It Could Happen Here - Political Cults, Part 1 Ft. Andrew: Spooky Week #4

Episode Date: November 1, 2023

Andrew talks with Garrison about cult formations within political groups.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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You know what I'm thinking about recently? Cults. Oh, one of my favorite topics. Cults are fun. Yeah, yeah. I mean, the term cult is in some ways just another pejorative

for, you know, a group that you don't like sure um you know a cult of personality could be used to describe a very passionate fan base um we use cult classic to talk about you know really well-known and renowned uh pieces of media yeah you know cult could also actually refer to high control groups that ruin people's lives you know so that's something to consider yeah yes i know that there's some debate within sociology about oh should we use it should we not use it um but i don't think the occasional misapplications of the term should distract us from the very real cults that have existed or do exist out there um cultults not just in the context of religion,

but also in the context of politics. Absolutely. I can think of many a political cult that rears its head whenever there's a popular uprising. Indeed. PSL. Recently, I picked up on the edge political cults left and right by Dennis Turish and Tim Wilford and as I was going through it and going through all the different examples and stuff it really

gave me a clearer sense of how political cults operate and so today I'd like to take some time to discuss the nature of political cults, and perhaps in future episodes we can dive into some specific examples and case studies, of which there are several, and many of them seem to be of the Trotskyist variety. Let me ask my commander-in-chief Bob, I'm if I'm allowed to talk about this before I continue this episode. Revisionists, revisionists everywhere. No, continue, please. Yeah. So first, I guess we need to understand what cults are in general.

Typically, cults are defined as a relatively small group, which is typically led by a charismatic and self-appointed leader who excessively controls its members requiring unwavering devotion to a set of religious, spiritual, or philosophical beliefs and practices, or a particular person, object, or goal, which is considered outside the norms of society. The American family foundation defined cults as a group or movement exhibiting great or excessive devotion or dedication to some person, idea, or thing, and employing unethical, manipulative, or coercive techniques of persuasion and control, for example, isolation from former friends and family, debilitation, use of special methods to

heighten suggestibility and subservience, powerful group pressures, information management, suspension of individuality or critical judgment, promotion of total dependence on the group and fear of leaving it, designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual or possible detriment of members, their families, or the community. We can also define cults as organizations that remold individuality to conform to the codes and needs of the cult, institute taboos that preclude doubt and criticism, and generate an elitist mentality whereby members see themselves as lone evangelists struggling to bring enlightenment to the hostile forces surrounding them.

struggling to bring enlightenment to the hostile forces surrounding them. There is only one truth, and that is the truth espoused by the cult. Competing explanations are not merely inaccurate, but degenerate. Cults don't have opponents, they have enemies, and frequently dream about their ultimate destruction. Now, cults are usually associated with religion, particularly of the new age and self-help variety. Sometimes it even gets into the kind of

multi-level marketing schemes of business training. Oh yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I mean, honestly, the lines between MLMs, pyramid schemes, and cults is quite blurred at this point. Essential oils, all that stuff. Yeah, it's a very fluid dynamic because, no, in practice, a lot of those, if they're not

cults themselves, they do pick up a lot of cultish tactics, behavior, modes of interaction. Honestly, you could apply that to a lot of businesses these days. I mean, I've seen more than a handful of Medium articles articles like this is why you should run your business like a cult here are seven cult tactics that you could apply to your business to generate more productivity kind of classic linkedin style stuff stuff. Yeah, so in 2000, which is when the book Political Cults Left and Right was published, it cited that as many as

4 million Americans may have been involved with cult groups, and that there were around 500 cults active in Britain at the time, and between 3,000 and 5,000 in the United States. And honestly, that can be an understatement. Especially nowadays, even just with how the internet

has changed social interactions. A lot of aspects of American culture have either been or always have been kind of cultified. Whether that includes stuff like the Marvel or Star Wars fan base or

sports teams or your little church who has this one pastor for like 50 years who controls what everyone wears and what everyone's allowed to say whatever one's allowed to watch and who and who they're allowed to vote for right like it's a lot of aspects have been kind of now sucked into kind of like the what like the modern nuclear family kind of looks like a lot of the dynamics that makes that that kind of churns that machine have a lot a lot of cult aspects yeah yeah definitely and honestly that's where like you know sociologists would contend with the tomb right because honestly there are some definitions of a cult that literally would just apply to pretty much any religious group sure um and whatever your thoughts are on

