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I just finished reading David Koresh who was the leader of the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX.
It shocks me to read of highly educated, wealthy people joining a cult like this, David advertising himself as the new Jesus Christ, and the predictor of the end times.
They were behind on taxes on their compound, and some wealthy Chinese cult member forked over $70,000 to pay the taxes. If David wanted a new motorcycle, a new bus, a new car, it arrived within days.
Religious beliefs don't have anything to do w/ education, and education doesn't have anything to do w/ intelligence, common sense or life experiences. That's really the long and the short of it. I've met a LOT of people over the years who were very bright, but had some crazy beliefs that didn't match up w/ how they actually appeared to be.
The people who head these cults are master of subterfuge and manipulation, so unless you've had experience w/ people like this it is very easy to get conned by them.
Highly educated doesn't factor into being emotionally traumatized or broken. And for as many of those that exist, there are probably just as many narcissistic sociopaths in the group vying for power and control over others.
Cults feed on broken people and equally attract those wishing to inflict their will onto others. Both attributes can apply to the highly educated.
Last edited by digitalUID; 03-11-2024 at 08:39 PM..
Every one of us has the capability of getting inducted into a cult. The cult simply has to push the right buttons, seem to hold values similar to ours, seem reasonably plausible, and push.
Those who are more social are perhaps a little more susceptible, as the reinforcement is more, and more consistent with social interaction with cult members. Those who have developed an internal moral structure that is independent of culture or religion may be less susceptible.
I could name a number of cults that are considered mainstream and normal, but I avoid discussing politics and religion.
What can trip people up is that a cult leader or the cult dogma can often be precisely on-target on a number of issues when looked at from certain viewpoints. That then makes any further screed seem reasonable and a forceful response to a real problem.
I go back to something I have cautioned about for years. If you have a strong emotional response to a speech or something written, you almost certainly are being manipulated or are not understanding the larger perspectives involved.
The cult leader seeking power will almost always attempt to cut followers off from reading, seeing, or hearing other points of view, and claim to have the ONLY truth. That is a lie that has been warned about for centuries. There is a saying "If you meet the Buddha on the street, kill him." It could be taken literally, but it is more about not becoming entranced by someone who might seem to be Buddha-like.
One thing that I have noticed about the people in my life who seem otherwise intelligent, but who have fallen for various scams and things (not necessarily cults, but to include one person taken in by an MLM where a big feature was a "motivational" guy who would get them on calls where he talked them up constantly)...
There are people who want to trust others, especially those they perceive as superior or in positions of authority, or who offer them some kind of secret in-group knowledge, that supposedly the blind masses can't see and don't know. Once these individuals are convinced to buy in, there is almost no evidence that will persuade them to turn away until serious damage has been done, usually of a financial nature. And sometimes even then, they will defend the scammer or scheme or program. A common feature is that if it fails to make you rich and successful, it's not the program, it's you. And since these folks have often got some insecurity about their own value (most people do, to some degree, deep down) they prey on that. They feel certain that it does work at least for some people, they invested so much hope it would work for them...and they really thought that being part of this in-group would make them in some way better than those who are not. More informed, more successful, privileged to know secrets, more enlightened, more right, favored by God or some glowing figure of authority. Whatever.
I have never been taken in by any scam, scheme, religion, group, cult, or any of it. Not in a way that cost me anything serious. I lost some $20 playing with crypto early in its popularity before I noped out of it, that's about as close to anything like that I ever messed with. I have often thought that a big part of this, is that I have very low trust and no faith in authority of any kind. I don't believe that anyone or anything is bigger and greater than myself such that they or it has any right to throw a "because I said so" directive at me. Either I understand the rationale behind a rule and follow it because it makes sense, or I disregard it. Like many of the most common directives you find in religions (don't murder, steal, etc) that share commonality in most societies' laws, those things make sense from a pro-social standpoint. I don't follow such rules because I fear punishment or an authority said so. I do it because I like to live in a society and believe that it benefits me and everyone to have ethics and adhere to them. I don't really understand a mentality that places some people above others and more worthy to tell others what to do. Not leaders or celebrities, heads of state or religion, not my boss at work, not my own parents (which I think is why I am like this...they did not inspire much confidence.)
