Rounding out the series, I want to go over some hypothetical scenarios to help explore the dynamic of shepherd or charlatan even further, by showing how they can show up anywhere.
Anywhere.
In the past, I've done a couple posts on "how to spot an r-strategist":
Spotting an r-strategist: Gun Edition
Spotting an r-strategist: Conflict Management
A short summary of the two is that folks who are r-strategists, or in this series referred to as charlatans, are going to be focused on status. In order to gain that status they must study and know the subject matters which are important to the social circle they want to gain influence in. The difference between them and a shepherd is what comes afterwards, in that Charlatans only learn as much as is required to gain status, where shepherds will gain understanding required to act.
With guns, for example, a charlatan will understand the specifications, ballistics charts, and slang, but won't treat firearms as a dangerous tool. They'll be the ones boasting about how good they might be, and they might even be good at the range, but then they'll tip their hand by talking about how they hope to get caught in a live-fire scenario so that they can demonstrate their prowess even further.
Most 3-gun competitions are participated in by folks like this, who see a movie like "John Wick" and want to be the badass gunman, but don't talk to hardened veterans, folks who have been shot at, and who have had to shoot and kill others. To see what I mean, reference the interview scene from the movie "Full Metal Jacket".
Full Metal Jacket - The Interviews
Some of the soldiers project an air of confidence, where others appear weak. Without the context of the rest of the film, the soldiers who were cynical or doubtful about their circumstances may come across as unpatriotic, as sissies, as men who should get out of the way of the "real" soldiers who are ready to get the job done. While the movie is fictional, the scenario isn't so much so, and I have an uncle who still struggles with nightmares and the horror of having served in Vietnam. He was not detached from reality, he wasn't there for status or to show off how great he was with a rifle, he was supposed to be there as a shepherd for people who couldn't protect their own values, their own interests. He was supposed to be there as a shepherd, and now he bears both the physical and psychological scars for his trouble.
Charlatans don't ever get that involved. They are always at a distance, always ready to jump at a moments notice, when things look like they will no longer benefit them specifically.
Locally, this was seen in the past years when a local businesswoman kept getting her apartment complex projects denied by the city. Then she got elected to the council, scared the shit out of anyone who would try to go against her, got the projects approved, and then did not seek re-election because ground had already been broken.
I started attending Mars Hill church in late 2010, and yes, that Mars Hill with Mark Driscoll. I don't know the man personally, but to give an idea of how close we were to its implosion, the man at the Everett campus who wouldn't sign the non-compete clause? He did my marriage counseling. The pastor at the Everett church who signed the letter of support for Driscoll? He had presided over my wedding. To shorten the example, Mars Hill failed to fulfill 1 Timothy 5:20, and many are still unrepentant of how they tried to protect a charlatan instead of upholding the very scriptures they claimed they adhered to.
The gun example is yet another anecdote, in talking with a co-worker who was former army but did not serve in an actual combat zone. When news of shootings popped up, his response was that he wished someone would do that when he was in a store, because then "he could play". This was also a man who would boast of his marksmanship and collection of firearms, yet also had trouble with going up stairs, smoked heavily, and was sufficiently disabled that he had an ADA parking spot. He imagined himself as some sort of heroic figure, just waiting for his opportunity, yet it was all in his head, given that he could barely walk across the factory without being in significant pain, let alone run to deal with an active shooter.
Even the church I am trying to help start now, is focused on "being international". This makes sense given, as I've talked briefly about before, Jesus Christ stated that even families would be torn apart because of following him. Family is the smallest unit of community, of a nation, and if even that is not "safe" from strife due to faith in Jesus Christ, how can anyone claim that Christianity has any sort of respect for any earthly culture or nationality? All of them are, at best, secondary in importance to Jesus Christ. If folks are truly doing this, placing no gods of heritage or blood or tradition before Jesus Christ, then the Church is naturally going to be unified through the spirit in ways which are impossible through the flesh. But if everyone is simply looking to jerk off to "look how not racist I am", because they're just paying lip service to truth, to Jesus Christ, then it will fall apart, because there are much better ways for folks to try and gain status.
The final example I'll use is with child safety seats. In 2005, a study was done which determined that children over 2 years of age saw no significant benefit to injury or survival rates because they were sitting in a car seat. So they changed the rules and said that now, in order to be "safe", they should remain rear-facing as long as possible. The most immediate impact is that the interiors of cars now needs to be gigantic even for a small family to be able to ferry their children about. Older cars that were affordable were now off-limits, everyone has to buy new cars. Oh, and the plastics that we are told in one circumstance will take thousands of years to degrade? Well the plastics they use in child safety seats degrades in five years so even if you've never been in an accident, you need to buy a new one. It's a scam from top to bottom, but it preys on the ability to "pace and lead" gullible women into spending money they don't need to, buying newer cars they don't need to, and ultimately having fewer children than they are supposed to, when their husbands cannot just keep spending spending spending to make them feel safer.
The dynamics of the shepherd and charlatan show up everywhere. In every context, in every walk of life, in every circumstance where there is someone who leads and someone who follows, there is opportunity for such leaders to be concerned with themselves or with the flock. Whether it's church, a book club, your workplace, or the political stage in front of the whole country, none are immune or inoculated to the possibility of being exploited.
We must remain vigilant. Extremists are not always our allies, even if it looks like they may share the same values. Shepherds aren't going to be a source of or seen reacting to hype. People are constantly looking at how to exploit a community, to be an opportunist, to take as much as they can while giving away as little as possible, and hoping to be far far away once the nature of the scam has fully come to light.
This whole dynamic is made even easier because of associations through the internet. People can say whatever they want, present whatever fiction they want, and it will be impossible for someone else to verify or trust that such things are true. Pictures can be faked. Videos doctored. Actors hired. Lies told. In such an environment, charlatans are more successful than ever and can reach even bigger crowds than ever.
The really good ones have also figured out how to get people's pride tied into their arbitrary online relationships. They've synthesized the feeling of "belonging", and so even when such charlatans are exposed, folks will defend them if only to sustain what they don't believe they could otherwise achieve on their own.
Yet the internet only magnifies that dynamic, it doesn't create it, because for every Vox Day or Jordan Peterson, there's a Mark Driscoll or Jim Jones to show that even in person, the same old tricks can be played, the same cons are no less effective on people, and that no area of your life is ever going to be free of people who see their own priorities as superior to yours, and will feel no shame or guilt in manipulating you so that they can achieve what they desire.
Instead, look for those around you, in meatspace, who are already taking action, who are already doing what needs to be done, who already represent the values you already hold, and then get behind and support them. Build a relationship and observe them, figure out how to help them, and see if they are protecting or sacrificing themselves. The best liars can keep it up for a while, but none can keep it up forever, especially under the pressure of performance where results are expected of them.
It's not paranoia, it's not distrust, it's simply the only honest way that someone can make their way through a world that is imperfect and filled with imperfect people.
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