
But not just any idea ...
I need to find an idea. Some idea. I don't care if it's believable. Whether or not I even believe it personally. It may be outrageous, and only supported by the most flimsiest of evidence. I don't care.
I just need to find an idea that *you* believe in.

Once I know that you believe the idea, I win. I tell you stories that tie into it, you eat them up. It binds you to me. I tell you a select few also believe in this idea, they are now our club. Our little in group. I tell you that there's another group that are against the idea -- against *us* -- they're now the enemy. I can spin stories about them being the most dastardly set of human beings to ever walk this earth, and you agree. Down with those non-believers!
It's the best plan, feeding you the idea. Stringing you along. I don't even have to argue my case for it. Someone asks me questions about this idea, I deflect onto something else. Maybe the enemy. Maybe something totally unrelated. You don't care that I say nothing to support the idea. You already believe it, you don't have to change.
The best part is, the more people question this idea, the more I can play the victim. My critics want to silence me! Cancel me! Smear our good name through the mud! We can't have that! We need to fight!
So send me money, and we can do just that.
Do I want to destroy these people? No. I don't have to put in a single ohm of resistance against their claims. Maybe the occasional personal counterattack, deflection, whataboutism, or other logical fallacy, but actual work? That's for people who want change.
I don't want change.
I want the idea.
You see, the idea gets me money.
Your money. But only if you really believe.
You do really believe, don't you?
Sooner or later, the luster of the idea fades. Maybe enough people attack my idea so it finally falls apart under scrutiny. Maybe too many people get disinterested. You're still holding that candle for me, though, letting the hot wax from my idea singe your fingers. You don't mind at all. Even though the idea may be over, you are still bound to me.
And you know what?
I found a new idea.
Let me tell you all about it, once I cash your next check.