That’s not only allusion to cryptocracy.  Another Lord, the cabal’s chief, tells his fellow mind-manipulators:

The media controls behavior.  Do you know what that means?  We control how people act.  If we want the masses excited about something, all we have to do is tell stories.  These stories feed into popular beliefs.  You know, if people believe the end of the world is near, then we can help them to continue to believe that, for years to come.  If we want to preserve our way of life, it is simple.  We must retain control.  Symbolically, we test our control methods now and then in sacred acts.  And through such acts, we remind those around us that to be sacred is to be secret.  Let this tape be a symbol of our power, that we are truly to be feared, and that we are truly untouched, and that the minds of this city are easily and forever broken.

Elsewhere, the same Lord says:

The people always have great fear!  We just remind them of it.  We must always find ways to keep the Southern Valley simpletons on the edge of hysteria, Stevens.  And always, we must mythologize and demonize.

I’m reminded of this passage from Mencken’s Notes on Democracy: “Public Opinion, in its raw state, gushes out in the immemorial form of the mob’s fears.  It is piped to central factories, and there it is flavoured and coloured, and put into cans.”

There’s something interesting about Lords’ locale.  When it’s not subjected to torrential rain, Bakersfield is a dusty, dry place.  Civilization began in a desert, or more accurately, near one.  It might be a stretch to say that it was there the divisions of lord/slave, powerful/weak, leader/follower began, but they must’ve deepen there, became more rigid, more insurmountable.  And while myths and demons weren’t born in Mesopotamia and subsequent desert settlements, it’s there they were recorded and canonized, and where their fascination and fear drove the construction of temples and the rise of priest classes.

And the Lords’ predilection for boys and sadistic sex is no less primeval.  I read somewhere that the act of circumcision was an ancient reminder to young males of who the boss is.  What more effective and intimate channel to intimidate and co-opt potential rivals than sex?  Sex plays can play another role in powerful cults.  It binds the members together.  The bonds can be intimate, and also darker: photographs of debauchery can yield material for keeping the brethren in line and unified.  Consider Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut.

I’m looking forward to reading Lords: Part Two and learning more about the Lords of Bakersfield from Nick Belardes.