Review our Discussion Board instructions so that your replies can shine yet again.
For this discussion board post, you have 3 options:
1. Create a cult. Perhaps start with something you’re interested in, and think of ways your knowledge about this topic could benefit others. Select a leader (you?). Establish the rules of the cult. Where will this cult live? How will you recruit followers? Why should we join?
2. Find a story about a cult (news article, memoir, short film, interview, anything) and summarize it. Next, describe the steps you could take to avoid being enlisted in this cult.
3. Select one article from Cult Recovery 101, summarize it and let us know what you learned.
Replies to classmates: See what your classmates have posted and respond to them. If they created a cult, is it convincing? If they summarized a story or an article, did you learn something new? If you read the same article, are your summaries similar or different?
51 thoughts on “Discussion Board Post 4: Cults”
I picked option number 2 and it’s about the Manson Family cult:
https://www.biography.com/news/manson-family-members
This website gave a clear understanding of who was involved with the Manson Family cult. The first five short paragraphs explained a brief history of the event that had unfolded. Charles Manson, the mastermind behind the cult was convicted of murdering 9 people and had over 100 followers. The Manson Family cult involved Charles Manson himself, Susan Atkins, Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel, and Charles Watson to name a few. As the website mentioned, each person who was involved had murdered their victims. These ranged from a Hollywood female actress, a filmmaker, and a celebrity hair stylist to mention a few. Charles Manson was able to manipulate his followers into killing people. The steps that I would take to avoid being enlisted in this cult is don’t get involved at all. I would also need to make a decision to leave the group in order to not do anything that would involve killing or hurting people. I must be aware of my surroundings and don’t take any offers. Calling the police would be the best option to avoid any potential future event that may harm someone. Don’t let anyone convince you to join. Be smart, walk away, and don’t put yourself at risk.
Hi Nicholas,
I thought Charles Manson was an evil, controlling, manipulator who ruined the lives of his followers. I agree with you in not letting anyone convince you in joining a cult.
Exactly! If someone would start talking to me about this cult. I would leave immediately.
Hi Nicholas,
I agree with removing yourself from the group to avoid being apart of anything brutal, many people don’t believe they can be pressured to do things they don’t want to do because they may not have been pushed to their limit.
Hi Nicholas, I agree with how to not involve yourself with an evil thing. Especially this whole cult thing that really allows killing people is very terrible and shouldn’t be a option for anyone because it puts them at risk.
Yes I can certainly agree I believe the steps and key details would surely be to simply not get involved at all.
Hi Nicholas
I knew about the Charles Manson cult and the fact that they had committed murder but I had not known they had killed some celebrities. I agree with how to avoid the cult as the best way to not be involved in anything is to simply ignore it like it does not exist.
I chose option 2. I am writing about David Koresh and the Branch Davidians: https://www.youtube.com/watch?app=desktop&v=4GJhsnxcsrY&t=237s
This video gave us an in-depth look at how people can get carried away and brainwashed by a cult leader known asDavid Koresh. He believed he was the messiah and the son of God. He used the Bible to entice his followers that he had supernatural powers and that God had spoken to him. He had multiple wives and had control over what his followers do, where they go, what the eat, what they wear. He was a master manipulator and deception . He became abusive to his followers and the FBI decided to raid the compound in 1993. He and his followers decided that they were not going to surrender and ended their lives in a flame of fire. Approximately he and 76 of his followers ended up dying.
That is horrible. Which lead to a huge tragedy. It shows how manipulating he was and how people fall for it. Its so sad.
Hello Mikhail, it is unbelievable that cult leaders like David Koresh can get away and brainwash people. Furthermore, it’s a real same that people who entered this type of cult looked at their leader as a savior. I really did learn something new when you mentioned that the cult leader and his followers rather die in flames than surrender.
This is so sad he got so many people killed with him or made them die with him, because they do as he says so if chose not to surrender they aslo did the same. The fact that we was able to convince or manipulate so many people to believe him and listen to him is terrible.
Wow. This is so sad. It reminds me of a Netflix series I’ve been watching called “Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt” you guys should watch it.
Hi Mikhail, I’m lost for words how this one person really did this terrible thing in society. it’s really awful that those people really died by his hand and I just hope that there aren’t people like him that cause harm to others.
