Sober Philosophy: Cult of Personality (presented by Mark)

Above paintings: Left: Lenin Proclaims Soviet Power by Vladimir Serov (1947); Right: Sermon on the Mount by Carl Bloch (1877)

"Cult of Personality" by Living Colour (5 minute music video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7xxgRUyzgs0

The term "cult of personality" probably appeared in English around 1800–1850, along with the French and German versions of the term.[10] At first, it had no political connotations, but was instead closely related to the Romanticist "cult of genius".[10] The first political use of the phrase appeared in a letter from Karl Marx to German political worker Wilhelm Blos dated to November 10, 1877:[10]

"Neither of us cares a straw of popularity. Let me cite one proof of this: such was my aversion to the personality cult [orig. Personenkultus] that at the time of the International, when plagued by numerous moves ... to accord me public honor, I never allowed one of these to enter the domain of publicity ..."[10][11]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult_of_personality

Cults of Personality in the Soviet Union (16 minute video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=99dPfjIJ5SA

If there are more than 5 participants this meeting will begin with each person having an opportunity to give a short monologue expressing their views and or questions on the topic followed by discussion using the 3-Question Format as follows:

1. Participants may only ask or answer questions but not interrupt others to make unsolicited comments.
2. One person receives 3 small hacky sacks at the beginning and becomes the first Questioner.
3. The Questioner may ask questions related to the topic or to any previous question or answer.
4. The Questioner may ask any one participant (except the person they questioned on their previous turn) up to 3 questions.
5. The questioner passes one hacky sack to the person being questioned (the Answerer) each time they ask a question.
6. The Questioner may end their turn before asking 3 questions simply by passing their remaining hacky sacks to the Answerer.
7. When the Questioner has passed all their hacky sacks to the Answerer their turn is done and the Answerer becomes the next Questioner.
8. The new Questioner may decline the opportunity to question another participant by passing all the hacky sacks to the participant to their left who then becomes the next Questioner.
9. The moderator may make adjustments to this format during the discussion.

If you have any questions about how the 3-Question Format works please put them in the comments below.