that you know it's it's it's clear that although religious groups do have their issues um we're were speaking about a very specific and concentrated approach to that type of organization. I mean, cults could be as small as two people, right? Where one person is controlling the other through claiming a position of privilege inside. In fact, a lot of cults start with just two people, the leader and their first acolyte, you know? And larger cults can also have smaller sub-cults within them,

as, you know, certain members branch out and pursue their own little fiefdoms. Cults weaponize people's emotions to bring them into the fold. I mean, you don't rationalize your way into a cult. The people at Heaven's Gate weren't like huh yeah you know that that really makes sense i should probably investigate that according to all these uh studies and calculations it really really all lines up you know and similarly most don't even rationalize their way out of a cult. Cult recruitment and cult disillusion are mostly involving constantly shifting emotional states, which helps to lead to loss of subtlety and nuance

in one's thoughts and feelings. And on top of that, cults are very good at making members feel special. You know, these minor insights are presented as profound revelations, commonly held ideas are claimed as exclusive to the cult, boosting members' sense of intellectual superiority. Where apocalypse is concerned, cults operate under the assumption that they are the only ones who can avert imminent catastrophe, fostering a belief in their infallibility. And then members are isolated from their pre-cult self and life, as their old beliefs are discarded and they're consumed by cult activities, embracing a new sense of self and riding high on the illusions and promises of a

glorious future, with often destructive and violent means needed to reach that goal. That description can apply to both religious cults and political cults and political cults no i was definitely viewing that through even a more so a political lens just because that's you know a lot of what we cover on the show um yeah no like that can even that can even also i mean it can obviously describe like we've kind of been alluding to these big like communist kind of cult groups that operate particularly in North America. But honestly, that description can also like be applied to just like a really that are more inherently authoritarian versus ones that aren't. But, you know, if you look at like the Libertarian Party of the United States, right, and all of their little local chapters, right, they claim to be anti-authoritarian. but a lot of a lot of their uh internal politics are very authoritarian but also like the the specific local chapters whenever they get new people in and they kind of have someone new take take charge of their chapter it does have a little kind of cult dynamic running

and i don't think that's um restricted just to those on the right of the political spectrum. I think there's definitely aspects where you even see this in anarchist compositions, at least in the United States, in my observation. Yeah, definitely. I think people hear cults and they immediately think like the destructive cults of people of like the people's temple of jim jones right sure i mean those members through deliberate action abused physically injured or killed other members of their own group and other people you know and then of course the doomsday cult people think about like heaven's gates who believe in some kind of apocalypticism or millenarianism uh but i want to talk about political cults right

and not just political cults on the left even though that's a very um easy target to go after um because you know we are involved in these spaces but you know there are a lot of right-wing political cults as well you know that will that will get their due attention in due time. In fact, the first political cult that I do want to talk about in another episode is a cult that really ran the gamut from left to right. The leader of that cult, the last name rhymes with La Poche. But, you know, we'll get to that in due time okay alright alright alright I will wait for the

for the reveal do you know who else really loves cults? who's that? the products and services that pay both my bills and some of your bills so here is a perfect space for an ad break.

Thanks, Chevron, if you're advertising for pushing forward the great American tradition of cultish behavior in the economic system. Welcome. I'm Danny Thrill. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter

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El Te Caliente and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German, where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming

and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology. I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough, so join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. We are back.

Have you ever read the book Cultish? So I classify my engagement with literature in two broad camps, books I've read and books I've skimmed. That's a book I've skimmed. Okay. All right. All right. It is definitely a fine book to skim. No, it's definitely a good kind of – a good central piece of literature kind of on this topic, especially as it relates to getting out of just like Heaven's Gate or Scientology. There's very obvious cults. I was starting to look at the general cultishness of this entire continent and specifically the United States.

