Every now and then an article gets to the front page of this website that completely baffles me as to the reason it got there. Could someone explain this one to me?
It's interesting enough to share with others.
We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
71–80 of 327 posts
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#72I was waiting for the part that would make it clear what was being satirized, and it never came? I feel like I'm missing context?
Read carefully and compare the related sentences. For example: > They make you depend solely on others within the community for your every need... Is followed by: > We have partnerships with organizations that can connect you to schooling, work, housing, and medical care...
In my reading I don't think this is the point. The deprogramming doesn't force the individual to adopt any beliefs to access those services. I think the point of the article is for the reader to consider - no matter what they and their opponents believe - that all are in a cult.
Perhaps I missed a meta level of satire with every cult starting out this way, however, but the point seems more about our existing cults.
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#73What I find remarkable is that both the word "culture" (as in the culture you were born in) and "cult" have the same stem.
When you think about it, the entire article can out of the box apply to both.
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#74A lot of people here seem to be offended by this essay because of the literal definition of the term "cult" and start looking for potential cults they may be part of. I think they are mistaken.
To me, this essay clearly speaks about the maladaptive conditioning we receive from our families and society in general during childhood and adolescence which causes us to suppress our feelings and authentic selves and treat the pain of it with medication, distraction, and OCD behaviors instead of healthy emotional release.
But I might just be projecting.
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#75Earlier quoted context omitted.
> One of the hallmark tactics of a cult is to isolate you from the rest of the world. They make you depend solely on others within the community for your every need, thus making it extremely difficult to leave. This line stood out to me and seems very apt in these days. For ex, how it's now normal to go after people's jobs directly via social media pressure tactics or business's revenue (and subsequently their employ…
If you stand apart you will be preyed upon by those that do not. We are not designed or evolved or whatever to prowl alone, because it will always be in our nature to come together and some will exploit this. And so while you stand alone they will bring all their machinations to consume your very being. Would you really be that strong to stand alone against all those that would look to exploit you.
I think this is something else because reality tends to be the exact opposite. Instead it's small groups of well organized radicals using their organization to impact everybody else disproportionately. To stick with safe examples, look at the KKK. A quick search indicates they hit their peak popularity in the 1920s with some 4 million claimed members, which would be ~3% of society. But of course they had an outsized impact on America. So you end up with a scenario where 3% of people were dominating the zeitgeist of 97% through intimidation.
And there's no particularly clear way to combat this. The internet has only made this worse. Now ever smaller groups can coordinate extremely effectively and instantaneously, while also simultaneously working to create the perception of far greater numbers than actually possessed.
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#76A lot of people here seem to be offended by this essay because of the literal definition of the term "cult" and start looking for potential cults they may be part of. I think they are mistaken. To me, this essay clearly speaks about the maladaptive conditioning we receive from our families and society in general during childhood and adolescence which causes us to suppress our feelings and authentic selves and treat t…
> But I might just be projecting.
I might be too, but this was my takeaway as well, though I stopped short of the link to medication and distraction. Family and society were enough to consider ;)
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#77I was waiting for the part that would make it clear what was being satirized, and it never came? I feel like I'm missing context?
Read carefully and compare the related sentences. For example: > They make you depend solely on others within the community for your every need... Is followed by: > We have partnerships with organizations that can connect you to schooling, work, housing, and medical care...
So cult == community?
As a bit of a libertarian, this struck me as anti-Statist (i.e. modern secular states are basically cults)
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#78I was waiting for the part that would make it clear what was being satirized, and it never came? I feel like I'm missing context?
Its just funny, it's basically saying your country/politics/church/society is a cult. And then it kind of invites you to join a different cult. So it's funny x 2
This is my take also, that society itself is a cult. They promise a theoretical "afterlife" of retirement after the age of 70, but until then we must suffer and work hard, usually to benefit someone else higher up the chain. They make you depend solely on others for your every need (food, housing, healthcare, etc.), making it extremely difficult to leave. But leave to where? There is no outside of this cult, other than the hell of homelessness.
The only real way out, it seems, is to create another cult with more humane values. Or go it alone, or with a small group of friends.
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#79Earlier quoted context omitted.
Read carefully and compare the related sentences. For example: > They make you depend solely on others within the community for your every need... Is followed by: > We have partnerships with organizations that can connect you to schooling, work, housing, and medical care...
In my reading I don't think this is the point. The deprogramming doesn't force the individual to adopt any beliefs to access those services. I think the point of the article is for the reader to consider - no matter what they and their opponents believe - that all are in a cult. Perhaps I missed a meta level of satire with every cult starting out this way, however, but the point seems more about our existing cults.
I like your interpretation. One point of difference though, although the text doesn't mention forcing adherents to follow any beliefs, it also doesn't state that there are no conditions for the services.
Re: We are sorry to inform you that you are in a cult
#80A lot of people here seem to be offended by this essay because of the literal definition of the term "cult" and start looking for potential cults they may be part of. I think they are mistaken. To me, this essay clearly speaks about the maladaptive conditioning we receive from our families and society in general during childhood and adolescence which causes us to suppress our feelings and authentic selves and treat t…
> But I might just be projecting. I might be too, but this was my takeaway as well, though I stopped short of the link to medication and distraction. Family and society were enough to consider ;)
Just to be clear, I'm not against medication or distraction when appropriate. And I agree with you :-)