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Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

cult-escape.com

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Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#61

Post by thinkingemote »

freen wrote: post #52
thinkingemote wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ironically almost every religious cult has “don’t be a jerk to people different than you” as one of it's highest precepts. Cults operate differently - it's not what they believe, it's how they behave in the world. Not saying wokeism is a cult at all, but that religious cults often have Good Well Intentions. Precepts don't make a cult. (A healthy religion encourages love and tolerance to those in the outgroup e.g "lov…

They aren’t very well hidden: they proudly wave the flag of traitorous slavers. Confederate history month still exists in a bunch of states. Have you seen the nazi flags at trump rallies? Jan 6th?

Almost every group has a theory about the people who are different than them. Sometimes the theory is based on some truths, but it's a theory, and a theory cannot represent the whole truth.

Often conspiracy theories as a whole are simplified explanations of reality. There may well be based on actual evidence. They are perversely comforting to hold. To know you are in a chosen group who really knows whats going on, that there is a clearly defined enemy that can be hated... That is psychologically comforting compared to not knowing whats going on in life. It's why every political group will define their enemy. It is more scary to not know why the world is what it is. Imagine a world of today where no one is responsible for the state of it! Conspiracy theories in cults increase in-group cohesion and decrease tolerance to those different from the group as those outside the group are often part of the conspiracy.

Conspiracy theories are mostly a pattern such as "we see these clear signs and occurrences in the world, therefore people in power are in a secret conspiracy to take over the world to bring in a hell on earth".

Conspiracy theories are encompassing explanations of reality too. They can explain missing facts, they can explain alternative explanations, they provide a narrative to unknowns, contradictory facts and evidence can be used to show how the conspiracy is working. It's very hard to see whether one is within the spell of a cult or a conspiracy theory when one is in the middle of one.

The best way to crack a cult member is to get them to see their in group / out group behaviour from the outside. So, "Why are you are jerk to people different than you?" is actually a really good question!

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#62

Post by loudtieblahblah »

stpe wrote: post #4

> Is your leader the ultimate authority of your group? Yes. Selected by, and sole connection to the mythical group "board". > Does your leader have impressive, made-up names or titles? Yes. "Chief Executive Officer". > As far as your group is concerned, would they say that there is no legitimate reason to leave them? Yes... if ever trying to leave, you are technically bribed with something that you cannot use in stor…

You laugh but corporations and the woke are just as cultish as some niche "religions"

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#63

Post by krapp »

freen wrote: post #59
mrslave wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And now let's be intellectually dishonest and pretend like they meant it literally. On Reddit.

Can’t shake the devil’s hand and say you’re only kidding. There isn’t much daylight between an ironic nazi and a real one.

The god-emperor thing was a meme. The racism and QAnon bullshit is sincere.

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#64

Post by timeon »

skinkestek wrote: post #51
antris wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Where did I say white males were the problem? I said the system is built upon white male supremacy, but I didn't blame anyone for it. The system is the problem, not people of any specific identity. White male supremacy is an ideology, not an identity. Anyone can be white male supremacist, regardless of gender or race. Also, you can definitely be a white male who's not a white male supremacist.

> White male supremacy is an ideology, not an identity. So where do these have their meetups? Where can I find contemporary writings that explain the superiority of white males?

You forgot to Address your logical error from your previous comment:

> You did say that white males where the root of the problem.

Are you now moving the goalpost?

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#65

Post by timeon »

skinkestek wrote: post #7
robertlagrant wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And wokeism.

3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and to a certain degree 9 reminds me more about certain about some anti religious groups (or even just twitter mobs) than any of the religious groups I know. (I admit I might be lucky here.)

And 1 to 10 religious ones.

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#66

Post by guerrilla »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #62
stpe wrote: post #4

> Is your leader the ultimate authority of your group? Yes. Selected by, and sole connection to the mythical group "board". > Does your leader have impressive, made-up names or titles? Yes. "Chief Executive Officer". > As far as your group is concerned, would they say that there is no legitimate reason to leave them? Yes... if ever trying to leave, you are technically bribed with something that you cannot use in stor…

You laugh but corporations and the woke are just as cultish as some niche "religions"

I agree, but also include groups which make heavy use of the phrase "the woke." Tribalism in general can easily spiral into cultism.

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#67

Post by goodpoint »

freen wrote: post #43
skinkestek wrote: post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It always astonishes me the degree to which “don’t be an asshole” is considered a radical position. That is not what wokeism means. Wokeism is about - making boys and men feel shameful for being boys and men - making white people feel shameful for being white - and other such things. What you talk about is not something that any reasonable HNer would call wokeism.

Ah, yes, at all costs, we mustn’t make white dudes feel uncomfortable. That would be a disaster! They’ve only been running things since the outset of our country, and literally using the force of law and violence to guarantee their social dominance for generations. If we point that out, and how injustice in the past impacts the present, white dudes will feel bad , and that’s intolerable. Edit: I am a white dude. And…

Most of your comment is very poorly phrased.

> And I don’t feel shame, I feel responsibility.

This is spot on. There is nothing to feel ashamed or guilty.

If anything, people can feel GOOD about creating a world where people are judged for their actions rather than attributes they have no control over.

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#69

Post by smitty1e »

loudtieblahblah wrote: post #62
stpe wrote: post #4

> Is your leader the ultimate authority of your group? Yes. Selected by, and sole connection to the mythical group "board". > Does your leader have impressive, made-up names or titles? Yes. "Chief Executive Officer". > As far as your group is concerned, would they say that there is no legitimate reason to leave them? Yes... if ever trying to leave, you are technically bribed with something that you cannot use in stor…

You laugh but corporations and the woke are just as cultish as some niche "religions"

Won't name the firm, but there was some brainwashing going on.

Re: Are you in a Religious Cult? Take the test

#70

Post by guerrilla »

skinkestek wrote: post #25
freen wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It always astonishes me the degree to which “don’t be an asshole” is considered a radical position. oh, zarzavat, of course, you are obviously correct: it’s the people who sell “F#%K your feelings” t-shirts at rallies and wave nazi flags at “legitimate political discourse” who really care about others. Trump: truly an empathetic person, deeply caring about others. Assholes never like being told they are assholes. It’…

> It always astonishes me the degree to which “don’t be an asshole” is considered a radical position. That is not what wokeism means. Wokeism is about - making boys and men feel shameful for being boys and men - making white people feel shameful for being white - and other such things. What you talk about is not something that any reasonable HNer would call wokeism.

Maybe people should stop using inflammatory and ambiguous words and actually bring up those points then. Taking shortcuts is not working and is just causing flamewars.
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