As I have always felt like a bit of a weirdo and outcast, discovering MBTI in my early 20’s was a bit of a revelation. I discovered it though a thread on the old, long dead, Blake’s 7 fan forum Lysator, in which someone had tried to assign MBTI temperament types to the main characters in the series. I had not heard of such a thing before and as they had linked to a test, intrigued, I decided to try it.
This first test assigned me the type INTP, which I found pretty flattering, not least that it was the same type as B7’s Kerr Avon, who was my favourite character, and Red Dwarf’s Arnold J Rimmer, another of my favourite characters, (go figure!) it was also considered extremely rare, maybe only 1% of the population, and most likely to be male.
MBTI or in full, the Myers / Briggs Temperament Indicator has received something of a bad press recently, being called pseudo science and “a newspaper horoscope for people who don’t believe in newspaper horoscopes” but I’m not entirely convinced this is the case. If this was the case, it would certainly not be taken as seriously as it is by human resource managers and data mining / customer research operations such as Cambridge Analytica.
Cambridge Analytica, co-founded by alt-right businessman, former Breitbart editor and Trump right-hand man Steve Bannon, used the legitimate government funded academic research of Michel Kosinski and the University of Cambridge’s Psychometric department to target users with fake news and propaganda pushing a right-wing agenda. This led to questions being asked about whether this influenced the election of Donald Trump and even the Brexit campaign. This data was used without the users permission, and was a misuse of government funded psychometric research.
Although this story hit the main-stream press, it was never really explained how exactly taking part in an online ‘personality test’ allowed users to be targeted with tailored propaganda. These novelty personality tests in themselves are unrelated to MBTI, but in allowing the test access to their Facebook profiles, Cambridge Analytica’s algorithms were able to analyse everything from Facebook ‘likes’, comments posted, and status updates and make a very good, informed guess on the users political affiliations. The irony is that this was based on many years of government funded research carried out by Cambridge University’s psychometrics department and should not have been misused like this.
Until recently, you could check out what your profile says about you by logging into Cambridge University’s “Apply Magic Sauce” website. The Facebook link is disabled now, but you can still use your Twitter or plain text (200 words minimum) and let yourself be analysed. One of the things it will try to guess, as well as your Big 5 personality type and your psychological gender, is your MBTI (Jungian) personality type. It consistently types me as INTP, so it seems fairly reliable. I think that this is proof in itself that MBTI is not a triviality. When the Facebook link was active, it was able to discern everything from your religion, political affiliation, and even your IQ and gender just by things you had “liked” on Facebook, and the kinds of words and language you use in your everyday interactions. Even tho in my case I found a few of these guesses well off the mark, (it seems to think I’m a Mormon, tho this might have something to do with my Peeb background and the language I use, plus it’s never sure of my gender, but then, neither am I!) it must be reliable enough to invest in. In the wrong hands, that could be a very dangerous tool.
This has led to to wonder if the people who are trying to debunk MBTI as mumbo-jumbo are trying to misdirect people into downplaying it’s power to influence public opinion and manipulate election results. For example, the SJ or “Guardian” type are security seeking individuals who are the most common MBTI group. As they are by nature hard-working traditionalists who dislike change, they are easily coaxed into supporting conservative agendas. The SP type, the second most common group is more easily influenced by fashion fads, and as well as being more artistic and expressive, is more likely to be influenced by progressive politics, but are also more likely to act irresponsibly. These may look like wild generalisations, and maybe they are. There is no room for nuance. When you realise that groups can be manipulated that easily, just like herds of sheep, you realise that MBTI can be weaponised, and I think that it clearly what has been happening lately.
So is MBTI really a ‘pseudoscience’ and no more reliable than horoscopes? It certainly doesn’t look that way to me, otherwise Cambridge University would not have put so much time and public money in studying it. I have certainly found it useful myself in understanding both myself and my interactions with other people, and why I find it hard to fit in sometimes because of my interests and introverted personality type. But as a tool, like any other tool, it can be both used and abused.
You can have a play around with Apply Magic Sauce, to find out what your e-mails say about you right here..
I was out at the Carnival a few weeks ago, when I was unfortunate enough to run into a man who I had had a few problems with in the past. This man had previously been to the music community project I run, and whist I was kind and tolerant of him for a while, it became obvious that he was a narcissist and wanted everything to revolve around him. As an older man, in his 60’s, he took me for “fair game” and someone who could be bullied, and as his behaviour escalated, I realised I’d have to get the local police community support officer to back me up. The guy actually nearly had the project shut down because of shoplifting and bringing his booty back to the youth centre, and smoking marijuana on the premises. This of course, was a great laugh to him. Some people actually stopped coming because he frightened them away with his outbursts. Once he was barred, I didn’t see him around for months, which was great, it was peaceful again and we could get on with making music and having fun again without having to worry about this belligerent and egotistical idiot ruining things for everyone.