Hi Mikhail
This was interesting to read as I have never heard of this before. This is really tragic that someone had so much control over people that they were essentially his puppets dictating their every move. The fact that he had so much control over them that he made them end their own life by burning to death is horrible.
The steps that I would take to avoid being enlisted in this cult are: Don’t believe everything I hear, be vigilant in who I surround myself with. Just be extremely alert and careful not to let anyone control my mind.
Disclaimer!!! This is just an imagination, and I’m not planning to actually make this a real thing.
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First of all, my cult would be called Atena (read from behind is my name). As in my opinion symbolism can be a very important part of the cult. Of course, I would be the leader. Ill convince people that I have a power from the mystical God of heaven called “Ten” who send me here to connect them with him. As only I have the power to do that.
The place where my cult would be located is very simple. Back in Poland I have a huge forest which is a very private space that has cameras all around, so no one would be able to come or leave without noticing it. I would built there a huge building, most of it would be underground and just a little place over it. The place underneath would look like heaven, with a lot of paintings of our God Ten. There would be special rooms. Which can heal people from whatever they suffer.
Everyone who joins the cult would have to change their name (it could only be something that defines positive thoughts). There would be rules which members would have to obey but they will benefit from it.
The whole philosophy is to give everything you have to our cult, and stop being who you were before. It would benefit you- changing who you are for better (according to your health and mentality). The cult will provide you money for basic things you need, as our god Ten says that “you don’t need material things to be happy and healthy, it’s all in your mind”. You will live in our building that will have everything you need. The only connections you would have is with people from this community. As people who are not in Atena’s cult are not our God’s friends.
When you sacrifice you before life, our God would put you in a state of mind that you have never been before. You will feel blessed and see the world totally different than you see it now.
There would be some levels that will make you come closer and closer to our God Ten. You will have to achieve them slowly. To become healthy and mentally connected to God
There would be events every day, where the leader connects you with God. But only by achieving some levels you would be able to do that.
Basically, this is just an idea which I will never want to make real. However, if I had to find people to join this cult. I would look for unhappy people, people who are sick. I would start going to hospitals, public places and look for people who are crying or see that they are suffering. I would be very friendly as I want them to join this organization. When they start trusting me, I would tell them that I was send especially for them and tell them about the cult. People who are sick or on the edge are looking for some kind of help which I could provide for them. They would leave their whole lives for several reasons: for example, not be sick anymore, find peace, or if they are lost just find themselves? When they join, they must give all they money and belongings to the cult. It is easy to manipulate people and “brainwash them”, when they lifes are falling apart. Because they will desperately look for help. By doing this as a leader I would have all their money and have my separate life besides being the “cult leader”.
And this is all about my idea of cult.
*And one more thing, everyone who joins the cult will have to sign documents that they are doing that because they want to, and if they would like to leave, they won’t have any money back or be able to sue me.
( I actually had a great time imagining my own cult) 😂
Hi Aneta, after reading your extremely detailed post, I find it very convincing because it seems that your cult is positive and you truly want to reach out to others who are unhappy. The way you describe the forest and where you want to build is fascinating. You really want to create a safe heaven for a lot of people.
hey Aneta, your cult seems pretty convincing because its all positive its about helping and trying to make people who are sad happy. i think that it would be mostly convincing to a lot of sad people and people who hate their lives because they are willing to give it up for a new and better life or something that can benefit them.
I like your idea of a cult. very motivating and positive. Nice work Atena.
Hey Aneta! Your cult is really interesting and very well explained. I feel like a cult like this probably already exists somewhere because it is based on the faith of a God. This cult does not seem so bad because it does want the followers to have a healthy connection to God, although having to change your name and getting rid of your previous life can be a bit uncomfortable.
Hello Aneta!!
I enjoy reading posts. It’s was exciting and fun. However, I found you were so right. When people are in desperate situations, they are straightforwardly accessible “brainwashed.” Mainly they will never pay attention to what’s going on; all they want is help.
