This one's an old favorite of mine. I don't think many people realize just how accurate it is. I've been monitoring cults since my teens and reading the psychology literature surrounding them for almost as long. This video summarizes perfectly what I've seen over the last five years in mere minutes.

I lived in a boring town and I developed a number of unusual hobbies to kill time during my teens; one of them was contacting cults and pretending to be interested in joining them. The roots of this hobby were in my early teens when I actually believed some such groups claims; after I lost faith in religion, I kept doing it because I found it interesting. I would read whatever literature I could on them, contact leaders, and develop relationships via the internet with members. It was my personal "unfunded research project."

It was interesting to say the least. Across four or five groups, I saw the same patterns, the same concepts emerging again and again. The same thought stopping. The same techniques of slow personality modification. The same focuses- repetition, evangelism, etc, etc. It's almost like there's a college somewhere that offers a "Cult Entrepreneur 101" class.

I'm reading The True Believer right now and I recommend that to anyone and everyone. I know a couple of people who are slipping deep into true believer territory in my personal life right now

A classic!

Always been fascinated by cult mind control. I recall seeing a documentary on a cult out in the West somewhere, the cult leader being well trusted in his every thought and action. He somehow convinced the younger girls of the cult to lie naked with him and even had sex with his son's wife. The son, though on the video visibly angry about the whole thing, affirmed his approval verbally. It was as, though he was hurt, he understood that the sex had to happen.

It's not just the pyschology of the leader or what he does, the victims are interesting. The way they either are vulnerable or are made to feel vulnerable and how easily people can be manipulated that way.

"I am the enlightened master of universe."

The largest and, in my opinion, most dangerous cult to ever exist is the one that has been around for some 2000 years. And they have always used these methods to "mind change" their followers.

That's the first time I've seen that video. Thank you for sharing Sir.

Also...



Yes them and Jehovah's Witness's, who actually tore my security door off its hinges, just to push their pamphlet underneath my front door. Needless to say they paid for it very quickly and have not been back since.

Excellent post Magister, you have to draw a line in the sand somewhere.

A very simple test for all such nonsense is the issue of personal autonomy.

If what you are doing is making you more capable of controlling your real life in the real world for your own personal benefit, you are almost certainly not going wrong.

But whenever you hear someone describing how you need to make "sacrifices" to the cause, that's the time to get the hell out of there!

Drug rehab centers?

Interesting.. I'd never thought of that. I knew that some Alcoholics Anonymous meetings incorporated Christianity as a means of a "healing" method, but I'd never imagined to the extent of a cult-like culture.

Thanks for the video, Magister Svengali.

this is awesome!

Great video! I enjoyed watching it.
While watching this, the first group that came to mind was actually Alcoholics Anonymous. The demonstration of how cults convince people that their lives prior to the group were "awful" really stuck with me.

They are the jw's.

CoolGuy McCultLeader is now my new Avatar. He looks like he's about to take your memebership dues and hop into a red convertible laughing.

Not quite within context but still fun!

You have just controlled a physical object with your mind.

Competing mind-over-matter toys from Mattel and Uncle Milton Industries are coming this fall to a store near you. They are the first “brain-computer interfaces” to enter the consumer mainstream.

Toys, but so much more. They embody a dream of the ages: controlling the world with your thoughts. Telekinesis. The stuff of the gods.

The question everyone has about these gizmos is whether they are parlor tricks like Magic 8 Balls or Ouija boards. Even Geoff Walker, a senior vice president at Mattel, acknowledges that users “spend the first 20 minutes stunned that it actually works.”

Evidence in favor of them being for real is that some people are worse than others at controlling them – certainly not a marketing feature.
http://hamptonroads.com/2009/04/make-use-mind-control