No having seen him for months, I was surprised to see him out at the carnival, and I at first didn’t know whether to speak to him. Not speaking would cause him to say I was “stuck up”, so I thought that I should at least acknowledge him. I’d heard he’d become a “Born Again Christian”, which I doubted as he was such a serious stoner, but I thought I’d give him the benefit of the doubt. Perhaps he’d cleaned up? Bad mistake. I didn’t really expect him to do anything more that grunt at me, but what he actually did was a huge shock. “I live in Christ, and Christ lives in me!” He shouted, “I don’t need to be on the BBC’s (sic) gravy train, I live in the Lord!” (this was an erroneous reference to Britain’s Got Talent) He continued lambasting me and calling me all the names under the sun (arsehole was one of them) then laying into me regarding my costume, I had worn my Star Trek uniform to the carnival, and this apparently made me a sinner of the lowest degree, “Star Trek won’t save you, I’m saved, I live in Christ!” He continued rambling, obviously completely out of his tree and drawing an audience.
This objection to Star Trek by fundie christians I’ve come across before, as they perceive it as being, not a thoughtful and well-written Sci-Fi entertainment show, but a devilish false religion. Hearing it from this guy, an old stoner who’s in the last been known to make passes at under aged kids and rant drunkenly in the street just makes me think he’s finally met his “people” some group of bigots who’ll encourage his crazy behaviour and deem it “godly”. This is not without reason. Our town hosted a well-supported LGBTQIA Pride event in the summer, and in the run up to it, this guy was threatening to go there to “harass the queers and bum boys”. Now, for any “normal” person, this might seem like unacceptable behaviour, but to certain vocal minorities if the so-called “Christian” church, it’s actively encouraged.
I have had dealings with these kinds of people, nay, men before. Sure, there are bigoted and angry women, but nothing comes close to the “foaming at the mouth with righteous anger” acted out by these bitter menfolk. Growing up with the Plymouth / Open Brethren I saw some crazy outbursts, usually aimed at single mothers or their children, but I have also seem similar crazy attention seeking behaviour among other denominations, especially the evangelicals, who seem to be influenced by a lot of superstition and American propaganda. A while back, I sat and silently listened to the conversation two late middle-aged men were having at a local church community centre. They seemed to be of the mindset that it was terrible that Britain had been disarmed and that the only way to stop bad guns with guns, was to have good guys with guns. They seemed really sold on the American far-right NRA rhetoric, and were trying to apply it to our country. (This was a few months before the murder of MP Jo Cox) When I did finally challenge them about it, they told me that I’d be a good prize for a Muslim rapist. Which is can awful thing to say about anybody.
Another local character and supposed “Christian” is a Neo Nazi who uses his supposed Christianity to justify his racism, homophobia and misogyny. He is particularly fond of rioting, demonstrations and beating his children. He justifies himself biblically, and has managed to ingratiate himself into several christian meetings, despite everyone knowing who he is, and how dangerous he is. There are several other race-baiting Christian nationalists with similar beliefs, they tend to flock together and back each other up, but this guy is by far the worst, and he’s infamous for it. He’s especially well known for getting married to a disabled woman who he physically abused, landing her in hospital less than three weeks after their marriage. This conflation of being a Christian with being a white nationalist is especially confusing when you consider that Jesus was a middle-eastern Jew and highly unlikely to have been an Aryan. The typical Britain First raving nutbar might not be religious, attend church, and might actually be atheist, but they associate with nominal Christianity because they associate it with a vague notion of “Britishness”, just as they are likely to conflate anyone with darker skin than them with being a Muslim, therefore dangerous, even if they are Baha’i, Sikh, Jewish or even another Christian. These angry men are by far the most divisive and instead of reasonable discourse, just think shouting and violence will solve everything.
There are several angry and spiteful pastors who obviously attract an angry and spiteful following. One is the leader of the famous “Faithful Word” baptist church, Pastor Steven Anderson. He is a self-righteous “biblical partriarch” who has about ten children (I’m guessing he’s Quiverfull although he doesn’t promote himself as a follower of this cult) by a submissive and sheepish wife Szuszanna. The BBC made a documentary about him a year or so back called “America’s Hate Preachers” which profiles some of his more outrageous sermons, including his call for homosexuals to be murdered, and a prayer vigil he held for Obama to die and go to hell. He’s openly celebrated the massacre at Orlando’s Pulse nightclub and the Bataclan massacre in Paris saying that the victims were paedophiles and Satanists who deserved to die. When challenged onscreen about beating his wife and children, he answered that it “would be a sin not to”. Like most sects who believe in male headship, this justification of domestic violence as “godly discipline” is rife in white, Protestant communities, with some authors, like the infamous Debi and Michael Pearl, publishing manuals on how to carry out the most physical and emotional abuse on their disobedient and worldly wives and children and but leaving the fewest visible marks. They are entirely of the conviction that the Bible tells them to beat their families into submission, despite Jesus never promoting violence and child abuse. Not all are white tho of course, famous prosperity preacher Creflo Dollar also came under the spotlight for punching and choking his daughter, then aged 15, who called 911 on him.