It's definitely a fun read if anyone is interested in the topic yeah i think it particularly focuses on cult language right how the language of cult is used to manipulate people yeah so political cults right i mean in a world where established politics has failed us again and again. Many have turned to radical politics, right and left. I mean, as someone who doesn't really consider myself left, but I do like relate to it in some way, you know, a typical anarchist. Yeah, I'm on the same, I'm in the same boat as you there. Yeah, I don't see radicalization towards the left as necessarily a bad thing.

I mean, there are a lot of rabbit holes and pitfalls I think people fall into when they start progressing in that trajectory. But, you know, people's frustrations with this failing system are real and it's good that they're seeking radical alternatives. Some of those alternatives are terrible and should be called out.

But the premise of needing revolutionary system change is not terrible, which is why I disagree with the book's kind of centrist bent. Because it puts forward the idea that revolution is like this dramatic thing, right? Like, why would you be proposing that unless you were a cult kind of vibe? It also ends up drawing some equivalences between the radical left and the radical right. Sure. Although I will say as well, the book is primarily discussing Marxist-Leninists when it talks about political cults in the far left. And as we'll see, the way that Marxist-Leninists structure things, it is somewhat conducive to that particular formation. to that particular formation.

Not to slander all Marxist-Leninists, but the ideology is, you know, in some ways compatible, in many ways compatible with cult organization. Yeah. And I do agree with the book's criticisms of the way that a lot of Marxist-Leninists specifically organize their movements

and organizations. But yeah, preamble aside, the book defines political cults as environments where individuals are encouraged to envision a future society under their control. These members are often praised as visionary leaders, referred to as cadres, who will hold significant power in the new world order. At the same time, they are criticized for not fully grasping the ideals of the founders in the present. The slow progress toward realizing the cult's goals is attributed to their perceived lack of effort. The leader is credited with the

cult's achievements, while any setbacks are blamed on the members' perceived laziness. This combination of grandiose vision and an internal culture that suppresses dissent creates an environment where questioning any aspect of the group's ideology is met with intense fear and punishment. And political cults really do present a danger. Most of them are marginal, irrelevant, but they do cause harm to the people within them and the people outside of them. And if they manage to take stake power like in cambodia

it really has like extremely disastrous results and i would call paul potter cult leader i would go as far as to say that political cults have been mostly far right right there are some far left cults in the mix um which in my opinion is even more depressing because it's like you were so close and then yeah there you go so like a lot of my ire is targeted towards political cults on the left because it's like wow you know almost there and then now you're stuck planting the flag of the CCP in front of a university in the US or something. Yeah. Many, many such cases. Many such cases.

All sorts of political cults demand that their true believers be prepared to embrace the group's inflexible theology and strict organizational practices, much to the peril of society, and honestly, the waste of the talents, energy, and commitment to their members. For as long as I can remember, cults have been a bad thing. You know, cults suck, right? Cults of all types really suck. I'm still inevitably- Generally, yeah. Generally, cults have kind of a bad rap.

Yeah, yeah. I can't imagine why. But then that lends itself to the question of why do people join them now they're stupid how do they recruit and keep their members like what's going on there is it that they just didn't know is it that oh cult me up. I want to take a very unorthodox approach and offer you, Garrison, personally, a guide to start your own cult. Oh, I thought a lot about this already. But I am very happy to take notes here. Let me make a new Google Doc.

Sure. We're drawn from the work of social psychologists anthony pratkanis and elliott aronson so just follow these steps all right all right step one create a distinct social reality cults isolate members from external sources of information making them interact primarily with other cult members this leads to a shift in vocabulary towards the cult's lingo, making it difficult for them to communicate with non-cult members, which leads to the uncritical acceptance of the cult's propaganda. The cult's belief system must be rigid and all-encompassing.

Their analysis answers everything about the world, and there is nothing beyond it. Left-wing cults believe that their ideology is the only valid lens through which to view the world historical materialism while right-wing cults often center their beliefs around conspiracy theories particularly related to race and remember the group's beliefs are beyond question or falsification no tests or challenges are allowed that might lead to a revaluation of these beliefs. Any dissent or questioning is labeled as heresy or betrayal or you know better kind of vibe. Step two, create an in-group and an out-group. Cults emphasize differences between their in-group and perceived out-groups, fostering loyalty among members.

