5 ms·

My reading is that the very fact that it's so abstract and general is itself the point. What could the cult be? Politics? Religion? A particular professional mi

by scubbo 4y ago

My reading is that the very fact that it's so abstract and general is itself the point. What could the cult be? Politics? Religion? A particular professional mindset or focus? Many could fit. Apart from the reference to "promise of godly exaltation or gift in a theoretical afterlife" (which nod towards religion), you could apply a lot of this to many social groups.

dmix 4y ago
> One of the hallmark tactics of a cult is to isolate you from the rest of the world. They make you depend solely on others within the community for your every need, thus making it extremely difficult to leave. This line stood out to me and seems very apt in these days. For ex, how it's now normal to go after people's jobs directly via social media pressure tactics or business's revenue (and subsequently their employees jobs) via Visa/mastercard/paypal/ad buyers/etc, merely for stepping out of line from mainstream opinions... as Wikileaks and many others experienced. Making society more resilient to cult-like behaviour is always a good thing. Even when these tactics might benefit your pet beliefs, it's rarely worth the trade-offs and usually backfires. When the system you promote exclusively benefits a particular ideology or exclusive set of organizations that's usually a good indicator it's cultish.
- tjr225 4y ago
- Guthur 4y ago
  If you stand apart you will be preyed upon by those that do not. We are not designed or evolved or whatever to prowl alone, because it will always be in our nature to come together and some will exploit this. And so while you stand alone they will bring all their machinations to consume your very being. Would you really be that strong to stand alone against all those that would look to exploit you.
  - somenameforme 4y ago
    I think this is something else because reality tends to be the exact opposite. Instead it's small groups of well organized radicals using their organization to impact everybody else disproportionately. To stick with safe examples, look at the KKK. A quick search indicates they hit their peak popularity in the 1920s with some 4 million claimed members, which would be ~3% of society. But of course they had an outsized impact on America. So you end up with a scenario where 3% of people were dominating the zeitgeist of 97% through intimidation. And there's no particularly clear way to combat this. The internet has only made this worse. Now ever smaller groups can coordinate extremely effectively and instantaneously, while also simultaneously working to create the perception of far greater numbers than actually possessed.
    - Guthur 4y ago
      The enemy is never the one you see in front of your face. It's the voice behind you that's your true adversary. So stand side by side and block him out.
rob74 4y ago
Yup, the rest could apply to just about anything, but this brief phrase near the end makes it pretty clear that it's about religion. That, and phrases like "the cult has left noticeable marks on you". Somehow all atheists (or at least the militant kind) seem to believe religious people are all deeply scarred and twisted, no matter how "watered-down from its original form" their "cult" may be.
- mmastrac 4y ago
  The clever part about this writing is that it's so vague it applies to everyone. If you squint one way it's the group you are in. If you look sideways it's the group you dislike. It's brilliantly subversive and makes you think.
  - TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
    Yes - it's a Rorschach test.
- causi 4y ago
  "the cult has left noticeable marks on you" Maybe they're talking about the child genital mutilation.
  - erklik 4y ago
    Then they're only talking about Abrahamic religions since largely, genital mutilation isn't a part of Hinduism, Buddhism etc.
- tyingq 4y ago
  There's also "Feelings your cult has told you are of the devil."

by scubbo 4y ago

dmix 4y ago

> One of the hallmark tactics of a cult is to isolate you from the rest of the world. They make you depend solely on others within the community for your every need, thus making it extremely difficult to leave. This line stood out to me and seems very apt in these days. For ex, how it's now normal to go after people's jobs directly via social media pressure tactics or business's revenue (and subsequently their employees jobs) via Visa/mastercard/paypal/ad buyers/etc, merely for stepping out of line from mainstream opinions... as Wikileaks and many others experienced. Making society more resilient to cult-like behaviour is always a good thing. Even when these tactics might benefit your pet beliefs, it's rarely worth the trade-offs and usually backfires. When the system you promote exclusively benefits a particular ideology or exclusive set of organizations that's usually a good indicator it's cultish.

tjr225 4y ago
Guthur 4y ago
If you stand apart you will be preyed upon by those that do not. We are not designed or evolved or whatever to prowl alone, because it will always be in our nature to come together and some will exploit this. And so while you stand alone they will bring all their machinations to consume your very being. Would you really be that strong to stand alone against all those that would look to exploit you.
- somenameforme 4y ago
  I think this is something else because reality tends to be the exact opposite. Instead it's small groups of well organized radicals using their organization to impact everybody else disproportionately. To stick with safe examples, look at the KKK. A quick search indicates they hit their peak popularity in the 1920s with some 4 million claimed members, which would be ~3% of society. But of course they had an outsized impact on America. So you end up with a scenario where 3% of people were dominating the zeitgeist of 97% through intimidation. And there's no particularly clear way to combat this. The internet has only made this worse. Now ever smaller groups can coordinate extremely effectively and instantaneously, while also simultaneously working to create the perception of far greater numbers than actually possessed.
  - Guthur 4y ago
    The enemy is never the one you see in front of your face. It's the voice behind you that's your true adversary. So stand side by side and block him out.

rob74 4y ago

Yup, the rest could apply to just about anything, but this brief phrase near the end makes it pretty clear that it's about religion. That, and phrases like "the cult has left noticeable marks on you". Somehow all atheists (or at least the militant kind) seem to believe religious people are all deeply scarred and twisted, no matter how "watered-down from its original form" their "cult" may be.

mmastrac 4y ago
The clever part about this writing is that it's so vague it applies to everyone. If you squint one way it's the group you are in. If you look sideways it's the group you dislike. It's brilliantly subversive and makes you think.
- TheOtherHobbes 4y ago
  Yes - it's a Rorschach test.
causi 4y ago
"the cult has left noticeable marks on you" Maybe they're talking about the child genital mutilation.
- erklik 4y ago
  Then they're only talking about Abrahamic religions since largely, genital mutilation isn't a part of Hinduism, Buddhism etc.
tyingq 4y ago
There's also "Feelings your cult has told you are of the devil."