(no subject)

People who act as if they know what cults are like, without having EVER studied them, and make sweeping negative judgments about them based on what the Cult Awareness Network and their local news channels tell them


FUCKING PISS ME OFF.


Quick. Have a gander at it. OUT OF THE TWO THOUSAND KNOWN CULTS/NEW RELIGIOUS MOVEMENTS OF THE PAST FEW YEARS, HOW MANY HAVE BEEN VIOLENT TO THEMSELVES OR OTHERS?

(Number will be taken from Dawson's book, so if you've read it [Pete Hamm], you don't get to answer.)

The closest person gets an e-cookie.

(no subject)

Max gets an e-cookie, for guessing that the correct answer to this question is seven.

Off the top of my head: Jonestown/Peoples Temple, Heaven's Gate, Waco/the Branch Davidians (was fatal not because of anything the group did, but rather the BATF's fuckups), Solar Temple, Aum Shinrikyo, the Manson Family, and, looking it up, Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God.

And yet.

Most people don't blink at Wicca/neopaganism, despite the fact that it is a cult/NRM. (They might assume it's satanic in nature.) Most have never heard of Shambhala/Vajradhatu, despite the fact that their main community is in Canada, for example. Those that people do know of are often vilified (Unification Church and Scientology both come to mind), often without reason or due to massive amounts of misinformation.

It's really kind of sad.