A specific scene

While reading "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep", I started wondering why do people follow the empathy box. This device is used for following Mercer. Is this showing that Mercerism is a cult? People would blindly follow this figure to go up a hill and then possibly get hurt by some unseen force. There are reports of people dying of heart attacks and yet people still use the empathy box. It should be seen as something hazardous or it could be viewed as a new gateway drug to help people to move forward.