One of the finest weapons of ideological combat is the word, "And". If you take any fundamentally legitimate belief and bond it to other, less defend-able ideas within the popular media, the strength and integrity of the original idea is lessened by the union. As the additions mount up, the idea begins to dissolve, transforming under the weight of all the extra baggage until it becomes a different idea entirely. When done over time, with consistency and authority, the bonds can become so lasting, that even after the original idea's collapse, its' name is forever bound to the failure of the union. This is better than killing an idea. This guarantees that the idea will stay dead.

For example, if we start with the idea that Democracy is the best governmental form on the planet, AND then state that the best government should at least be able to take care of its elderly citizens; suddenly we are talking about "Democracy AND ElderCare".

If we then bring up that being the best, Democracy should also take care of the sick and the poor; now we are talking about "Democracy AND ElderCare AND Welfare AND Socialized-Medicine.

With little additional effort, we've further redefined "Democracy", encumbering it to include ElderCare, Welfare, Socialized-Medicine, Free-Education, Guaranteed-Employment, Fair-Housing, ...and every other financially-unmanagable social program we can think of.

Taxes skyrocket and the actual performance of all these social programs plummets. The economy teeters on the brink...

And when it inevitably collapses, we blame the fall on the "will of the people". We conclude that "Democracy" was a bad idea in the first place and carefully write tomorrow's history books so that our children will not be dumb enough to try that bad idea, ever again.

Idea Assassination 101 : The word "AND"

One of the finest weapons of ideological combat is the word, "And". If you take any fundamentally legitimate belief and bond it to other, less defend-able ideas within the popular media, the strength and integrity of the original idea is lessened by the union. As the additions mount up, the idea begins to dissolve, transforming under the weight of all the extra baggage until it becomes a different idea entirely. When done over time, with consistency and authority, the bonds can become so lasting, that even after the original idea's collapse, its' name is forever bound to the failure of the union. This is better than killing an idea. This guarantees that the idea will stay dead.

For example, if we start with the idea that Capitalism is the best economic model on the planet, AND then state that the best government should at least be able to take care of its elderly citizens; suddenly we are talking about "Capitalism AND ElderCare".

If we then bring up that being the best, Capitalism should also take care of the sick and the poor; now we are talking about "Capitalism AND ElderCare AND Welfare AND Socialized-Medicine.

With little additional effort, we've further redefined "Capitalism", appending it to include ElderCare, Welfare, Socialized-Medicine, Free-Education, Guaranteed-Employment, Fair-Housing, ...and every other social program we can think of.

Each of these additions can appear to be made in pursuit of noble and humanitarian values. Each can appear to be attempts to "improve" upon the original idea. But if the appending is handled with care and diligence, the sum of these augmentations will slowly transform the original idea of capitalism, subtly changing it into the very different idea, socialism.

In the OP's terms, the "Capitalism Worshippers" might still think they are worshiping at the "Shrine of Capitalism", but it would be the "God of Socialism" which receives belief credits for their tributes.

Idea Assassination 101 : The word "AND"

One of the finest weapons of ideological combat is the word, "And". If you take any fundamentally legitimate belief and bond it to other, less defend-able ideas within the popular media, the strength and integrity of the original idea is lessened by the union. As the additions mount up, the idea begins to dissolve, transforming under the weight of all the extra baggage until it becomes a different idea entirely. When done over time, with consistency and authority, the bonds can become so lasting, that even after the original idea's collapse, its' name is forever bound to the failure of the union. This is better than killing an idea. This guarantees that the idea will stay dead.

For example, if we start with the idea that Democracy is the best governmental form on the planet, AND then state that the best government should at least be able to take care of its elderly citizens; suddenly we are talking about "Democracy AND ElderCare".

If we then bring up that being the best, Democracy should also take care of the sick and the poor; now we are talking about "Democracy AND ElderCare AND Welfare AND Socialized-Medicine.

With little additional effort, we've further redefined "Democracy", encumbering it to include ElderCare, Welfare, Socialized-Medicine, Free-Education, Guaranteed-Employment, Fair-Housing, ...and every other financially-unmanagable social program we can think of.

Taxes skyrocket and the actual performance of all these social programs plummets. The economy teeters on the brink...

And when it inevitably collapses, we blame it the fall on the "will of the people". We conclude that "Democracy" was a bad idea in the first place and carefully write tomorrow's history books so that our children will not be dumb enough to try that bad idea, ever again.

Idea Assassination 101 : The word "AND"

One of the finest weapons of ideological combat is the word, "And". If you take any fundamentally legitimate belief and bond it to other, less defend-able ideas within the popular media, the strength and integrity of the original idea is lessened by the union. As the additions mount up, the idea begins to dissolve, transforming under the weight of all the extra baggage until it becomes a different idea entirely. When done over time, with consistency and authority, the bonds can become so lasting, that even after the original idea's collapse, its' name is forever bound to the failure of the union. This is better than killing an idea. This guarantees that the idea will stay dead.

For example, if we start with the idea that Democracy is the best governmental form on the planet, AND then state that the best government should at least be able to take care of its elderly citizens; suddenly we are talking about "Democracy AND ElderCare".

If we then bring up that being the best, Democracy should also take care of the sick and the poor; now we are talking about "Democracy AND ElderCare AND Welfare AND Socialized-Medicine.

With little additional effort, we've further redefined "Democracy", encumbering it to include ElderCare, Welfare, Socialized-Medicine, Free-Education, Guaranteed-Employment, Fair-Housing, ...and every other financially-unmanagable social program we can think of.

Taxes skyrocket and the actual performance of all these social programs plummets. The economy teeters on the brink...

And when it inevitably collapses, we blame the fall on the "will of the people". We conclude that "Democracy" was a bad idea in the first place and carefully write tomorrow's history books so that our children will not be dumb enough to try that bad idea, ever again.

Idea Assassination 101 : The word "AND"