4 ms·

Yes, your're right, they're a new kind of cult facilitated by internet and anonymity which functions similarly to old cults, a charismatic leader brainwashes a

Yes, your're right, they're a new kind of cult facilitated by internet and anonymity which functions similarly to old cults, a charismatic leader brainwashes a mass of people. Their outreach is far greater, anyone who has internet connection can basically partake. Traditional cults have a much smaller footprint. I think other types of internet cults are yet to come, and we should brace for it somehow. One big factor that pushes people towards internet cults is the fact that society is becoming increasingly connected and yet people are more and more physically isolated from one another

0815test 7y ago
The fact that these folks are actually striving to get things like plastic surgeries so that they can achieve their goal of overcoming lookism and achieving social success, would seem to argue against it being like a cult - they're putting their ideas to the test, one way or the other. I see pure "blackpill", nihilistic thinking as quite a bit more cult-like.
- onemoresoop 7y ago
  They are cult like but not like a classic cult, but not like a community either. The difference being that these people are isolated from the world and physically isolated from other members like themselves. The more toxic ones feed the others poison. The ones who manage to get out are called fake-in cells. If they got to hang out physically they'd probably detest each other.
api 7y ago
Cults are not new. The fascinating thing to me is that in many cases there is no single embodied leader or even founder. Instead the charismatic leader seems to be the cult itself with this being facilitated through a rapid iterative feedback loop via the Internet. I think the best terminology for these might be Borg from Star Trek since they work like little Borg collectives. They develop their own little reality distortion field and then try to suck people in and "assimilate" them. Have you been "red pilled?" I've wondered if parts of the chans (e.g. /pol/) and other anonymous forums with cult-like ideologies and cultures surrounding them aren't the first examples of hive minds. Unfortunately they're pretty dystopian hive minds with the dominant emotions being hate, shame, and fear and the dominant intellectual undercurrents being nihilism, cynicism, totalitarianism, etc.
- onemoresoop 7y ago
  I like that, from now on I'll refer to it as The rise of the Internet Borgs on to this phenomena.

0815test 7y ago

The fact that these folks are actually striving to get things like plastic surgeries so that they can achieve their goal of overcoming lookism and achieving social success, would seem to argue against it being like a cult - they're putting their ideas to the test, one way or the other. I see pure "blackpill", nihilistic thinking as quite a bit more cult-like.

onemoresoop 7y ago
They are cult like but not like a classic cult, but not like a community either. The difference being that these people are isolated from the world and physically isolated from other members like themselves. The more toxic ones feed the others poison. The ones who manage to get out are called fake-in cells. If they got to hang out physically they'd probably detest each other.

api 7y ago

Cults are not new. The fascinating thing to me is that in many cases there is no single embodied leader or even founder. Instead the charismatic leader seems to be the cult itself with this being facilitated through a rapid iterative feedback loop via the Internet. I think the best terminology for these might be Borg from Star Trek since they work like little Borg collectives. They develop their own little reality distortion field and then try to suck people in and "assimilate" them. Have you been "red pilled?" I've wondered if parts of the chans (e.g. /pol/) and other anonymous forums with cult-like ideologies and cultures surrounding them aren't the first examples of hive minds. Unfortunately they're pretty dystopian hive minds with the dominant emotions being hate, shame, and fear and the dominant intellectual undercurrents being nihilism, cynicism, totalitarianism, etc.

onemoresoop 7y ago
I like that, from now on I'll refer to it as The rise of the Internet Borgs on to this phenomena.