According to some observers, the QAnon movement does not qualify as a proper cult, because it lacks a single charismatic leader. Donald Trump is a hero of the movement, but not its controller. Q has not posted anything since December, but the prophecies and conspiracies have continued to proliferate.
Liberals have good reason to worry about the political reach of QAnon. We harbor a general sense of superiority to those who are taken in by cults. Some cults, including Aum Shinrikyo, have attracted disproportionate numbers of highly educated, accomplished recruits. Yet our sense that joining a cult requires some unusual degree of credulousness or gullibility persists.
Few of us believe in our heart of hearts that Amy Carlson, the recently deceased leader of the Colorado-based Love Has Won cult, who claimed to have birthed the whole of creation and to have been, in a previous life, a daughter of Donald Trump , could put us under her spell.
Perhaps one way to attack our intellectual hubris on this matter is to remind ourselves that we all hold some beliefs for which there is no compelling evidence. In recent decades, scholars have grown increasingly adamant that none of our beliefs, rational or otherwise, have much to do with logical reasoning.
Not all delusions are mystical. What makes them work is not their plot but their promise: Here is an answer to the problem of how to live.
Or: Here is a way to become rich beyond the dreams of avarice. In both cases, the promptings of common sense—Is it a bit odd that aliens have chosen just me and my friends to save from the destruction of America?
Is it likely that Bernie Madoff has a foolproof system that can earn all his investors ten per cent a year? And, once you have entered into the delusion, you are among people who have all made the same commitment, who are all similarly intent on maintaining the lie. The process by which people are eventually freed from their cult delusions rarely seems to be accelerated by the interventions of well-meaning outsiders. Those who embed themselves in a group idea learn very quickly to dismiss the skepticism of others as the foolish cant of the uninitiated.
If we accept the premise that our beliefs are rooted in emotional attachments rather than in cool assessments of evidence, there is little reason to imagine that rational debate will break the spell. The good news is that rational objections to flaws in cult doctrine or to hypocrisies on the part of a cult leader do have a powerful impact if and when they occur to the cult members themselves.
The analytical mind may be quietened by cult-think, but it is rarely deadened altogether. Stanley H. Cath, a psychoanalyst and psychology professor at Tufts University, has treated more than 60 former cult members over the course of his career. From this unique firsthand experience, Cath has noticed an interesting trend: many people who join cults have experienced religion at some point in their lives, and rejected it.
Perhaps this is surprising, considering many cults tend to be religious — or at least claim to be. But Dr. Cath asserts that this trend is a sign of something deeper. Many of those who join cults are intelligent young people from sheltered environments. Growing up in such an environment, says Dr. Cults prove powerful because they are able to successfully isolate members from their former, non-cult lives. One of the ways cult leaders achieve this is to convince their followers that they are superior to those not in the cult.
They replace those relationships with new ones inside the cult. Cult leaders convince their victims to separate themselves from society, give up personal possessions and sometimes huge sums of money. They convince people buy into whatever they are promoting. To do all this a cult leader must be a master at mind control.
One such method involves someone sitting in a chair surrounded by other members, at which time they are required to admit their recent failures, base thoughts, shortcomings, etc. Self Incrimination: A favorite tactic of the infamous cult leader Jim Jones, self incrimination requires cult members to provide their leader with written statements detailing their individual fears and mistakes. The cult leader can then use these statements to shame individual members publicly.
Brainwashing: : Cult leaders are known to repeat various lies and distortions until members find it difficult to distinguish between reality and cult life. Paranoia: To maintain a false sense of comfort, cults often rely on paranoia tactics.
Once a cult member comes to the conclusion that their families and country cannot keep them safe, they begin to worship and put all of their faith in their cult leader. It's possible to form a cult around French cheese, Roblox cheating, or string theory, if you really believe that the subject or idea has the potential for positive good in the world. It doesn't need to be weird, or especially complicated, and in fact it's probably better if it's relatively normal. Cults, while often religious in nature, do not need to be.
Cult behavior involves a fervent devotion to a particular person, object, or idea. Groups can form around almost anything. You could form a canasta cult, or a World of Warcraft cult, if you want. Just make sure it's positive, good, and harmless. Choose a subject or activity that you can be passionate about.
You might say that you love Chef Boyardee Ravioli, but is it really worth worshipping in a cult-like way? Cults can only form around things about which it's possible to become very passionate, things that are possible to devote yourself to deeply, and find connections to in different parts of your life.
