Unpopular millenarian movements invoke hidden evil to explain failed recruitment

Evidence

First, a millenarian movement without a mass following fi nds hidden evil an attractive way to explain its lack of popularity. Surely the masses would believe if only they knew what the concealed malefactors were up to. Second, the more elusive the end-times are, the more tempting it is to blame their delay on secret evil powers, whether in the form of a capitalist conspiracy or of the minions of Satan. Conspiracism explains failure, both for organizations and for the larger world. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 69

Categorization

• QUESTION: Does this failure-explanation dynamic generalize beyond millennialism to any embattled minority worldview with correctness claims, e.g., scientific fringe groups?
• XREF: connects to: Diverse millenarian movements are unified by a shared conspiracy theory. — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 240; Millenarian movements adopt conspiracy beliefs to explain their unpopularity and delayed end-times — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy: Apocalyptic…, 69

Broader Connections

• Diverse millenarian movements are unified by a shared conspiracy theory. #corroborates (0.75) — Michael Barkun, A Culture of Conspiracy, 240