“I'm fascinated that people drawn to
cults want to know what to do. And
people want to know what to think.
And people want to know how to
feel. Not just what to feel but how
to feel”.
- Stephen Colbert
In periods of crisis it can be argued we’re uniquely susceptible to seeking out leadership or guidance. Although crisis isn’t necessarily contingent to seeking instruction, there is definitely a correlation here. Those that go through some kind of personal life upheaval are for example far more likely to turn to religion, like when it was reported that 24% of adults in the US stated that their faith had become stronger during the pandemic. Whilst I’m sure that there is some kind of psychologically accurate backing for this, I think it comes as no surprise that life major disruption occurring in our lives could encourage us to look outwards for reprieve.
What to do?
The 1970’s recession, also known as a period of ‘Stagflation’ saw the halt of economic expansion in the Western World following WWII. Unique to this recession was the synchronic high rate of unemployment and high inflation, not dissimilar to what we’re experiencing now, specifically in the UK. Expectedly, year after year saw the disposable incomes of many households declining, and ‘spending power’ decrease substantially. The 1970’s saw nationwide ‘hardship’ and has been characterised as ‘a decade of strikes, the three day week, sky high inflation – and (…) streets strewn with rubbish’. According to ‘’, “Survey after survey showed a deteriorating public confidence over the economy and government policy in the latter half of the 70’s”.
The lack of confidence in the systems that were supposed to guide the public make it entirely unsurprising that there was power in another kind of authority around the same time.
In addition to being recognised for it’s economic turbulence, the 70’s are also recognised amongst historians as being popular for the rise of NRM’s[1] and more specifically, of Cults.
Those that are by now incredibly televised like Heaven’s Gate -1997, and People’s Temple -1978, have been heavily studied to better help identify the causes and symptoms of cult-like behaviour. Still, before we focus on identifying cult-like exhibitions of behaviour, it was even more important to recognize what it looks like when the conditions for cults are just right.
Mistrust in government
Western society as it stands now serves as a kind of warning in this regard, and many have likened our current climate to the way things were in the 70’s. Like the 70’s, we’re in no shortage of nationwide, worldwide suffering, and a lack of direction. The current decline in the national trust in government is similar to that which I mentioned earlier as having occurred 50 or so years ago. In the UK, only 35% of the population stated that they trusted the national government, (6% lower than the OECD[2] average). Similarly, the public trust in government is reportedly near ‘historic lows’ in the US, with as little as 20% of Americans being able to trust the government to do ‘what is right most of the time’. Like I said before, the existence of personal life challenges make us substantially more susceptible to external persuasion, and there are those that theorise that within the next decade, Gen-Z (now aged 11-26), will have a big cult boom that will mimic what we saw in the 70’s.
The idiot myth
- Those that believe they’re immune to brainwashing are often the most vulnerable to it.
Perhaps one of the most important qualities to highlight when it comes to recognising correct conditions for the creation of a cult is a false sense of awareness, specifically when it comes to believing that we’re less vulnerable to indoctrination than we actually are. It is no secret that a key prioritisation amongst my generation is education. I’m not talking about education in the institutional sense, because everybody around my age tends to be viscerally anti-institution. Instead, I’m talking more about education in the sense that we often promote intellectualism given that it increases our ability to think freely. At the moment, a lot of young people are very keen to both know for themselves and to demonstrate to others that they are intellectual in a seeing-through-the-façade kind of way, and in the way that a lot of people recognise the importance of ‘de-influencing’ our minds and unlearning a lot of what we’ve been taught.
But we may have gotten too confident in our skills at detecting indoctrination as it occurs. An example I saw discussed in an online forum references the way in which we’re so keen to glamourize symptoms of mental illness, as being symptomatic of some kind of awakening. In addition to being an incredibly dangerous pitfall to fall down in a personal sense, the romanticisation of mental illness in this way allows us to normalise mental suffering, undoing all the good work that has been done in previous years that has allowed for an increased awareness in the prevalence of mental illness amongst young people.
I mean it’s true that people can go through spiritual awakenings, or experience increased levels of societal consciousness, and I find that in a lot of ways I’m always looking at practices to increase my own level of awareness, as not to be ‘lead astray’. But nevertheless, there seems to be an arrogance when it comes to our perceived sense of mental agility, an arrogance which when mimicked across an entire generation, only makes us susceptible to a different kind of brainwashing, which would instead appeal to our egos.
What to think?
Pop-culture typically portrays people in cults as being ignorant or unaware when this idea completely opposes what we’ve seen in reality. Intellectualism doesn’t protect people from cult-conducive environments, and what we have got are a bunch of young and intelligent people fully aware that they're going to have to face a world suffering the consequences of those currently in positions of power. The acknowledgement of this ‘impending doom’ allows people to shamelessly seek salvation in various different forms.
“Loneliness, a lack of purpose, and desperation all make you susceptible to cults no matter how smart you are. In fact, your very clever brain is also extremely capable of redirecting your thoughts away from realizing you're being exploited and abused because, after all, you're not some idiot, are you?”
Political upheaval
Some cults are religious, (some political).
The common misconception when we’re talking about suitable conditions for a cult argues for the misguided disciple, having previously undergone a crisis of faith, in search for a new religious leader and community, in addition to some larger sense of purpose. But just like those that undergo a crisis of faith, those that experience a complete loss of faith in the crucial foundations of society are just as receptive to manipulation. The conditions for the manufacturing of a cult also include the political upheaval that leaves many looking around for an ideological path.
We can recognise the need for ideology that challenges governing systems, whilst also acknowledging that there are bound to be those determined to exploit our willingness to explore new ways of functioning as a society. It is extremely important that we continue to examine the personalities of those behind ideologies we admire, because we have seen time and time again with Ghandi and Mother Teresa and that being good person in theory doesn’t equate to being a good person in practice.
One thing we have learned in recent years as a result of the cyclical rise and fall of various internet personalities is how worryingly capable social media influencers are when it comes to being able to build a cult of personality[3]. The idealisation of those made famous by their online personas has helped to dictate trend after trend and create para-social relations that allow captive audiences to feel connected to their ‘leaders’. Influencers are able to attract people from all over the world and convince others that we’re are interested in what they are selling. Admittedly it is far easier to convince others to buy certain clothing or makeup items than it is to manipulate somebody into adopting new values and principles, but even this isn’t out of the realms of possibility.
What to feel?
Wellness Tik-Tok serves as an example of what it can look like when an idealisation of certain lifestyles can influence our behaviours. The sudden surge in those drawn to ‘spirituality’ in a very arbitrary way signifies how just malleable we can be, and in times of political upheaval, what presents itself as an ideology that antithesizes oppressive structures are too easily bought.
from a Tumblr Forum (linked below)
Admittedly this post is substantially shorter than most of my others, and typically I provide an end note applicable to your every day lives. But I think today’s post just serves as a way for me to pass on an interesting perspective. An alternative perspective would have me doubting that our current societal conditions aren’t in fat conducive to the rise of cults, like it was in the 70’s. But as we’re always trying to remain ‘aware’, I think exercising our minds to the point where we’re beginning to consider ourselves a bit over-zealous with certain thoughts is incredibly productive. I guess it would be arrogant to assume myself completely impenetrable to any form of conditioning, and so it’s much more settling to at least entertain this idea than it would be to dismiss it.
At the moment we’re still missing our charismatic cult leader, and any kind of distinct organisation to help demonstrate what people are theorizing about our susceptibility to cults. But since the conditions are in a sense perfect, it might only be a matter of time.
Asisa