Wow I was all into this lol I was super saddened when I realized your response was coming to a close , it was extremely detailed for starters and I enjoyed the fact that your cult seemed very inspirational and positive unlike what our minds often go to when we first hear the word cult
Hello Aneta, I find your cult fascinating since you believe you come from a divine being and have to find others and connect with them.
i chose option 2. Its about Teresa’s escape from brutal satanic cult and bizarre rituals.
https://youtu.be/c2ioRBNriG8
This video is about how a young girl called Teresa was able to escape from this satanic cult which seems like her grandmother was the leader. In this cult they sacrifice little kids all ages starting from newborns, sexual abuse on little kids, and making them have sex with animals. and so many horrible things. She was also forced by her grandma to sleep with multiple men on ceremonies and rituals, up to 10-20 men even 30 on bigger ceremonies. this is really terrifying especially because its her own grandma doing these things to her making her and her do these things. they would drug her and when she got pregnant they would abort the baby and her grandma would make her eat the fetus. Most people join or chose to join cults them selves but she was forced and there maybe lots of other people in situations like hers, and to be honest it is quite hard to escape from because image living with someone doing these things to you, you have no where to go like Teresa said in the video she tried to escape multiple times but she got caught but some how she was able to escape from that place.She says she taught it was normal. it started at a young age and she didn’t have anything to compare it to, she didn’t like it but she didn’t thing what they were doing was wrong she was really young.If someone was to tell me to join this cult i would look at them like there crazy i would never join i would distance my self from this person. and if i was in a situation like Teresa i would try to escape as she did or call the police.
Hey Kadiatou,
It’s hard to imagine someone’s grandmother being a cult leader, especially in a satanic cult that involves bizarre rituals. I found it surprising and shocking. As I read more and more about this cult it was absolutely horrendous and disturbing that they would do such things to little kids. It makes me sick to my stomach. People who do things like that should spend life in prison without the possibility of parole. I definitely agree with what you said about how you would look at them crazy. I would also notify the police and stay far far away just like you said. Overall great response.
Women Of Worth & Power
Women Of worth & Power strives to Innovate, Entertain and Educate women who falter in self-confidence, motivation, and power.
Founder and President: Her. Excellency Devonie Cardi Hill
Rules:
*We do not tolerate self and internal discrimination
*Members must be reliable and outgoing
*To be initiated into the cult you must have a GPA between 3.0 – 4.0 and above
*Members are not allowed to wear pants
*Members must report to secret society meeting at private located every 3rd Wednesday in a month.
Are you a woman searching for another sister’s shoulder to lean on? Are you tired of being told what you can and cannot do as a woman? Are you tired of being told what your ‘woman’ should look like? Look and search no more! Join the WW&P cult today!
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Hey Devonie! I really like your cult idea and I can see this cult as a positive life improvement as it focuses on finding motivation, power, and self-confidence. Unlike other cults that make people be a part of a suicide pact, this just requires simple rules that don’t involve in harming anyone.
hello kelly
I like the confidence in your thought. You analyze your idea and give your point. you
Hello Devonie
I believe this is a self-made cult. but I love the content of this article. its talks about women and power. Rules of things to be fellow as cult members. it’s beautiful to
Certainly, I hold that we as humans are one with nature, and therefore we must learn to coexist peacefully. My cult would be based on the fact that we were created to live harmoniously in nature. The cult would be named Naturo, from nature. The followers would live in the forest and have no relations with the outside world. They would find food and clothes from the trees and water from the free-flowing rivers. They would be one with the creatures and live harmoniously as children of the same mother, Mother Earth. I, as the leader, would recruit followers by convincing people that we were solely created to live and exist in nature. Wouldn’t you want to be one with nature and share in the joys and wonders of the world freely available to humans? The author of the article “How to Start a Cult,” published in the Science of People, discusses Osho, a spiritual guru who founded a cult in which members practiced permissive sexual activities, participated in unusual chanting meditations, and only wore sunset hues. According to the story, Osho’s disciples were highly professional urbanites with a global education who lived on a ranch with actual city infrastructure. By fostering my desire to belong, being aggressive, critically challenging whatever I’m taught, and having self-confidence, I would avoid being enrolled in this cult. When it comes to staying in or joining a cult, the author of the article “Who Joins Cults and Why,” published in Cult Recovery 101, thinks that no particular sort of person is more prone than another, and that personal susceptibility is more important than type of personality. The majority of people are convinced to join cults when they are most vulnerable, according to the article. This article has taught me that some factors, such as a need to belong and a lack of assertiveness, increase attraction to a cultic process. In addition, when confronted with such challenges, I must be watchful and stand firm.