It really doesn't matter who the out-group is. You just need to have an out-group of some kind. So for far-right cults, it's like Jewish people, black people, gay people. Those are the necessary out-groups. That's like the bare minimum out-group for most right-wing groups, right? Yeah. It's like checklist, you know, typical. I mean, of course course some go even further

and they might say something like anybody who isn't a white anglo-saxon protestant is excluded from their groups but you know sorry became kind of irrelevant sorry catholics you're not yeah yeah r.i.p catholics r.i.p irish etc and then for far left cults in order to isolate the members further they can't just rely on like bourgeoisie as the out group because i mean the rest of the left already has the bourgeoisie as an opponent so these far left cults have to create other out groups to target their ire and isolate their members from as well yeah it it becomes much more like seeped in ideology than some, than like compared to some of the right wing cults.

I think generally the cults on the left get way more into creating kind of ideological distinctions that separate the in group and the out group. And the ideology becomes the thing that like, this is like, that becomes like the unquestionable thing that answers all of the truths and all of like the problems of the world, whether that's like an apocalyptic version where you're talking about like some like collapse or it's, you know, like a,

or even like a, a utopic version, right. Where you're talking about the, the Marxist Leninist party is going to seize power through the vanguard and control swaths of territory and return

power to the proletariat. Yes, and the true obstacles to that party are the revisionists, the ultra-leftists, etc., etc., etc. The post-leftists, the anarchists, yeah, the social Democrats, as always. The enemy to all sides.

Truly, the one that everyone loves to hate. Yeah, yeah, truly. The patty-bouge scum. Right, next step. Step three. Build commitment through dissonance reduction so cults manipulate cognitive dissonance by gradually escalating members commitment to the group's beliefs and actions this leads to a sense of consistency and eventually conversion so you don't throw a newbie

into the cool air right away you start small and you build up from there maybe first you join a meeting then maybe you start voting in the meetings then you handed out flyers for the cult at like a black lives matter protest for example and then you're sipping the kool-aid you know it's like baby steps you don't throw them into the into all the ting right away next step four maintain a rigid internal regime. Decision-making power is concentrated in the hands of a select elite within the group. Formal controls and democratic processes are either dismantled or ignored, even though the organization may claim to be democratic on paper. organization may claim to be democratic on paper.

And this environment helps to foster uncertainty, fear, and confusion among members, which actually helps to reinforce their commitment to the group, believe it or not. Five. Step five. Establish the attractiveness and credibility of the leader.

Ooh, all righty. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, makeover. This is why it's going to be all over as soon as they start making twink cults. It's going to be...

Whole swaths of the population just are going to immediately fall victim. Indeed, indeed. These grand or supreme leaders are legends. Extraordinary in their qualities. Your twinkness. New age cults do this. Sorry.

New age cults do this with their sex fest leaders and stuff. But, oh my God, I can't not mention the veneration that political cults place on their leaders, right? Yeah, yeah, yeah. I mean, Hitler fans just obsessed with the guy i mean that goes without saying yeah this applies to like to like people who are really into hitler people who are really into stalin people who are really into mao they become this almost like messianic figure yeah yeah i mean even before i understood cults better i could see very clearly early on,

even, you know, before my readings, theory and everything, just being exposed to, you know, that space, that there is a veritable cult of Lenin, of the Kim family, of Mao, of Trotsky, and of Stalin. And far be it from you to point out their flaws and mistakes

either it's denied outright as outside propaganda or it's kept on the down low as much as possible specific to the north korea situation right you often see its supporters saying things like yes there are problems with north korea and we, we do discuss our criticisms behind closed doors, but openly, you know, it's full throttled, full throated support, which I find very interesting. Yeah. Step six, speaking of leaders, the leader needs privileges, naturally. Personal power, wealth accumulation, and often sexual favors as well. Activities that are usually deemed unacceptable for ordinary members are tolerated when applied to leaders. Why? Because

step seven, you make sure to deify the leader. Leaders, whether historical or current, are elevated to a near-defined status. they're carrying on the legacy and defending it from revision if the og is already dead you resolve the arguments by referencing the sayings of these leaders rather than through independent analysis so it's not well you know this is the case because we examined x y and z factor it's this is the case because puss and a said so in 19th century text number 376 or whatever it's it's 600 pages long it's it's yeah i mean do you even read capital like come on all. All 25 volumes. I mean, no shade to capital.

