blog 20

In the episode Jaynestown in the series Firefly the scene in which the boy sacrifices himself for Jayne supports my argument that even though things may not be what they seem, everyone needs something to believe in. Before Stitch revealed what actually happened on that day Jayne was viewed as a hero and it gave the people of Canton hope that there were good people out there and someone cared about them. Even after the truth was revealed people still viewed Jayne as a hero because they needed something to believe in. My thesis is that even when presented with evidence that disproves a religion or belief, the majority of people will choose to remain faithful to those beliefs because having something to believe in gives people hope and people can’t survive without hope. I read an article on cults and one of the reasons people join cults is because they feel that their lives are empty and they are depressed. People join cults in order to gain some sort of feeling of fulfillment in their lives. People also join cults in order to give their lives a sense of purpose and to give them something to believe in. This relates to the episode I watched and my thesis because Jayne gave the people of Canton something to believe in much the same way cults give people something to believe in. The article also talks about how it is extremely difficult to convince people to leave cults because the teachings of the cults become engrained in their minds. This is similar to how when Jayne tried to tell them that he wasn’t a hero the people didn’t listen and continued worshiping him.