Cult Week

They're all the same, cults, I mean. At the foundation, it's about money. The methods are exclusionary, paranoid and totalitarian. Agent Bedhead has a post about a couple escapees from Scientology, one the niece of cult leader David Miscavage. It's interesting watching.

Here's the thing: no one currently in a cult believes they are in a cult. They are brainwashed. It is impossible to have a rational conversation with cultists because they are irrational. You have to be irrational (not stupid, mind you, because many, if not most of those enticed by cults are very intelligent--the "secret" or "special" knowledge is what is so appealing) to embrace the beliefs. Each cult has it's own brand of crazy. For Scientologists it's thetans (can you say Satan, with a lithp?). For other groups it's something else just left of weird. It can't be too crazy, just unique enough to make the believer feel special.

But the beliefs piece ignores what cults are really about and that's money. Having a vast following of dedicated believers has its perks--usually big houses, big private jets, big buildings, big lifestyles. Big is expensive and followers paying through the nose fund the leaders. And it is all justified because if more people believe, more people will be saved so it's very important to Send. Your. Money. Now!

Traits of cults here.