Nancy,
I’m confused by your sentence about “serving”; are you talking about how both soldiers and politicians are said to “serve”? or are you talking about how people get status points for becoming soldiers? (or police or...)
I think the main use of the word “cult” is something like “illegitimate source of authority.” This explains both why “legitimate” sources of authority are similar and why no one wants to call them cults.
But they’ve got a big supply of legitimacy, so they don’t have to do as much nasty stuff as cults. Yes, nations kill a lot of people, but not that many per member. Joining the military is probably a better idea than joining a cult.
Nancy, I’m confused by your sentence about “serving”; are you talking about how both soldiers and politicians are said to “serve”? or are you talking about how people get status points for becoming soldiers? (or police or...)
I think the main use of the word “cult” is something like “illegitimate source of authority.” This explains both why “legitimate” sources of authority are similar and why no one wants to call them cults.
But they’ve got a big supply of legitimacy, so they don’t have to do as much nasty stuff as cults. Yes, nations kill a lot of people, but not that many per member. Joining the military is probably a better idea than joining a cult.