My cult would be based on self-love. I would be the cult leader and will name it “Amor Propio,” which is self-love in Spanish. In this cult, followers will learn how to love themselves and accept their every feature and every flaw they have. They would learn to erase any past stereotypical beauty standards and focus on being comfortable in their own body. They will also learn to appreciate simple routines in their daily life such as having the strength to get out of bed, cooking a healthy meal, and creating a safe and healthy environment. The rule of the cult is to never criticize yours or another person’s appearance, never idolize hurtful beauty standards, and never view yourself as lesser than. My cult would live in a complex apartment, the only residents in the apartment complex would be followers of my cult and even any Maintenance workers would have to be a part of the cult. I would recruit followers by telling people they can be free from societies harsh beauty and life standards, and they will be able to live a more fruitful and loving life. I would also promise them that their lives will change drastically with learning the power of self-love. People should join because it is not harming people and it can improve your quality of life as self-love truly makes you appreciate yourself more.
Hey Kelly,
Interesting cult. I like the idea of self-love. Self-love is a very powerful thing and can change someone’s life around for the better. By accepting your emotions and putting your well-being first you are setting yourself up for success. Furthermore, self-love can also motivate you to make healthy choices in life and can even boost your self-esteem making you more confident. Overall, good cult.
Hello Kelly, I really like this cult idea. Self-love is very important. It is also very important for people to learn how to love and especially accept themselves, and I feel like this should be taught starting at a young age. I also like the idea of the members living in complex apartments.
hello kelly
I like the confidence in your thought. You analyze your idea and give your point. you
Wow. I would love to join your cult, Kelly! Self-love is something we very much need nowadays. As we live in a world full of stereotypes and toxic environment. This would be the safe place. Loving yourself is something that we need in order to love someone else (in my opinion). It would be also a great opportunity for self-growth.
Hey Kelly, this cult should be universal. Self-love is the best love.
One article from Cult Recovery 101 I read was “Post-Cult After Effects”. I found the article very interesting and some of the after-effects mentioned in the article were shocking. The article talks about the emotions of people and how they feel after leaving a cult. It also mentions that the symptoms vary from person to person. To many people the experience is traumatic. Many individuals have different symptoms when leaving a cult. For example, one may feel relieved after leaving the group or may feel grief due to the loss of friendship or sense of belonging. The article lists mainly negative side effects and focuses on the symptoms of people after they have exited the cult. Some of the other negative effects and symptoms include crying, disbelief, denial, self-pity, and low self-esteem. In rare cases there are people who have fear or hostility reactions and say things like “I don’t know if I can live without my group.” Some even can’t handle it anymore and return back to their cult. At the end of the article, it mentions that these symptoms will go away after a period of time or several months. For many people, it takes a while to get to the acceptance stage and in the worst-case scenario, the symptoms will last a longer amount of time.
Hello!
Interesting topic. Yes, I also read this article. The article carries essential information to know about how an individual who came out from the cults might feel.
“Trauma and Recovery(cult, brainwashing)” by Judith Lewis Herman, M.D, is about how victims are constantly blamed just to seek an explanation for the crimes caused by the perpetrator. Victims are constantly asked “why didn’t you leave?” or “why didn’t you call for help?” blaming them for staying or even assuming that they caused it or deserved it. This leads to false diagnosis.
An example explained in the article is the 1964 study “The wife beater’s wife.” The researchers found that when they spoke with the women, they perceived them as “aggressive” or “passive”. But when the researchers spoke with the men, the men chose not to speak. “Having identified the women’s personality disorders as the source of the problem, these clinicians set out to “treat” them. In one case they managed to persuade the wife that she was provoking the violence, and they showed her how to mend her ways. When she no longer sought help from her teenage son to protect herself from beatings and no longer refused to submit to sex on demand, even when her husband was drunk and aggressive, her treatment was judged a success.”
