notlangley
I think your post reference the cult mentality is spot on. Bassa have a central hard core group of extremists. I was in PATCO (US air traffic controllers union) when we went on strike in 1983. We were all made to believe that we had the moral high ground and that the government would cave at the chaos we would cause to the US airlines.
We believed what we were told because we wanted to believe what we were being told by the union. As you know it all went horribly wrong and the controllers that didn't go back to work in 48 hours were all dismissed. We still were told that we would win and believed it for a while.
When you are involved in something you feel passionately about you believe anything you are told that agrees with your position. I think that is where the hard core militants are right now.