From forgetomori:
Carey Burtt’s superb “Mind Control Made Easy or How to Become a Cult Leader” (2000).LinkIt may be fun, but this is no comedy, it’s more like a documentary. Cults thrive on our vulnerabilities, and a good demonstration of just how vulnerable we all are was given in a series of experiments conducted by social psychologist Solomon Asch in the 1950s.
John Allan Muhammad, best known for killing 10 people in the 2002 DC-area sniper shootings, will be executed at 9PM today in Virginia. ... More.
Deirdre Walker, the 24-year police veteran and former Assistant Chief of the Montgomery County, Maryland, Department of Police who wrote up a sharp, professional critique of the TSA's checkpoint procedures, has written a follow-up, showing a huge flaw in the "random" screening process used at the BW... More.
I turned my Boing Boing post about Murdoch's mad pronouncements on the Internet into a column for the Guardian, called "For whom the net tolls." What, exactly, is Rupert Murdoch thinking? First, he announces that all of Newscorp's websites will erect paywalls like the one employed by the Wall St... More.
A woman who appears to have been inebriated fell onto the tracks in a Boston subway as a train was rushing towards her. People on the platform frantically waved at the train, which stopped in the nick of time.... More.
This is surely one of the most adorable animal YouTubes in the history of all internets. (via @maggiekb1 via this blog).... More.
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Jeez, you post this one day after the Church of the Subgenius "How to Start Your Own Cult" online course ends? I could have used this. Maybe I would have passed.
I guess I was just born to follow...Praise Bob!
Quite Devo.
well, a primer I suppose. But wouldn't be more useful to show the standard techniques for taking over a cult? I do so deplore work.
So where do I sign up and donate my possessions, again?
Wonderfully creepy. I loved it!
..And don't forget the classic Exit Strategy, or In Case Of Congressional Representative Visit Deploy Firearms And Extra Zippy Kool-Aid.
The Eternal Sleep strategy rates right up there, too.
Why is it that I can't get that frigging tune out of my head? "Boop-boop-boop-be-boop, boop..."
Im surprised that BB hasn't linked to this video before. I think I have had a copy of this video on my hd for quite sometime, ripped from youtube years ago. It a favorite of mine.
That is a really cool little video, but the background "music" is one of the most annoying things I've ever heard in my life.
I disagree with #8, the background music is what made me a believer...
... and it has absolutely nothing in common with, say, the USMC boot camp... nope nope nope!
Where do we get our "BoingBoing Cult Member" T-Shirts?
Anti-mind control theater
Actually, apart from the better music, this is more or less the same as USMC boot camp or any other boot camp. Iindoctrination is indoctrination. What separates a cult from some of the more demanding organizations like the Marines or some monastic order is that they lie to you at the entrance (tee-hee, double entendre!) about what's going on.
In the Marines there's this big sign over the recruiting booth saying that this is the Marines. I'm pretty sure they also point out that you'll be making a transition from civilian-brain to soldier-brain too. With a cult they'll say it's a "self-improvement course" or a "bible study group" or "a weight-loss clinic" or whatever the current marketing survey says will pull in the recruits. It's only after you've made a major commitment to the group that they let slip that every single instructor (and probably every single person in the last set of "courses") belongs to one specific religion or political group and wouldn't you like to join too?
By that time cognitive dissonance has set in and, using the same brain circuits that keep people in bad or even abusive marriages, you "rationalize" that you've come this far and invested in this group anyway so why not? It's the old frog-won't-jump-out-of-slowly-boiling-pot-of-water trick.
In the initial brainwashing studies done in Korean War prisoner camps people found that the "OK you capitalist scum listen up" approach, and even torture, didn't have as much of an effect as "Hey, it's boring out here in the stockade today. Let's play a game!".
These days, the analogy is more towards that of an abusive marriage (a cult of two!) than the prisoner metaphor tho...
re:Nadreck. This is surprisingly like business school as well.n As you say, indoctrination is indoctrination...
A comical yet frightening video. I can see how it works, but the technique wouldn't be effective on me. My mind tends to reject conformity & demand reasoning behind apparently pointless actions. I'd be the first to be kicked out or killed as a heathen.
That music though. It's so soothing. So comforting. So... repetitive. It fills me with the important duty of slaying it's creator, carey Burtt. Yes. It must be done. O_O
Great video!
But it's really sad to think of how many people actually have joined and been damaged/killed by cults. Tsk, tsk, silly humans always looking for easy answers...getting in over their heads...
:(
Weird how this video is a mix of funny, educational, and depressing.
For those interested in the topic, I strongly recommend "Life 102: What to Do After Your Guru Sues You" by Peter McWilliams. It's a lively and articulate portrait of how he got sucked into a cult, rose to the highest levels, and eventually got out. Copies can be hard to find, as the cult has used copyright to suppress the book.
For something more even in tone, I also recommend Marta Szabo's The Guru Looked Good. She serialized it on a blog, so start with the early entries and read forward.
