Cults and their leaders

I'm not sure if this is better for /hum/ or for /r/, but after a lengthy debate on /r/, I started talking about my deep interest and really, let's be frank, obsession with cults and their leaders. Not sure if people want my story, but here it goes. After watching documentaries and reading about People's Temple and the mass murder-suicide at Jonestown I was just left with the question of "Why did this happen?" and then I began read about the reasons people join cults, why others make them, and other things, all for a sort of "how to defend yourself from a cult" guideline and maybe prevent people from drinking the kool-aid. I've listened to podcasts about cults during lunchbreaks and search for things to read about them. Sometimes a podcast is a good springboard to start really reading about a certain cult. And after seeing the kind of people who make cults, I saw that they vary a lot. Sure, a lot of them have rough childhoods or mental illness but the very founder's emotional issues, insecurities, or desires seem to create a very unique social organism. This might sound creepy, but after relating quite a lot with a certain cult leader, I started to let go of my views of them being monsters. I won't condone the horrible things these people did, but dehumanizing a cult leader doesn't allow us to understand them either. I think the same way about cult members. The raw diversity of cult members, from various backgrounds, faiths, races, levels of intelligence, levels of family involvement taught me the seduction of a cult leader can strike anyone. I think everyone on this planet would follow a cult leader to the grave, it's a matter of finding the right cult leader and maybe a lot of abuse... and there are a lot of cult leaders in the making among us as well. It's a very creepy, bone chilling thought. So, I'll post some cult leaders/cults I thought were interesting and maybe others can too and discuss their views on cults. Pic related, it's a Russian waifu cult for Gadget from Chip n Dale Rescue Rangers, I don't think these guys are going to be very dangerous though, I think a good silly cult is good for a little relief.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Family_(Australian_New_Age_group) https://www.thefamilysect.com/ This cult leader is one I related to, this was a woman who didn't really have much of a family, so she gotten powerful people under her thumb so she could steal kids and raise them as her own. I can understand the pain of yearning for a family, lacking a father and having a mom who wasn't really the most involved. Wanting that perfect family made me go through a "family values conservative" phase. She kidnapped and abused kids. Thing of note was that she was able to get a physicist to join her new age cult. Though it was more to get more powerful people on Anne's side, it's something that betrays your assumption (Isn't a physicist supposed to be smart?) and it stuck out to me as well. It was also a doomsday cult.

I wish people would re-classify Carlos Castaneda as a fuarrrking suicide cult leader. He took at least four women with him when he died, and encouraged two more to kill themselves. He doesn't deserve his place in the counterculture.

>>4351 > I think everyone on this planet would follow a cult leader to the grave True, OP. Especially now that religion fades more and more in the background. People join cults for the same reasons pretty much: 1: A close friend or family member is involved with them 2: They went through a traumatizing experience and feel like the ground under them breaks, metaphorically speaking. (Cults, like a religion can use this to gain a new follower but cults have the advantage that since they are so small they weren't as criticized as much as a major religion like Christianity) 3. They want to marry into the cult. A lot of cults promise single men in their 30s or up that they'll help him find a nice woman in their circle. The loners feel like they got nothing to lose so why not. Surprisingly, very well established cults used this tactic like the Jehovah Witnesses

>>4356 Quite honestly I kind of want to start a cult. I feel like it could be very helpful to the members who are isolated and alone to have a community behind them.

If you really want to know how cult leaders get such power, this book shows you how they do it, the various versions of the techniques, and which cult uses which tricks.

>>4385 Nice post and interesting personal story. Regarding the question whether people who are "weak minded" tend to be more easily influenced by cult leaders, I'd say that there are definitely some personality traits that correlate with the likelihood of joining a cult. (See also the attached image in relation to this) An interesting factor to look at is hypnotic susceptibility which correlates with openness to experience. Cult leaders on the other hand are assumed to score high on antisocial personality disorder traits.

>>4387 Some slides I found that do a good job of explaining why cults work. >>4353 Classification of cults is hard especially when its jut a few people. because you need to explain that it was a cult like nature tat caused them to do it, not just a few people wanting in on one persons view. on another note, heavens gate has always interested me as a case study in how people can be so naiive when it comes to doing things. >Beyond the spectacle of their exit from this world, what's most interesting about Heaven's Gate, looking back, is their complicated relationship to technology. While we remember the Nike sneakers, the purple shrouds, and the bunk-beds meticulously lined with bodies, what most people don't know about these 38 devotees and their leader, Marshall Applewhite (known to them as "Bo" or "Do"), is that they paid for their lifestyle by building websites. >Yes, Heaven's Gate were web designers. The group ran a firm called Higher Source, and counted the San Diego Polo Club, a local topiary company, and a Christian music store among their clients. In the heady early days of the World Wide Web, this crew of androgynous roommates in matching close-cropped haircuts and baggy, modest clothes practiced what they called "Higher Source-computer programming" in Java, Visual Basic, SQL, and C++. >They also implemented Intranets ("we're proficient with Windows 95/NT, Novell Netware, and Unix, to name a few"), did systems analysis, and developed multimedia applications. They were a one-stop shop; of their graphic design, they promised, "Higher Source can go from 'cool' to 'corporate' like a chameleon." >Beyond the technical know-how, what Higher Source brought to the table was their rigorous, collective work ethic. Unlike most web design firms, Higher Source's staff lived together in a spartan home and followed strict dietary and social rules—this made them, to say the least, an effective team. To the end. "Individually and collectively," the Higher Source site promised, "we have focused on outgrowing the artificial limitations this society has programmed all of us to accept in personal conduct and task efficiency…we can produce at a level of efficiency and quality unequalled in the computer industry." here is an archive of their site http://web.archive.org/web/19970128184621/http://www.highersource.com/

I never understood how it was that big of a mystery as to why people join. Ive had people I just absolutely adored and was convinced anything they did or told me to do was right for me. Im smarter now, but I know how it feels. Just that peace of letting it go and giving your 100% faith to this one person, I know how to do it anytime but I don't because most people don't want it or its too much for them and in the end they just hurt you, but that isn't true for a cult leader. Their goal is to get people into this state, and they hurt you in ways you dont recognize. I dont think anyone is susceptible, only people who feel happy and love when someone takes some control over their life. People who kinda feel like life is overwhelming, such as myself. Some people like to be in control all the time, and would never probably become a cult member.

>>4387 Hypnosis-by-stimulation, emotionally separating the subject from their family, and making the subject financially dependant. The book I posted covers that pretty well.