Cults are generally classified by those outside the organisation. (_points_ "That is a cult!"). But this very classification helps to reinforce any us/them ingr

Cults are generally classified by those outside the organisation. (_points_ "That is a cult!"). But this very classification helps to reinforce any us/them ingroup/outgroup behaviours which we see actual cults doing ("Don't trust those outside, only trust the ingroup"). Real cults isolate and the isolation increases with attack from outside. A cultish group that is not attacked may not actually radicalise. This is also a way to determine whether a group of people that has been labelled a cult isn't actually one: Look at how the group defines itself with regards to those outside. How does the group see itself in the world. We see today many groups labelled as cults which in reality are not so. The label has become a kind of strategy for attack based on an intolerant difference ("they are different") rather than an accurate descriptive label ("they isolate themselves from us"). Tolerance in a society is tolerance towards difference.