I mean, it's a good book. No, absolutely. If you want to read about, like, German factory conditions, it is definitely 18th century German factory politics. It is an unparalleled book. Yeah, definitely. Step eight. You need to send members to proselytize members need to constantly promote the benefits of the cult to others because that reinforces their own beliefs that self-generated persuasion strengthens their commitment and to be fair

this applies even outside of cults right like if you're in the habit of sharing a particular ideology or religion or philosophy, the process of sharing it often helps you to understand it and also lends to you being further persuaded by it. But in the context of everything else, in the context of the cults, it really becomes a feedback loop, quote, which is shorn of all interference from the outside world and in which only the liturgy of the cult has any semblance of reality. Number nine, step nine, distract members from undesirable thoughts. Overworking members, keep them busy and exhausted, far too busy and exhausted to question the group's direction or beliefs. Social life,

friendships, those all revolve around the group. And of course, those friendships are entirely conditional on the maintenance of uncritical enthusiasm for the party line. The book uses the example of the Workers' Revolutionary Party in Britain, which has a chapter in the book all to itself. Despite never being able to muster more than 1% of the vote in any elections, somehow this small organization managed to put out a daily newspaper, keeping the members busy, busy, busy, busy, busy. Next, number 10. Fixate members on a promised land.

Cults create an idealized vision of the future that contrasts with the current reality. That promised land may be an alien spaceship to the next dimension, a religious ethnostate, or a Marxist-Leninist utopia. But in either case, the cult's members are driven to work tirelessly to achieve this vision, fairing missed opportunities. They're constantly either recruiting and fundraising and kept in a constant state of lewdness reinforcing their commitment to the group's beliefs now garrison if you follow these steps you will have a fairly effective cult but you know what just for you i'm going to throw in a bonus package of commonly held contradictions you could call it the double think package

commonly held contradictions. You could call it the double-think package. Okay, all right. I'm all ears. I'm really, really desperate at this point. Because I've kind of sunk cost fallacy this, right? We've already been, I've already been learning for like 30 minutes.

I feel like I need to take away more information at the end. Because if I go and apply this now, I feel like I'm only gonna half ass it i need i need one final one final thing to kind of click into place here absolutely check this out right love of liberty and support for totalitarianism right these seem like two opposite things how can how can both of these coexist? You can hold them in your brain simultaneously, right? Check this, right? Left-wing cults would idealize

a very democratic Soviet Union of the past. You know, some Trotskyist groups even depict an earlier period as democratic before being corrupted by later leaders. And then right-wing cults would claim to champion individual liberty, but seek to curtail democratic rights for those who disagree with

so the democracy is upheld but it's theoretical so it's like yeah democracy would also come on the material conditions you can't have democracy in that kind of situation ah i see so you're loving yes like i'm a democracy advocate but but also democracy gets in the way sometimes. We have to get past it. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You see what I'm cooking? We have the democracy of me and my three friends, but not everybody. Yeah, it's democracy, but it's centered around a group.

You could call it democratic centralism or something like that. Anyway. That's a great idea. That's a great idea. Thank you. Welcome. I'm Danny Threl. Won't you join me at the fire and dare enter.

Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows presented by iHe fire and dare enter. Nocturnum, Tales from the Shadows, presented by I Heart and Sonorum. An anthology of modern day horror stories inspired by the legends of Latin America. From ghastly encounters with shapeshifters to bone-chilling brushes with supernatural creatures. I know you. Take a trip and experience the horrors

that have haunted Latin America since the beginning of time. Listen to Nocturnal Tales from the Shadows as part of my Cultura podcast network, available on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hola, mi gente. It's Honey German, and I'm bringing you Gracias, Come Again,

the podcast where we dive deep into the world of Latin culture, musica, peliculas, and entertainment with some of the biggest names in the game. If you love hearing real conversations with your favorite Latin celebrities, artists, and culture shifters, this is the podcast for you. We're talking real conversations with our Latin stars,

