When I started my own cult, I would persuade those who are mentally weak, muddled, living in difficult conditions, dying or depressed to commit suicide, I want them to believe that early liberation will lead to salvation. Ending their lives is not a symbol of suffering and death, but rather a journey to a world of bliss, free of disease and pain. I would choose a member who deserves my trust to be a leader among other members. I would choose our address in a remote area, encourage members to cut off contact with family and friends, and limit the information to which members are exposed. I would organize group activities such as meditation, group denunciation meetings, etc. during the daily cult activities. For recruiting members, I would first create a hashtag on social media to attract particular audiences who are disillusioned and depressed, and then periodically send out texts and posts complaining about life, depressing emotions, and decadence to resonate with the audience. Use the Peripheral route to persuade them and gradually deepen their thoughts about the hopelessness of life. Resonating with the audience is an attractiveness.
I found a news article about a cult titled 20 Tortured and Murdered at Pakistan Muslim Sufi Shrine. The article describes 20 people tortured and then killed with clubs and knives at the Sufi shrine in Pakistan. Police arrested six people, including 50-year-old Abdul Waheed, at the Pakistani Sufi shrine in what police described as a cult ritual, which senior police officer Jamshed Ahmad said was carried out by the shrine’s custodian and several accomplices who called faithful to a room one by one and then killed them there with daggers and sticks, allegedly in “beat and tortured” the devotees to “cleanse” them. According to local police officers, Waheed would come to the shrine twice a week from Lahore and his followers would submit to “beating and torturing with a red hot iron rod. To avoid being recruited into a cult I recommend these steps: First we can learn some of the specific signs and characteristics of a cult and look up some cult information online to help us understand how cults work and identify harmful groups. The next step is to be wary of any organization that requires us to cut off contact with our family and friends and spend time and money on group activities. In addition, when we feel confused and helpless, we can seek help from professional counselors through proper channels.
I have chosen an article that is describing what can happen in a typical cult. First the cult leader will deceptively disguise himself as a benevolent authority and prey on our emotional weaknesses to try to recruit us into the cult. To reinforce trust in the group and indoctrinate members into a closed, non-falsifiable belief system, they will inhibit or weaken critical thinking through fatigue activities, almost complete control of the recruits’ time, hypnotic induction exercises (e.g., chanting), and repetitive messages that failure to follow the group’s “change program” will only result in disaster. These manipulations induce members to declare their allegiance to the group. The group also brainwashes members by exaggerating members’ past “sins” and conflicts with their families, encouraging them to isolate themselves from the outside world, controlling their access to information, and using guilt and fear to control their behavior. In addition, by providing and positively reinforcing ways in which the members can find a valued role within the group (e.g., work for a group-owned business, selling magazines on the street). Overall, I learned about some of the typical ways cults operate and how they use emotional weaknesses to persuade and control members.