Victims are seen as the way they act after the event. “Concepts of personality organization developed under ordinary circumstances are applied to victims, without any understanding of the corrosion of personality that occurs under conditions of prolonged terror.” One of the diagnosis used is Post Traumatic Disorder, used not only for abuse victims but for many others. It isn’t accurate most of the time because it doesn’t acknowledge their somatic symptoms. “They are based on the prototypes of combat, disaster, and rape. In survivors of prolonged, repeated trauma, the symptom picture is often far more complex. Survivors of prolonged abuse develop characteristic personality changes, including deformations of relatedness and identity. Survivors of abuse in childhood develop similar problems with relationships and identity; in addition, they are particularly vulnerable to repeated harm, both self-inflicted and at the hands of others.”
A new name for more severe and more defined symptoms is under construction. So far the article explained Lenore Terr used Type 1 and Type 2 as a way to defer the impact of the trauma. ““Type I” trauma, from the effects of prolonged, repeated trauma, which she calls “Type II.” Her description of the Type II syndrome includes denial and psychic numbing, self-hypnosis and dissociation, and alternations between extreme passivity and outbursts of rage.”
What I learned from this article was that victims are constantly left untreated, not only because of similar cases to “The wife beater’s wife” but because there isn’t a diagnosis for them. So they’re put in a box that doesn’t care for their wounds and may lead to them coming out more scarred then treated when in treatment.
My cult would be centered in North Carolina on hundreds of acres of land in Bertie County, NC. My community would consist of former and current foster care youth, transracial, transnational, formal and informal adoptees. Because foster care youth and adoptee voices are marginalized as Queen Mother, I would offer my people a safe space to share their experiences without guilt, shame, or judgment. Members would have to attend therapy or weekly support groups, be respectful and willing to challenge local and federal government to overturn or create laws that support the children in the triad. I would use all social media platforms to recruit followers by encouraging them to join a community where they can connect, be heard and seen.
True crime story: Was Charles Mason Born to Kill documents the timeline of the Mason Family murders. Included in the documentary are former cult members, police officers and forensics psychologist questioning were Mason and his followers born to kill. Highlighting the convicted members early childhood and drawing up theories on how these members were manipulated into committing murder. Concluding that the Mason Family cult members were socially outcasts and misfits. I honestly can see how people are drawn to cults, it’s the sense of community and connection people are looking for. One way I know for sure I could avoid being enlisted in a cult is my lack of trust. I observe behavior and always question whether someone would do the same to me. It takes a while for me to open up to people so I’m not sure if a cult leader has the patience to manipulate me, besides if they do, I would have probably ghosted them by the time they came around.
Article: Trauma and Recovery (cult, brainwashing)
In the past victims of inflicted trauma for example, batter women and cult members were diagnosed with masochistic personality disorder. This disorder was later renamed self-defeating personality disorder, psychiatrists have difficulties diagnosing victims of post traumatic events. Because the range of changes in the personalities of the victims, they couldn’t diagnose them with PTSD, instead they were diagnosis with complex PTSD because the trauma was recurrent.
Hello precious, I like your cult idea. Foster care youth need more support in this country. I also like the idea of them having to attend weekly therapy or support groups. It is important to provide the mental support that the children who have been or are a part of this system need.
That is a cult that we really need! I really like your idea and the help you want to give to these people. What I also liked is the idea of therapy. Therapy can help us overcome our trauma and all the bad things we’ve been through. I’m sure that if this cult existed it would change many people life.
I chose option 3:
I picked the article from cult recovery 101, “Coming out of the Cults.” After reading this article, I found that it reports many fatal factors about leaving a cult, specifically, how most ex-cultists must deal with emotional problems, difficulties, and struggles during their reentry into normal society. Coming out of the cults could cause some ex-cultists to experience a considerable behavior change that seems to have affected the ex-cultists capacity to adapt to everyday life after cultism. Additionally, leaving a cult could cause some people to experience “loneliness.” when an individual comes out of the cult. They are forced to leave behind many strong relationships, brotherhood with common interests, and the intimacy of sharing a significant experience. This transition, in some ways, has to push them to a new start in life, making a new transitioner look for new friends in an uncomprehending or suspicious world.
