So there's a video going around of a church leading their congregation in a chant of thinly veiled obscenities. I'm not going to share it, but do want to offer some thoughts on the power of the pulpit and it's temptations to corruption. Thread:
1/ Any preacher, musician or politician who's ever had some modicum of success has, at some point, found themselves in a position where they were moving a crowd towards something that was simultaneously dangerous and intoxicating.
2/ The most beautiful description I ever read of that moment was from @springsteen. brucespringsteen.net/news/2016/born… 
3/ I've felt it a few times, giving speeches and before that playing in a bar band. The endorphin surge you get, the shot to your ego, the temptation to amp up and hold that moment a little longer is a drug. You want more of the fix.
4/ But at the same time, if you have any sense of empathy, you simultaneously realize the danger of that vibe. You hold the power to drive a crowd's emotions in that moment. Your choice is how to use it. You're one bad choice away from a tragedy.
5/ The first time it happened to me was when I had inadvertently triggered a wave of anger and sadness from a room full of women after the Kavanaugh appointment; my own emotion was firing them up and the crowd was on the verge of breaking into something dark.
6/ I stopped, checked my emotion and tried to think of something to shift the mood to a more constructive place. On a moment's reflection I said, "How many of you were never involved in politics before this year?" Half the hands in the room went up.
7/ A moment of anger and hopelessness morphed into one of hope in that moment. We "gave proof of life to that ever-elusive, never completely believable us" in that moment.
8/ You can see the same recognition in that Foo Fighters video when Dave Grohl suddenly realizes theres a kid wandering in the crowd at risk of trouble. The common theme is the recognition of power and the wisdom not to abuse it.
9/ There are of course much greater masters of the form than me. Travis Scott. Springsteen. Aretha. (There are so many links to the rhythms and cadences of Black Church where "the spirit" and it's careful management to always hold the crowd at that endorphin-laden point...)
10/ But back to that other church in the news. Once you've tapped that power a few times, it's not the hardest thing to do it again. Inject a rhythm into your cadence. Add a rhyme. Alliterate. Get the crowd to chant with you.
11/ So you have that tool. Do you use it to satisfy your own, narcissistic needs or do you use it to drive people to a better place? We can all think of a [politician]/[musician]/[preacher] who has favored narcissism over our collective good.
12/ We can also think of ones who used that power to inspire us towards a greater collective love.
13/ History is replete with narcissistic demagogues who used those tools to inspire hatred and evil. From the worst villains of the 20th century to Trump to that preacher making the rounds on Twitter this morning.
14/ But we've also got examples of those who used the same tool, but had the moral fiber to drive towards love, and the empathy to recognize when that moment had the potential to slip into something darker and consciously pulled back.
15/ We are all suckers for the trick. No matter how many times you've been at the front of the room, you'll still fall for the trick if you're in the crowd, being led by a master of the form. So keep your guard up.
16/ And if you find yourself in front of a room for the first time, feeling that power rise, keep your empathy up even higher. There's a fine line between a fireworks show and a bomb. Don't cross it - and be wary of those who do. /fin
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