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Devotion blinds us to imperfections so that we can easily look past them, essentially a squelching of cognitive dissonance. This is precisely the Trump cult dynamic, but its roots are, at least partly, in music and sports fandom, as well as in religious evangelism. You don't necessarily need to be a fan or follower to intensely engage. I was a Rush fan in my teens, but didn't like any of their material after 1981 and stopped following them. Now I like watching videos of their performances on the current tour. But I'm not a fan, and still don't like many of their songs. I admired Neil Peart, but still think his lyrics needed lots of editing--more than Geddy Lee was doing by making them work as a vocal. But political devotion is dangerous, with its implications extending beyond the performance and the fandom, such that people are dying from that blind devotion, yet causes no suffering in the followers themselves, and in the arts, less doubt in the artists about the quality of the work (and its evolution). But doubt and insecurity is not a strength once you have loyal fans, as you a feel a duty to thank them for their patronage. It can become a kind of hamster wheel without philosophical reflection about how it affects people's lives, including your own because of the penitential for burnout. The artist sometimes has a duty to disappoint for the sake of creative experimentation and curiosity, but a president doesn't have an option to experiment because it can put people in danger. A dictator doesn't have to be concerned with life or death because blind devotion to ideology does all the work. But it (usually) does end when you yourself actually feel pain, but there will always be diehards, devoted to blind devotion or sunk costs. In music, using the Rush example, you don't need any devotion to be entertained at some level, but when it becomes obsessive, with no spiritual enrichment or meaning, or you see it negatively affecting those around you, it's time to look at the blind devotion.

Excerpt Library (Sociology):  Discuss blind devotion in religion, politics, and in music and sports fandom