from actors and artists to musicians and creators sharing their stories, struggles, and successes. You know it's going to be filled with chisme laughs and all the vibes that you love. Each week, we'll explore everything from music and pop culture to deeper topics like identity, community and breaking down barriers in all

sorts of industries. Don't miss out on the fun, el té caliente and life stories. Join me for Gracias Come Again, a podcast by Honey German where we get into todo lo actual y viral. Listen to Gracias Come Again on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, I'm Ed Zitron, host of the Better Offline podcast, and we're kicking off our second season digging into how tech's elite has turned Silicon Valley into a playground for billionaires. From the chaotic world of generative AI to the destruction of Google search, Better Offline is your unvarnished and at times unhinged look at the underbelly of tech from an industry veteran with nothing to lose. This season, I'm going to be joined by everyone from Nobel-winning economists to leading journalists in the field, and I'll be digging into why the products you love keep getting worse and naming and shaming those responsible. Don't get me wrong, though. I love technology.

I just hate the people in charge and want them to get back to building things that actually do things to help real people. I swear to God things can change if we're loud enough. So join me every week to understand what's happening in the tech industry and what could be done to make things better. Listen to Better Offline on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever else you get your podcasts. Check out betteroffline.com. Next, we have belief in equality and privilege for leaders. That last one seems kind of important. Yeah.

So you're going to be advocating for equality, but then your leaders are going to have a bunch of privileges. Well, yeah, because we're spending all the time advocating. We need a little bit of something extra. Exactly. So the members, well, they get to go out there and spend time fundraising and stuff, but they can't have a say in how the money is spent right like we need that money

you know for our personal projects and our extremely high standard of living check this out this is very common in religious cults but also very common in some political cults promotion of sexual morality and sexual exploitation huh? well okay I'm not gonna I think I'll stop the playing along bit at this one actually

yeah yeah yeah fair enough but yes it's terrible it's truly terrible this is a very common thing yeah you know cults will impose very strict sexual rules, particularly on members, but

particularly on women. And the leaders will still, like, have a whole harem of female members that they exploit and stuff. This is even quite common with, like, hardline evangelical cults in the States, whether that's kind of like a quiverful related or just other kind of smaller evangelical normalized in a lot of, in a lot of Protestant and, and Catholic, you know, doctrine.

Yeah, exactly. Exactly. It's, it's frighteningly common. And I've certainly heard that like, you know, like Stalinists or Maoists specifically have have weird, weird sex stuff going on. But I've I've never I've never quite poked that bear. But I have I have heard that there's specifically really weird sex stuff around Maoists. But yeah, that is also really weird sex stuff around Mao, allegedly. I've heard more to bodies exploits moving along

last one in this little bonus package the rest you'll have to like pay the 12 simple payments of $999 to get you know that's one payment every month but each month I get more information

about how to do it better that sounds like a great deal oh yeah for sure because I mean you'll be swimming in cash by the time yeah because now I can use these and I can pass down these steps to someone else so I'll already get my money back

and they can pass it down pass it down and then you'll get kickbacks from that as well. That's great. It's almost like a multi-level scheme. It's like there's a triangle and there's different tiers of it and you're technically one above me, but I'm still pretty close to the

top. If I keep bringing it down then it gets wider and wider. That sounds like a pretty good setup. And then I benefit, and then you benefit. The triangle is actually the strongest shape. Structurally. So check this out, right?

Demand for free speech and suppression of dissent. Right, so cults will vigorously defend their right to free speech, even resorting to legal action. There's some very infamous court cases involving cults will vigorously defend their right to free speech, even resorting to legal action. There's some very infamous court cases involving cults. Yes.

And then they will criticize rival organizations for, you know, undemocratic practices. And yet, within the ranks of the group, dissent is actively suppressed, you know? Yeah, this is like the scientology classic here yeah exactly and members will be told like yeah you should absolutely criticize but then if they do criticize you know they're going to be humiliated they could very easily be expelled it's like a bait and switch it's like yeah we give you this platform to criticize so then we know who to target and to tear down very very common very very useful when you want to you know strengthen the integrity of your cult all right and one last quick game let's ask ourselves really you're just yeah You're just giving this up for free. Yeah, only if you call right now.

