed as if they were small children. And they were happy because of it.

They believed that we were the gate to epiphany, and indeed, they were at the epiphany we had promised. Were we immoral, evil men for this? Yes, if our motives were any guide. Harlan and I had exploited these people’s yearnings for salvation in return for riches and power. Our motives were selfish and immoral, but we had truly provided peace to our followers. What did that make us?

I reflected on this, and found no answer to my question. Were we swindlers or saints; deceitful or caring; callous or generous? Is truth always the best thing? Would we be better off if we were constantly fed a blend of happy lies? I suspect we would be. Imagine if we knew everything there was to know at all times. Think of how miserable people would be if they knew they would die of cancer at age forty, or have handicapped children, or have their hearts broken. With ignorance, we have hope. With lies, we are content. What is better: to be happy or to be wise? One cannot have both, I think.

 

[NeoScribe]

Brigham sounds like a thinker. But I thought you said he was cynical about the whole thing?

 

[Jehane]

Keep your touch light; more of the humour will come through. People don't get angry when they're laughing.

 

[Makaro]

Brigham sounds like a thinker. But I thought you said he was cynical about the whole thing?

Mm, true about the cynicism part. This is just an excerpt, and Brigham says it's better to be lied to and happy than to know the truth and be miserable for it, so he still has a Machiavellian bent to him. Over the course of the plot I will have him become less and less cynical. Ironically, so will Harlan, but for Harlan this in only because he believes himself to be God, so he no longer thinks he is exploiting, but helping his congregation. Brigham's character arc is going to be less malevolent.

 

[NeoScribe]

Brigham clearly hasn't read the last lines of Antigone.

 

[ElijahFalling]

Reminds me of an episode of South Park, where Cartman becomes a phony evangelist to make 10 million dollars. He even starts talking in a stereotypical southern accent when he preaches. He gets everyone so afraid of being thrown into hell they start giving him money so they won't go to hell.

I think your idea is a pretty good one. I think it would make a pretty good movie script in addition to a novel (though movie scripts have a very high risk of being stolen).

I think a good ending would be for one of the characters (the one who doesn't brainwash himself) to admit to everyone that it was just a scam, but his followers don't believe him. Then his followers try to convince him that the religion he started is the truth.

 

[Makaro]

I think a good ending would be for one of the characters (the one who doesn't brainwash himself) to admit to everyone that it was just a scam, but his followers don't believe him. Then his followers try to convince him that the religion he started is the truth.

That's an excellent idea! I would probably have to kill Harlan to end his character arc, and complete his downfall. Brigham would be so freaked out by this that he tries to stop the cult, but fails. Instead of listening, his followers shout him down with some of the same doctrine that he taught them. They then eject him from the compound, and he is forced to run from the law as a fugitive, as the authorities have heard of the cult's abuse of power.

This is sounding like a Greek tradgety. Hubris, to think one is greater than God, brings destruction. Who knows, maybe evangelicals will like this book even though it satirizes how religion is exploited. They may see redeeming qualities.


Speaking of tradgety, I read the last lines of Antigone, and they are very relevent to the story. Maybe I should put them in the epilougue.

 

[NeoScribe]

Better yet, put them before the story even starts. Sort of a teaser and some forshadowing.