But lest it seem so, I don't look down on people for being wired the way that they are wired and vulnerable to manipulation tactics because of it, not really. Sometimes, I'm even a little jealous at the extent to which some are able to trust and feel safe relying on others. That whole hyper-independent "trust no one" mindset is not always a comfortable way to live.
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Beware of people who are fearful of speech and expression of viewpoints. We are all capable of discerning morality but cults will typically void this and feed you an alternate reality with lots of adjectives. When you are not allowed to hear alternate viewpoints to "protect you" then know you are in a cult.
I just finished reading David Koresh who was the leader of the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX.
It shocks me to read of highly educated, wealthy people joining a cult like this, David advertising himself as the new Jesus Christ, and the predictor of the end times.
They were behind on taxes on their compound, and some wealthy Chinese cult member forked over $70,000 to pay the taxes. If David wanted a new motorcycle, a new bus, a new car, it arrived within days.
It's the highly educated part that baffles me!
Study history.
Look at the Nazis in Germany. Look at the cultural revolution in China.
Of course what is a cult is a matter of perception and judgment. Some religious groups are perceived as cults by some people just because they are so different and teach things that some do not believe. That is not what actually makes a cult.
A cult engages in control, isolation, manipulation, and brain-washing. Merely teaching something "strange" does not qualify.
That said, what I find interesting ( and disturbing ) is how easily so many people fall victim to cults and con artists. In a political context, this leads to antagonistic polarization.
I just finished reading David Koresh who was the leader of the Branch Davidians in Waco, TX.
It shocks me to read of highly educated, wealthy people joining a cult like this, David advertising himself as the new Jesus Christ, and the predictor of the end times.
They were behind on taxes on their compound, and some wealthy Chinese cult member forked over $70,000 to pay the taxes. If David wanted a new motorcycle, a new bus, a new car, it arrived within days.
It's the highly educated part that baffles me!
The need to belong and emotional stuff overrides formal education and IQ very often.
Every one of us has the capability of getting inducted into a cult. The cult simply has to push the right buttons, seem to hold values similar to ours, seem reasonably plausible, and push.
Those who are more social are perhaps a little more susceptible, as the reinforcement is more, and more consistent with social interaction with cult members. Those who have developed an internal moral structure that is independent of culture or religion may be less susceptible.
I could name a number of cults that are considered mainstream and normal, but I avoid discussing politics and religion.
What can trip people up is that a cult leader or the cult dogma can often be precisely on-target on a number of issues when looked at from certain viewpoints. That then makes any further screed seem reasonable and a forceful response to a real problem.
I go back to something I have cautioned about for years. If you have a strong emotional response to a speech or something written, you almost certainly are being manipulated or are not understanding the larger perspectives involved.
The cult leader seeking power will almost always attempt to cut followers off from reading, seeing, or hearing other points of view, and claim to have the ONLY truth. That is a lie that has been warned about for centuries. There is a saying "If you meet the Buddha on the street, kill him." It could be taken literally, but it is more about not becoming entranced by someone who might seem to be Buddha-like.
Here's another cult.
Chasidic cult life on trial, read Life inside Lev Tahor, leaders' alleged plot to kidnap 2 children detailed by witness (link). Excerpts below:
Quote:
But two months later, the Monsey native said he agreed to take part in a plot by Lev Tahor leaders to kidnap the 14-year-old granddaughter and 12-year-old grandson of the group's founder. Their mother, Sara Helbrans, had fled Lev Tahor with several of her kids after disapproving of the forced marriage of the underage girl.
Malka, now 24, was a key prosecution witness last week in White Plains federal court at the trial of Shmiel, Yoil and Yakov Weingarten, brothers and Rockland County natives who are the last of nine Lev Tahor members charged in the kidnapping and child exploitation plot.
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