A typical example is when an ex-member, a 26-year-old Valerie, a former teacher, shared her experience. She said, “ When I first came out, I went with any guy that seemed interested in me– bikers, bums. She went on, and I was even dating a drug dealer until I crashed his car on the freeway. She asserted I was never like that before.” I believe this explains to us how Valerie was so confused and lost. Concerning taking back her life together. So this is clear to us that the transition from the cult was negative to her because she explained to us how she was experiencing exceedingly terrible moments with herself building up a healthy relationship Vs. when she was in the Cults.
Furthermore, Indecisiveness is also another factor that probably an ex-cultism member might experience. After coming out of the cults, certain people cannot put together their own life. They call it in the article “Freedom is great, but it takes a lot of work.” After coming out of the cults, some people have to relearn everything based on everyday life. It is difficult for them to proceed, such as getting up every day having a plan of what they are supposed to do by day; sometimes, even with their chores, they find it hard to proceed, so they spend all their days just sleeping.
Summary of Clinical Updates on Cults
Micheal D. Langone’s “Clinical Update on Cults” is an analytic research study that has developed a Grou Psychological scale that has found similar characteristics of Cultic environments, which are critical to determining whether past experiences may harm individuals. This reflects the common characteristics of former past cultic members experiencing psychological distress. The concepts of why individuals join or leave cults and why they experience psychological distress upon leaving have not been extensively researched. However, three theories of involvement discuss the reasons for conversion and departure from cults. The model of Psychodynamic presumes that cults fulfill the unconscious necessities of people, deliberative Model, which state that individuals get involved and exit due to their cognitive evaluations; and the thought reform model, which indicates that cultist movements lure and arrest participants through high standards of mind manipulation (Langone, 1996). The Model of the integration process states that the level of deliberations is determined by the environmental manipulativeness and the level of psychological necessity.
A cult-sensitive assessment is vital during a former cult member’s psychological treatment. A cult-sensitive assessment should be conducted to understand the level to which negative emotions can be the reason for psychological stress, and there should not be a hurry in the interpretation of psychodynamics that targets existing conditions. The elements of this treatment should entail the level of understanding about mental manipulation and practice of previous cult experience, reconnection of past pre-cult experiences, active and daily psychological management, offer help in the recovery from grief and related lost social experiences such as loss of family and friends (Langone, 1996). Family members must not be ignored if they consult about the participation of a loved one in a cult. However, individuals that suffer from Satanism because of cult experiences are different, and their treatment should be aimed at developing a more realistic based self-confidence. The ritualistic abuse treatment is a controversial one and is supposed to be according to the American Psychiatric Association’s Statement on Memories of Sexual Abuse.
Reference
Langone, M. D. (1996, July). Clinical update on cults. cult recovery 101. https://cultrecovery101.com/cult-recovery-readings/clinical-update-on-cults/
The article I chose to read from Cult Recovery 101 was “On using the term Cult” by Herbert L. Rosedale and Michael D. Langone. To summarize, the article mainly explained when it is valid and appropriate to consider labeling a group as a “Cult” and the different definitional perspectives of the word and additional connotations.
The article states that according to the 1971 Compact Edition of the English Oxford Dictionary, the term “cult” originally referred to worship; Reverential homage rendered to a divine being/beings; a particular form or system of religious worship. The term has now acquired new connotations, in which are that cults are a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious and another connotation is that they are also a great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work.
The definitional perspectives of the word are that cults as dangerous, authoritarian groups, cults as culturally innovative or transcultural groups, and that cults as loosely structured protoreligions.
The article also concluded that there is no scientific test that can establish whether a group is a “Cult” or not. One thing I learned is that depending on the results of certain analysis’s, some groups that harm people wouldn’t really be considered cults.
I picked option 3 and it’s about Aspect of Cult Recovery 101:
https://cultrecovery101.com/cult-recovery-readings/cult-recovery-readings-2/
So from my understanding from this website is getting an understanding of what happens to people that have been manipulated and how to identify one through society. In the first half of the website I learned how of most of the cult groups follow different beliefs. There are three examples that caught my attention and they were bring in new members, making money and focusing on the leader of the cult itself. I learned much more on how much cults are more different from people really. Basically cults are like the opposite of people in morals and how they take in information from a false god they are following. Their leaders are manipulative people and have no disregard in human life also no care for what happens to others that follow them.