The other celebrity pastor popular with the ranting, angry macho men is a strange character called Todd Bentley, of the Florida Lakeland revival. He is heavily bearded and tattooed head to foot, and used to have a sideline as a wannabe wrestler, which of course makes him all the more attractive. More worryingly, he promotes violence and physical assault in his sermons, often with the intention of “healing”, which is quite frankly ridiculous. Some of the things he’s bragged about from the pulpit is curing an Asian man’s toothache by punching his tooth out, kicking an elderly woman on the face, and “leg-dropping” a pastor, claiming that the Holy Spirit told him to do it. His followers are biker types, hard rock fans and WWE fans, who actually find this dangerous doctrine amusing, and see him as “one of the boys”, I can see why this appeals when a lot of christian sects condemn tattoos and rock music, so seeing a pastor “owning” it is revolutionary. It’s a shame he’s such a bad ‘un. Mr Bentley has a criminal record, for sexually abusing a young boy, and assaulting his own mother, so quite how this ties in with their “homophobia” and obsession with liberals being paedophiles is beyond me. I suppose they could justify the elder abuse if they consider his mother to be “disobedient” and “worldly”. He’s also had numerous extra marital affairs with women from his worship team, which make him a hypocrite of the highest order.
These pastors, and others like them make the Westboro Baptist look like a humorous self-parody, which I feel that have become since the death of their patriarch Fred Phelps. These angry and violent men are no longer confined to America. (Thanks to some sensible action by then home secretary Theresa May, both Bentley and Anderson are banned from the UK) Too much American evangelical propaganda is being consumed in the UK which promotes the false idea of “moral decline” and places the blame squarely on “Feminazis”, “queers” “Marxists” and “coloured” folks. It’s obvious why the disenfranchised white working class man, expecting a job for life, a sexy and submissive wife to make them sandwiches and dozens of adoring God fearing kids, feel cheated that women aren’t so crazy about the idea and that there are actually people from other races who are probably better educated and more intelligent than they are, which comes as a huge shock when you’ve been brought up to believe otherwise. Then there is the bogeymen they construct, the fear that trans people want to molest their children and there are aborted foetuses in Pepsi Cola. One strange German “Christian” accosted a friend of my mum’s a few years back because she was wearing a tiger’s eye (semi-precious stone) ring, which he said was possessed by the devil, before forcing it from her finger and throwing it into a field. She was shocked and appalled and should rightfully have gone to the police as this was a mixture of assault and criminal damage.
Like the “friend” I met out at the carnival, these bogeymen further fuel their mania, with him it was Star Trek and the BBC which boiled his piss, but it really can be anything, ranging from the “occult” (crystals, tarot cards, Harry Potter) to more puzzling things like smelly candles (portals to hell), troll dolls and Cabbage Patch Kids (which give women abortions) Some even still believe the old stories about playing rock music backwards to get a message from the devil. Pat Robertson is good at creating these bogeymen, and has, for his sins claimed that lesbians were behind 9/11 and gay people have a magic ring to give you AIDS. The fact that even after all these years the 700 Club still has such a devoted following shows just how gullible people are. Pat Robertson’s laughing all the way to the bank. Of course, there are plenty of other wompy YouTubers monetising this paranoia, from Trumpians Jim and Lori Bakker, eager to sell their canned goods in the event of a zombie Apocalyse, (to prevent people from eating human flesh) to the rape apologists from A Voice For Men and similar sites, terrified of the matriarchy and “cultural marxist” takeover making men extinct. (especially if they are white men, they have an obsession with ‘cuckold porn’ and race-mixing leading to “white genocide”)
I tend to avoid churches now, even tho most mainstream denominations such as the Catholic Church, URC and Church of England are not into all this propaganda, and some are devoted to teaching love and acceptance, looking more progressive by the day, by welcoming LGBT people and ordaining women. Because of this, they tend to lose their cranks to the sects, the Brethren, the JW and the independent home churches who are loosely evangelical / Pentecostal / charismatic, and consume a lot of American alt-right literature and media. A few bad apples is all it takes to frighten people away from Christianity for good, so these men are doing the exact opposite of “winning souls for the Kingdom” by using angry and threatening behaviour instead of practicing the love of Christ, so in that way, you could say they are the ones doing the devil’s work. (They do like the idea that Jesus was angry and spiteful too, citing stories like the cursing of the fig tree and kicking the money changers out of the temple as examples) The only people they attract to their fellowships are more hateful and violent men, just the same as they are, making it a self-fulfilling prophesy that Christianity is a religion for angry white men, where women and LGBT folk are unwelcome. “Judge not, lest ye be judged” is obviously an irony wasted on them.
EDIT
For those of you still worried that Star Trek might be a satanic cult, I have to add this video of Vic Mignogna, who stars as Captain Kirk in the fantastic crowd funded series “Star Trek Continues” totally owning Christian protesters at an Anime/Comic Con. Vic is also a voice artist for several anime shows and was a founder member of Christian rap group “dc talk”.
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