Wife woke today too early and got on TV to see what they put on for the insomniacs and unemployables. There was a documentary about what it is like to live as a member of a cult and then they were giving out facts, such as from the Jim Jones mass murder. Wife was surprised saying in one section they talked about the men all voluntarily ripping their genitals off. I remember Adam Carolla talking about Cults and that they exist mostly because older guys want to bang younger gals. The part of the story where the men were removing their genitals sounds perfect because once that happens, only the elders or leader would be the ones taking care of the women sexually.
So what is the difference between a cult and a religion? One story I wrote says a religion has existed for a few generations and a cult is newer. Another story says the difference is in how those leaving are treated. Leaving a cult, the theory goes, means being ostracized by those involved. I then put to this theory Islam. According to what I read, to leave Islam or apostasy, is punishable by death. It is mentioned in the Quran in different places. Being that Islam is one of the larger religions, then how people are treated is not a good system to differentiate.
I think we are going to see an increase in people joining cults in the next few years. These are going to be a very trying four years, hopefully just four. When the people in charge keep proclaiming to not trust the news or anything you call reliable, where are we going to plant our feet? We need to feel like we understand our environment. If Trump continues challenging everything we hear, what are we to do? He can turn around and make a declaration about the last sitting president and say "congress, figure out if what I said was real."
Cults make people feel like a part of something. Maybe the family structure is not strong at home for many of these individuals. The idea of falling for a modern day Jesus Christ and doing anything he commands is also intriguing for many foot soldiers. The females can get swept away believing that they are reproducing with essentially a god, and these guys love the feeling of absolute power. In high school, I wrote a research paper and I remember from then that the best way to get people away from these cults is to kidnap them and put them in deprogramming programs. This has been controversial and sometimes leads to the deprogrammers getting arrested for kidnapping. There are many strategies to deprogram but they need to start along the lines of discrediting the figure of authority, presenting contradictions (if the leader is so good, why does he do this or that), getting the person to the breaking point at which point the student starts listening voluntarily.
Be that charismatic leader in your own family. Why would your kids run to another cult leader of you yourself act like one? Promise you will get them to Valhalla, spend your time being their sun, don't be a self absorbed douche.
No comments:
Post a Comment