After reading everything about a cult and I was also surprised about cult because I never heard about them. I understand the whole thing about a person being a false god but i didn’t think it was the wold cult. I think that’s what I really learned today in this week’s work is about cults and how different they are from people since they are following just one person because they believe something from them.
My Cult would be based around the Black Lives Matter movement. ( i’m aware the lives of African American ppl and the stance that comes along with it is truly a sensitive topic for some .. I’m
In full respect and support of that) I’m truly interested in the fight and continuous push to save our precious black lives, so I had to certainly create a cult around that. I’d wish for my cult to be tremendously positive and a platform to almost make the word of the already established BLM known .. so
Like a group of people this here cult representing already established BLM.
The leader would evidently be myself “Tearra Lyn”
The rules of the cult would be pretty simple to ensure the goal remains the same and are always met .. our moto or goal would be “peace , protection and power”
I’d almost want them to eat sleep and breath the moto because of the importance of this formed cult and movement. I’d recruit followers from my assistance with the younger cult members and social media.
The article from cult recovery 101 that I choose is the relational system of the traumatizing narcissist which basically describes the suppression of each individuals subjectivity and attempts to make them whatever kind of object the wants them to be which is incredibly absurd in my opinion.
I pick Option 1
My cult would be about extraterrestrial life forms. In order to grow my cult I would start to target people who look like they are shunned from society, going through a hard time in their life, people who look impressionable, and obviously people who are also interested in the topic. I would tell them to join as when the aliens come I can use my knowledge to communicate with them to let only us live and to solve our problems because if they manage to traverse through universes then they would easily be able to solve any of their issues. Once they join I will order them to recruit more members using the words ” Find your fellow brothers and sisters shunned by the world to the path to salvation”. Once I have recruited enough members then I will establish rules one being to not defy me otherwise the aliens will abandon them and they will truly be alone in the world. The other major one would be no form of electronics with means to contact the outside or access the internet. If some people think of me as being a tyrant I could manipulate a situation where a member would make a big mistake to the point everyone is calling for them to be expelled, in which I would appear as the benevolent leader who as hurt as he is will forgive the poor soul. The location of my cult would be in the countryside close enough to a town or city to recruit more people and get resources.
The article from Cult Recovery 101 I read was “Pitfalls to Cult Recovery”. The article is about how cult members have been witnessed struggle at one time or another with some difficulties and problems during the process of coming out of the cults. The element of a cult manages to provide conflict between the group and society. To address this conflict, cultic groups manage to evolve isolated, psychologically if not physically, sometimes with unbearable particularity, how members should think, feel, and act. According to the article, when people come out of the cults it became hard for them to adjust to a new environment in this society. It felt like everything came crashing down around you. Leaving a cult also means leaving many friends, the familiarity of sharing a very significant experience, and having to look for new friends in an unconvinced world. Because as an ex-cult member’s you feel that people are staring, wondering why he or she joined the group of a cult. And many ex-members feel great remorse over the lies they have told, but they also frequently worry over how to right the wrongs they did. That trauma also causes many to lose interest in the outside world, feel detached from society, and display limited emotions. So many ex-members of cults fear they will never recover their full functioning because it’s hard to get connected with new people around you. For this retired cult members need to see how they were tempted into the movement, what defenselessness the cult exploited, and how the principles of mind control were used to keep them in the cult.
If I was to create a cult, I would name it ”Garden of Salvation”. I would be the leader of this cult. The existence of the cult would be to worship only mother nature. The rules are simple, denounce everything in your life that you care about, and devote your time and energy to nature. We obviously are vegetarians and would live in large huts overseeing huge fields and gardens. We should join if we care about nature and healing the earth.
A docu-series on Netflix called, “The Sons of Sam”, followed the actions of David Berkowitz who gunned people down in their car in New York, during the 70s. Later on, these crimes were occult-related, whose goal was to create mass panic around the world. They also followed a satanic culture. I would not be interested in joining this cult because their actions consist of killing people, as well as performing satanic rituals.