Cults work by coercive control to brainwash people. They subtly do it using tactics including lovebombing, isolation, limiting information, sleep deprivation and getting blackmail material to gain total control over the person's mind and body. It's the same process a domestic abuse perp uses, but they have more resources at their disposal, making it even harder to break free
Greentext
This is a place to share greentexts and witness the confounding life of Anon. If you're new to the Greentext community, think of it as a sort of zoo with Anon as the main attraction.
Be warned:
- Anon is often crazy.
- Anon is often depressed.
- Anon frequently shares thoughts that are immature, offensive, or incomprehensible.
If you find yourself getting angry (or god forbid, agreeing) with something Anon has said, you might be doing it wrong.
Can we get to the part where the Musk cult and the Trump cult both commit ritual suicide? It's long overdue.
Would be great, thank you.
When will the Trump cult suicides start?
That's just going to be Trump dropping nukes on California
They need to be kickstarted from the outside
If some legitimate damning Epstein or Russia pee tape evidence came out I think that could put things in motion
The guy pictured, Marshall Applewhite, wanted to fuck dudes and was ashamed of it so he got castrated. Then, after his best friend and cult's co-founder died, he convinced a bunch of people that the world was going to end and the only way they could survive was by committing suicide so that their souls could leave on an alien spaceship hidden behind Hale-Bopp comet as it passed by. Nobody can know what he was thinking but I'd wager he was just depressed and didn't want to die alone.
EDIT: Originally said it was Hailey's comet.
I think an array of mental illness and drug abuse is more likely.
Fun fact, their website is still up https://www.heavensgate.com/
They were intentionally left behind to continue the mission/maintain the website. Lots of people have talked to them, they’re pretty easy to find interviews with.
Ah yes. Just seen it was the Hale-Bopp comet, not Hailey's.
I'm more interested in wtf everyone else was thinking.
Respect elders, follow till death.
Iirc, a lot of them were forced to drink it.
so internalized homophobia is what got them all killed
Scientology somehow managed to reach cult "escape velocity" and survive the death of its leader.
Interesting. I feel like this theory can be expanded to not just cult but also organizations in general like a start up or a hobby club. What are the defining characteristics of a group getting to escape velocity I wonder
Own a fuck load of property, don't pay taxes, keep attracting new people to pay into the group, convince existing members to pay more, maybe scare the feds a little so theyre forced to try cooptation rather than direct suppression
Of you haven't watched Wild wild Country and/or Raël yet you definitely should. It's incredible.
Dude, Wild Wild Country is insane.
I watched it when it came out, knowing nothing about it besides from "cult documentary". Holy shit lol
Same here! I still thinking about it after years.
The Realeans are a fascinating bunch.
There is one cult I would welcome the ritual suicide of.
They’re just about at 10 years now.
Oh no this can't be true this would exclude major religions which are cults as well
Ehh ... The definition of a cult includes things like isolating you from your friends and family, and having secret teachings that only the initiated have access to. I.e. the Freemasons: secret teachings, but does not try to isolate you from friends and family. Secret society, but not a cult. Religion is a cult in terms of the original sense of the word: organised worship, but not a cult as we think of them. Though some subsets definitely do get pretty culty. Don't know about these days, but when I was at university the Campus Crusaders for Christ definitely had the love-bombing and isolating you from your friends and family going on.
As a Catholic by baptism and family tradition I do sometimes find Christianity a bit outdated, but I still think it's capable of renewing.
I don't really have time to go to church nowadays but for example when I last got to go at Easter the priest was a Russophile of all things (this happened in Hungary) and he very much made that part of his speech. Something about the Russians doing The Good Lord's job in Ukraine, just as they did back in WWII. I'm not even kidding.
Then again when I got to regularly go to the youth service a few years back it was basically just singing to the guitar band and looking at the Bible which was really fun, the priest was very educated and seemingly didn't have any hateful opinions, which is sadly more than you can expect from most of the clergy nowadays.
So yes TL;DR Christianity can be very fun and inclusive without acting like a cult, but the people who make up the Christian community come in all shapes and forms and sadly most of them aren't people you would want to spend much time with, and that includes some of the priests as well whose job it should be to make people more friendly in my opinion.
Well at least these are my experiences but I haven't ever been an integral part of any Christian Club or something like that.
Checks out with mine. There are a bunch of nice people who genuinely try to spread the whole love thy neighbour thing, and there are a bunch of weirdos who like being part of the "better" group.
Excuse you, in a religion the person at the top is dead.
I saw an analysis of cults that have turned into religions - that is, outlived their founder. There's some very specific criteria that need to be met in order for it to endure, must critically it needs a charismatic reformer/organizer to take over when the founder dies.