So let's ask ourselves, am I already in a political cult? Good question, actually. This is something people should ask themselves pretty frequently. Yes, yes. And to figure that out, we have to look at the conditions that indicate the presence of ideological totalism a term coined by american psychiatrist robert j lifton to give a name to the mood of absolute convictions which embeds ideas so deeply in people's heads that they grow inoculated against doubt so what are the eight conditions he identifies as indicating the presence of ideological totalism? Well, there's milieu control, mystical manipulation, the demand for purity, the cult of confession, the secret science, loading the language, doctrine over person, and the dispensing of existence.

What do those mean? One at a time. Milieu control involves techniques that dominate a person's contact with the outside world and communication with themselves right so that idea of cults isolating people preventing them from testing the group's ideas against external alternatives mystical manipulation is where cults claim a sense of higher purpose and portray the ideology as the vanguard of social development that's all-en encompassing this is the essential ideology for the future of the world demand for purity is of course where members are like convicted of their superiority and purity in their beliefs the core ideas are essential and anybody who is a non-member as a critic or is a critic

is an accomplice in some kind of conspiracy against the cult's ideas. The cult of confession is where members are required to confess their inadequacies and failures in group meetings, which helps to break down individuality and helps to intimidate potential dissenters.

The sacred science through the group's ideology is presented as a sacred moral vision, so you can't really question its basic assumptions. The immortal science of Marx the group's ideology is presented as a sacred moral vision. So you can't really question its basic assumptions. The immortal science of Marxist-Leninist. The immortal science, indeed. Loading the language is what we were talking about earlier, where cults use repetitive phrases and thought-terminating cliches to prevent critical analysis and limit thinking and feeling. Doctrine over person is where historical myths are created or altered to align with the cult's ideology. And the dispensing of existence is where only those

who adhere to the group's ideology are fully human or good, while all others are seen as agents of evil or barriers to progress. I hope that whole delivery has been useful for you in determining whether or not you are in a cult as well as determining how you can create your own. Something that my boss has told me a lot is that there's very little difference

between a cult and a really good party. So, but the biggest difference is that a party hopefully will be over right it's it should just be like one night it should so a good party is is a cult that lasts like 12 hours tops so you can't apply a lot of these ideas to putting together a really fun house party as long as there's a mandatory dissolution of the party after everyone wakes up the next morning. Right now, I'm imagining a DJ. Yes, yes.

Like DJ Milieu Control on the beat. a DJ like yes yes like DJ milieu control on the beat we are we are putting Gex back on no no more no more ska back to Gex exactly yeah the future lies right here in this

space exactly exactly yeah exactly exactly yeah um but i mean in all seriousness political cults are really sad you know they pray on people's frustrations the desire for change they pray and what's worse is they they pray on their desire for affiliation yeah One of our most deeply rooted desires to identify with social groups, to develop an identity on a familiar, local, ethnic, or national scale.

And it's really sad that people get lost in that source. Remember that no matter what, the group you choose to affiliate with should be able to handle dissent. I think that's a very good baseline upon which to affiliate or to determine your affiliation. Healthy groups, organizations, and movements are not weakened by dissent. They need dissent, disagreement, and conflict to survive. Frequent and important disagreement makes movements and organizations stronger. It allows the individuals within them to maintain a level of independence and allows ideas to evolve through challenge rather than to exist purely due to the stifling atmosphere of conformity.

Today we spoke about the techniques employed by both left-wing and right-wing cults to maintain high levels of conformity, activism, and intolerance among their members. I want to emphasize that our discussion doesn't imply that movements striving for societal change are inherently bound to become obscure cults, although that a critical examination of modern society is not warranted. But it's important to remember that while our world's challenges require political analysis and action, the organizations that we form to address these challenges must try to genuinely seek understanding and transformation while preserving the freedom and individuality of its members. I still have a lot to say.

Create a real community, not a cult. That's all until next time. I've been Andrew of the YouTube channel Andrewism. And next we'll be discussing the one and only, the loathsome Lyndon Lerch. Peace. Visit our website, coolzonemedia.com, or check us out on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. You can find sources for It Could Happen Here updated monthly at coolzonemedia.com. Thanks for listening. You should probably keep your lights on for Nocturnal Tales from the Shadow.

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