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Q)
Anybody can unfairly attack a group they disagree with by calling
it a cult or saying they are using coercive mind control. How
does FACTNet prevent this type of problem and determine fairly
whether or not a group is a cult?
A) FACTNet uses specific criteria to determine if a mind control
system has been used, and does not suggest organizations are
destructive or dangerous cults without careful research and
determination that the evidence fits definite criteria. These
criteria are threefold.
The first set of criteria comes from the group' use of a
specific set of mind control tactics. Please see "A
technical overview of mind control tactics" at http://www.factnet.org/rancho1.htm
for details or see http://www.factnet.org/coercivemindcontrol.html
for a shorter version. These two documents are derived from
the work of Dr. Margaret
Singer professor emeritus at the University of California
at Berkeley the acknowledged leading authority in the world
on mind control and cults.
The second
set of criteria has to do with defining other common elements
of mind control systems, as defined by Robert Jay Lifton's
eight point model of thought reform. Please see "Robert
Jay Lifton's Eight Point Model of Thought Reform" also
at http://www.factnet.org/rancho1.htm.
If most points in this model are being used in a cultic organization,
it is most likely a dangerous and destructive cult.
The third set of criteria have to do with defining common
elements of destructive and dangerous cults. The following
section will help clarify what some of those specific elements
and criteria are.
Common Properties of Potentially
Destructive and Dangerous Cults
The cult is authoritarian in its power structure. The
leader is regarded as the supreme authority. He or she may delegate
certain power to a few subordinates for the purpose of seeing
that members adhere to the leader's wishes and roles. There
is no appeal outside of his or her system to greater systems
of justice. For example, if a school teacher
feels unjustly treated by a principal, appeals can be made.
In a cult, the leader claims to have the only and final ruling
on all matters.
The cult's leaders tend to be charismatic, determined, and
domineering. They persuade followers to drop their families,
jobs, careers, and friends to follow them. They (not the individual)
then take over control of their followers' possessions, money,
lives.
The cult's leaders are self-appointed, messianic persons
who claim to have a special mission in life. For example,
the flying saucer cult leaders claim that people from outer
space have commissioned them to lead people to special places
to await a space ship.
The cult's leaders center the veneration of members upon
themselves. Priests, rabbis, ministers, democratic leaders,
and leaders of genuinely altruistic movements keep the veneration
of adherents focused on God, abstract principles, and group
purposes. Cult leaders, in contrast, keep the focus of love,
devotion, and allegiance on themselves.
The cult tends to be totalitarian in its control of the behavior
of its members. Cults are likely to dictate in great detail
what members wear, eat, when and where they work, sleep, and
bathe-as well as what to believe, think, and say.
The cult tends to have a double set of ethics. Members
are urged to be open and honest within the group, and confess
all to the leaders. On the other hand, they are encouraged to
deceive and manipulate outsiders or nonmembers. Established
religions teach members to be honest and truthful to all, and
to abide by one set of ethics.
The cult has basically only two purposes, recruiting new
members and fund-raising. Established religions and altruistic
movements may also recruit and raise funds. However, their sole
purpose is not to grow larger; such groups have the goals to
better the lives of their members
and mankind in general. The cults may claim to make social
contributions, but in actuality these remain mere claims, or
gestures. Their focus is always dominated by recruiting new
members and fund-raising.
The cult appears to be innovative and exclusive. The
leader claims to be breaking with tradition, offering something
novel, and instituting the only viable system for change that
will solve life's problems or the world's ills. While claiming
this, the cult then surreptitiously uses systems of psychological
coercion on its members to inhibit their
ability to examine the actual validity of the claims of the
leader and the cult.
Read
More about Margaret Thaler Singer
We
Strongly recommend that you read the Influence
Continuum
Continuum of Influence and Persuasion
We
Strongly recommend that you read the CODE
OF ETHICS FOR SPIRITUAL GUIDES
Nosotros
enérgicamente recomendamos que usted lea el CÓDIGO
DE ÉTICA PARA GUÍAS ESPIRITUALES
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