Can someone explain this ?

[tp4tissue]

How can anyone watch this guy on TV, and send him money, and believe he's a good guy ? < a massively successful televangelist >

/Maximum Headscratch

[ArchDill]

Man, I do not know. He is so fake.

[Leslieann]

"Well all those other people trust him and he's a man of god so he must be a good guy."

People place their absolute faith in their church even when problems are staring them in the face (or even blows up in it). I've met people who sent their kids to the same church and same priest who molested them with only a warning to steer clear of the person. If that won't deter them what makes you think asking for money or blowing away a virus they already think is a hoax is going to change anything.

[chyros]

Of all the weird stuff you guys have there in the States, televangelism is one of the absolute weirdest ones to me xD .

[Coreda]

I'd say a key part is that hope is powerful, regardless of the legitimacy of the hope. That one was one of the messages of Kurosawa's The Lower Depths and an aspect can be seen in unexpected places.

Look at livestreamers. I've watched 500-1000 people donate on streams where it's just an average looking guy speaking while playing and one of the most frequent things I've seen some streamer's donation messages say? 'Helped me get through a tough spot', 'feeling depressed and you lifted my mood', etc. Some people will pay for comfort.

[tp4tissue]

Of all the weird stuff you guys have there in the States, televangelism is one of the absolute weirdest ones to me xD .

Modern religion is primarily used for money laundering.

[5alt5haker]

People want to believe in a charismatic leader. That´s how Hitler got into power

[fohat.digs]

I'd say a key part is that hope is powerful, regardless of the legitimacy of the hope.

This is absolutely it, and contemporary religion has it nailed down on all sides. Worried? Don't be, there is a benevolent Father taking care of everything.

Pandemics, climate change, constant war radiating from the Middle East, who cares? The world will come to an end very soon. And that's a good thing.

Best of all, when the world comes to an end, the good guys (no matter how they have suffered down here) will all be rewarded with luxury forever more, and, perhaps even more important, the bad guys (no matter how luxurious their life down here) will be perpetually tortured without mercy.

This is a message that resonates strongly with people who are not critical thinkers. I know, I used to work with a couple of them.

[Coreda]

I think it's also worthwhile to consider the sense of community and belonging. It's something everyone understands and in some area has sought before. In the case of televangelists it's on a more superficial and emotional level but in real life communities can be beneficial for people in other ways.

In the livestreaming example there's that sense that someone else is present for them, along with other like-minded viewers in some way participating in that moment. I've read viewers express that sometimes they just leave streams on in the background as noise while they do other things, which ironically isn't dissimilar to the habit of old people leaving a radio or television on to (I'd imagine) have a sense others are present with them or perhaps reduce uncomfortable silence.

[tp4tissue]

People want to believe in a charismatic leader. That´s how Hitler got into power

No, that is not how Hitler came to power.

<Shortest version>

Germany was defeated in WWI.

United States and (other nations) wanted to cut up Germany essentially TO RULE.

This was Imperialism. ONLY PROBLEM, Imperialism only works against a thoroughly unsophisticated target (British vs Indians). Even then, you can't Rule over an educated foreign population forever, it's impossible. The command and deploy latency for an occupying force could never suppress their native rebel population indefinitely.

The **** Treaty forced Germany to pay reparations which would make economic independence impossible, fundamentally making Germany a Slave state. 

The population saw no way out of this, except more War.  It didn't have to be Hitler, it could have been ANYONE who said Fvk-This-Shii...

Someone beat you up on the play ground, regardless of who started it or who did what,  IF the winner proceeds to take all the loser's stuff essentially FOREVER, and also Not allow the loser to ever Work out, or get Stronger or Grow UP,  What is the Loser to do Except KEEP FIGHTING.

The winner could at that point KILL the loser, that's how OLD imperialism did it, but genocide doesn't look good, and on the large scale it always bounces back because you can't send an occupying force faster than the local can repopulate to form a rebel army..  AND even if you do commit Genocide successfully (as America did against American Indians), that occupying force will just eventually rebel against the parent nation and declare independence. < this always happens so what's the point of imperialism, The British might as well have just bought corn from the Indians , because now they buy it from the Americans who were once British and (other immigrants). In the end, it's just corn, ya get corn. >

Finally at the end of WWII, Nooqular weapons were also achieved by the Soviet Union ensuring mutual destruction for ALL, and BAM, WORLD PEACE ACHIEVED..

So in reality, the Feather in the cap of wurld-Peace was a Soviet Union Effort.

There are Crazed fvk ups in every country who are too dim to realize the big picture. Luckily it didn't end up as they wanted.

The lessons are:

Nations are merely Geographical consequences, and the latency that geography imposes on the living population.

You can't enslave forever

<best recent example, we thought we could enslave animals forever, BAM Coronavirus, Climate Change, Australia burns down and these are just dumb animals.>

[Tym]

I really want to take that photo and edit Ivan's old profile picture over the top. But I am much too lazy.