Why did these men happen to be dominant Extroverted Intuitives and what does this tell us about Extroverted Intuition. Is it merely a coincidence that such behavior happened to be acted out by those two ENPs?
Yes.
I would think not. Ne, as I described in my ENTP profile easily adapts to the Intuitive patterns shared by the external environment. Thus because ENTPs are strongly in tune with the external perception itself, and perception itself is malleable, they can easily manipulate the external perceptions dressing them in any form they need them to be in. They naturally identify with the 'spirit of the time' and zestfully merge with it.
The bold part is where you start to go off base. But I think on the other parts you're half-right.
In my experience, it is true that ENPs are relatively in-tune with the external perceptions of themselves and people at large -- but merging with those perceptions? No way. Mocking it, maybe.
Just speaking for myself: I
am (generally) aware of how people perceive me, and I do manipulate it to my own ends. But that is
not something I get kicks out of -- the most I do is construct an eccentric albeit competent aura so that people will leave me the fuck alone and not be too shocked by whatever outlandish things I think appropriate to say or do (which are usually just bizarre social experiments I conduct to study other people). Maintaining this kind of image takes minimal effort.
Furthermore, unless a person is autistic or something, I don't think this is at all unique to ENPs. Most people, consciously or not, attempt to portray an image that suits their perceptions of themselves. Even you have a picture of freaking Spinoza as your avatar, no?
The ENFP likely will embody the popular sentiments with a great sense of inner personal conviction appealing to the individual (Fi as slave to Ne), yet in reality there is nothing individualistic about what they said. It is means to the end of enticing the masses. The idea is radically collectivist almost by the essence of itself.
The ENFPs I've known have embraced extremely unpopular ideas because their inner conviction easily trumps their need to "entice the masses."
ENTP on the other hand will perceive the external situation as means to the end of achieving his impersonal goals. Much like the great Machiavelli. Religion is very attractive to both types as it offers ample opportunities to influence the masses and make a name for oneself. As religion is often identified with orthodoxy, and conventional society identifies virtue with orthodoxy itself. Thus to be normal and to be good mean the same thing without a doubt here.
Well, I can be sort of Machiavellian, but in general I just don't care enough to embrace something I don't care about just to impress or control people. In fact, I don't find that impressing people or controlling people is in any way something I'm motivated to do.
Any other ENP experiences and why these types gravitate towards organized religion. It should be noted that this has nothing to do with pursuing morality or higher purpose. It is all about exploiting the religious orthodoxy to appease one's vanity. Personal beliefs and ambitions are of ancillary importance to making an impact in the external world.
No, no, no, no. There are so many things wrong with this I don't even know where to start.
First of all, I hate orthodoxy. Second of all, I hate religion. I'm philosophically agnostic, but in practice an atheist. Third, I
hate orthodoxy. And I flaunt this attitude as much as I can.
Like I said above, I probably flaunt this in part because it makes people think I'm weird enough that they just stop trying to properly socialize me... But also because I personally find it funny.
Furthermore, I'd much rather gain recognition by genuinely earning it, rather than simply manipulating preexisting social structures and duping people into believing I'm more important than I really am. In fact, this whole discussion that it is some kind of fundamental drive for ENPs to live off the recognition of others is extremely strange -- I don't really care, as long as I have the opportunity to do what I want. It's true that I portray myself in a certain way (like most other human beings), but I do it for the opposite reason of gaining recognition: I want to minimize the arbitrary social demands placed upon me so I can say and behave as I please without any expectations placed upon me. It's mostly about escaping human-constructed control.
This reminds me of an old Seinfeld scene that sums up my thoughts perfectly:
YouTube - Kramer - Marriage is a man made prison
I, personally, think you're vastly underestimating the Ne need to be free to follow their own creative impulses without society's harassment. In my experience, personal beliefs and ambitions
are not secondary to making a contrived impact on society at large. And the idea of shirking beliefs in order to satisfy some vain need for attention and impact is one that I find extremely abhorrent, and the implication you make that this is something corollary to the ENP existence is somewhat insulting.
And none of this is out of line from the (admittedly few) ENPs I know.