I wonder how many little cults there are spawning right now; still small enough that there's only one camp in the woods, maybe 100 followers. That would be the time to take them out - send in about 20 ringers as "recruits", then stage a rebellion.
Someone has to have tried this.
that's one hell of a good idea! We need a Cultbusters Underground.
This is exactly how political campaigns work.
1. Lack of sleep
2. Chanting of the leaders name at rally's
3. Giving as much time and money to support the leader
4. A bright future and important cause
5. Guilt, you are causing the planet to heat and people to die
6. An Us versus them mentality
Go Obama, Go McCain - who will be the next cult leader of the US?
Obama seems to be the better cult leader at this point - but only time will tell. . .
You just try infiltrating a cult without getting sucked into it. It doesn't work that way.
ah, but I have the advantage of remorseless murder by untraceable poisons.
Well, it wouldn't be easy. Not only do you have to resist their techniques, you have to have a plan once the critical number of infiltrators has arrived - and this couldn't be done all at once in a small group. Lots of difficulties. But amusing to consider.
Of course, the first step is to recruit some followers...
I like your idea Eustace, though there is a danger if one of your ringers rats out the others. The practice of isolating recruits would be very effective at stopping such attempts. Think like a virus, you need a way of getting past the membrane wall's defenses. Self induced MPD a la "The Invisibles"?
That sounds like the kind of fun and meaningful work I would be interested in Eustace, where do I sign up?
Praise Eustace!
noen is a non believer, don't fall for his false praise of Eustace our savior! Shun him! his mind is tainted with thoughts of failure, he has been corrupted by the devils of doubt and intends to infect us all!
Praise Eustace!
This is easier than I thought. Better get started on those scriptures - uh, Deprogramming Manuals, that is...
I, I feel oddly compelled... tell me more of this "Eustace".... is he related to Plus X?
(Eric Frank Russell, 1957 Plus X /Next of Kin/The Space Willies - yes , a concession to the ephemerals - bite me)
Takuan,
The deprogramming manuals of hope are the way to dropping the self conscious doubt that has plagued you, with them you can (and will!) find your way to Eustace, and through Eustace you will be enlightened! Eustace will use us to bring salvation to those who have not found Eustace and have been fooled by false religions!
Praise Eustace!
Yes! Yes! I see it now!
I was just lurking on the thread for carbon sequestration and it gave me an idea. We sell little hand-cranked "carbon sequestrators" at airports -wearing the mandatory saffron robes - they turn a fan that draws air through a filter, you give it away but sell the filters along with the guilt trip so well described in the video above. This has the potential to beat Scientology, my friends!
Hail Eustace! Turn His Holy Crank!
Brilliant!
Praise Eustace!
Most cults are not leader oriented. Cults are driven by member insecurity. As each member feels insecure within the structure, he or she wrangles other members in order to shore up and prove her/his commitment to the principles of the cult. Leaders rarely need do anything more than raise an eyebrow and the members fall all over themselves to prove that they are the most loyal. It's brainwashing by peers, but even more than that, it's brainwashing by self. It's far more insidious than Sri Evil Guru because it exploits basic human social behaviors.
And there is no one more desperately in need of personality reinforcement than the leader.
Spoon hun, FYI, it's she, not he. I picked "noen" a long time ago when I used to talk with some friends on IRC. Didn't take me long to learn that using my real name was a bad idea..
Really, Noen, I dropped the idea almost as soon as I had it - the multitude of practical objections became obvious. It has a piratical charm, though.
This may be the fastest rise and fall of a cult on record :)
...and the story of your name reminds me of my friend pseu...
our dear leader has forsaken us! Kill him!
Damn, Antinous, now I want to change my user name to Sri Evil Guru. Or is that too much of a giveaway.
This is almost point-for-point the kind of thing Scientology does: uses information given in 'personality tests' against new recruits, etc...
Scientology, that's a big target. I kind of admire Anonymous for tilting at that giant. If you go after them, no one can accuse you of picking on the little guy.
(posted from an undisclosed location to avoid Takuan's vengeance)
ah, sigh... remember the good old days when we were in that crazy cult together? It's like yesterday...
Heh, my half-brother had his own sex cult, devoted to himself. I think regular prostitution would be a step up.
...and, Blasphemer! How can you be both the High Costello, and an Eustian?
Re: Peter McWIlliams and Life 102: What to do when your Guru Sues You
I actually met the late, great McWilliams and have a signed copy of that book. He was a great guy and was quite generous with his time in advising people on how to deal with abusive groups. A pity if copyright is being used to surpress the book but no surprise: that seems to be one of the major copyright activities these days and the cults were always in the forefront of that trend.
I can also recommend Savage Messiah for a rousing tale of murder, torture and cannibalism in Ontario, Canada a few years back. The whole incident was an interesting commentary on how sundry non-conformist sections of society stood shoulder-to-shoulder with a monster to denounce his "persecution" even after the last body was dug out of the backyard. Cause, like, he was different and I'm different so he must be cool too! Even today you'll find apologists using Social Darwinism ("Well, they were all weakings anyway...") to excuse red-handed butchery.