When we talk about cult movies, they're often very specific, quirky, and present a unique worldview that speaks very deeply to a small group of people, but confuse a great many other people. Star Wars, Star Trek, and many kinds of sci-fi have immersive mythologies and deep universes that are possible to stay really engaged in, which is why we often say they have "cult-like" followings and longer Wikipedia pages than some presidents.
The Kardashians? Not so much. Pick something you think will benefit others. Your first question if you're forming a cult should be: would the world be a better or worse place if everyone was as enthusiastic about this thing, as we are, or as I am? If the answer is that the world would be better, objectively, that people would indeed lead better lives if they also worshipped Tom Brady's throwing glove from the Super Bowl, then you're on a positive and harmless track.
Often, cults are manipulative psychological enterprises organized by a single charismatic individual. They're organized to seem as if the good of the group is the goal of the cult, when in actuality all activities are designed to benefit the leader of that cult.
Jonestown, the Heaven's Gate, and the Manson Family are perhaps all tragic examples of this. Learn as much as possible about your obsession. If you're going to throw the word "cult" around, you better make sure you're informed about the subject you're going to hype to a group, so you don't come off as a make-believe guru, or some kind of snake-oil seller. If you're going to form the Cult of Star Trek, you need to know a lot more than what color Spock bleeds. You need to know which episode he first bleeds in, what the significance of that color is in the greater context of the color-schema in the series, and how that affects your interpretation of Star Trek's utopian worldview.
Get reading those fan blogs. Part 2. Choose a leader. Most cults have single leaders, or they're typically called collectives. If you're the one forming the cult, it's likely that you're the leader, but you need to make sure that your cult is organized for good purposes, not for your own material gain, or purposes of power grabbing.
Cult leaders are typically charismatic and manipulative, but if you're going to form yours collectively, it's a good idea to pick someone who has the good of the group at heart. The person who wants to be the leader is the last person you should pick. Establish the rules of the cult. By what rules, concepts, and moral code will your cult organize itself?
What is the ultimate goal of the cult? How will you use Star Trek to change all your lives, and perhaps the lives of many others, for the better? What's your big message for the world? Focus especially on the issue of how you'll use this to transform your lives for the better.
The difference between a Star Trek Cult and a Star Trek Fan Club isn't necessarily the fervency of your adoration for Star Trek, but how you use that fervency to change your life. It's helpful to write up these documents, but probably leave the word "cult" off of things. You don't want to give people the wrong idea. Write up a body text. All cults have governing texts which have the virtue of being both mysteriously vague, pseudo-profound, and easy to read by a wide variety of people.
Find a place to practice or worship. Fair warning: people will probably find the idea of a cult about anything pretty strange, and you may face a lot of hostility and backlash if you're really public with your cult.
It's good to have a quiet, private place where you can do the things you want to do, the way you want to do them. If you've got a Star Trek Cult forming, it's likely you won't be doing anything much more significant at first than watching episodes, having in-depth conversations, and maybe re-enacting a scene or two, which it's perfectly possible to do from someone's living room.
If you're brave, you could try meeting in in public parks, or other places where you might attract some attention, but it might not be the kind of attention you want. Come up with a slogan. All clubs, organizations, and groups need good slogans, cults included. It's an easy way to sum up what you do, organize around a singular idea, and keep everyone focused around the topic. Slogans should be memorable, simple, and multipartite, so they've be mysterious and vague in equal measure. Or maybe quotes from the show: "I was born in Iowa, I only work in outer space.
Bring other people in, slowly. When you meet people in public, start gradually bringing in the concepts and the obsession that you've decided to shape your life around, to start growing the group. Become an evangelist for whatever it is you've decided to adulate.
Again, you may experience hostility and a lot of resistance at first, so you should try to market the less extreme aspects of your ideas. The utopian fun of Star Trek? Good selling point. Your plans of building a galaxy class star-cruiser in a warehouse in Queens? Maybe save that for later. Part 3. Make sure all behavior lines up with the party platform. Cults are singular. If you're going to be a full-fledged member, or even a leader, in a cult of Star Trek, you can't be messing around watching other sci-fi, or doing things that aren't in line with the noble tenants of Trek.
Make sure that you and everyone else in the group realigns your priorities to fall in line with the singular-minded concepts of the cult. Often, cults live together, communally. Consider moving into a place and giving it a name, something like, "The Enterprise. Refer to your concept as the only true idea.
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