Getting Religion, Religion Getting You
Seth Godin talks about the elements that cause a religion to grow:
Eternal life is a significant long-term benefit compared with the alternatives. That might explain Christianity's allure.If you want to build a religion that spreads, here are some things to build into it:
- Bias for evangelism
- Sharp distinction between insiders and outsiders
- Presumption that insiders are 'right' or 'blessed' or 'advantaged'
- Proscription against intermarriage without conversion
- Forbid one gender to work outside the home
- Central hierarchy that maintains the faith and settles disputes
- Offer significant (very) long-term benefits to believers
Those 73 raisins/virgins are a draw, too. If you're into that sort of thing.
Seth is, of course, referring to incorporating these traits into marketing. He uses Harley-Davidson as an example.
Shoulda used my blog, Seth. So let's see. In my Melissa's religion here are the rules:
- Refer everyone to my blog
- Progressives are stupid. Only conservative/libertarian types are insiders.
- Capitalists are "blessed" and "advantaged" because they have a basic understanding of human nature. Socialists are stupid.
- Thou shalt not marry a Blue State Democrat or suffer the fires of eternal damnation.
- One person must stay at home to read the Oracle's latest wisdom (that would be me, duh)--oh, and to take care of the children who will grow up to read my blog and worship, too.
- All disputes will be settled in the comment section. Trolls will be banned. Everyone else may bask in the radiant glory herein.
- On your deathbed, you'll receive total conciousness. So you have that going for ya. Daily readers of my blog can expect this state sooner, but only if they're religious about reading it.
So far, there are precisely two adherents to this faith: Like Jesus, my mom's a believer, and my toddler seems to be strangely fascinated with my blog...or does he just like chewing on the mouse?
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