H smoke upthe weed9 1 point 12 hours ago To give my own answer , it 's not clear that the symbolization of abstract social forces and revolutionary struggle in individuals is necessarily a bad thing . Was it bad that the leftist American fighters in the Spanish Civil War were the 'Abraham Lincoln Brigade ' ? Is it bad that in Venezuela the revolution uses the image of Simon Bolivar ? Is it bad that Hillary Clinton has a strong support base of black people because of the image they have of Bill Clinton whereas the republican base has abandoned Jeb Bush 's attempt to use the legacy of George Bush ? ls it bad that people think Kurt Cobain is a genius whereas the countless bands that mimic him are inferior All of these are forms of a `` cult of personality ' once we remove the mysticism and propagandistic function of the words . To me , the answer is that all of these are simply ways to talk about something deeper , and thus thinking about the cult of personality ironically creates its own cult of personality in which we believe this concept has real power instead of being a TI symptom of a deeper process 