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You may be part of a cult! Here are the warning signs
5 years ago
You may be a member of a cult and not even know it. Here are some of the warning signs:
* Are people guilty by default ("Original Sin") and must take active measures to atone for this guilt?
* Are attempts to refute this default guilt used against the people refuting them? This is also known as a Kafka Trap.
* Is your first reaction to people that oppose your dogma insults, censorship, and/or violence?
* Have you exiled any family or friends that you once respected over their refusal to adhere to very specific beliefs that have had little to do with your relationship until that moment?
Then you may be in a cult. They come in all forms, and not all of them are strictly about faith in deific figures. Mania is sweeping through the world right now, turning people against one another as these cults are growing worldwide. Censorship and exile are tools used to prevent any mutual truth from being found and keep people trapped within these cults. Don't let yourself fall into these traps. You may have to accept exile from your cult, but it's better than perpetuating this dangerous behavior.
* Are people guilty by default ("Original Sin") and must take active measures to atone for this guilt?
* Are attempts to refute this default guilt used against the people refuting them? This is also known as a Kafka Trap.
* Is your first reaction to people that oppose your dogma insults, censorship, and/or violence?
* Have you exiled any family or friends that you once respected over their refusal to adhere to very specific beliefs that have had little to do with your relationship until that moment?
Then you may be in a cult. They come in all forms, and not all of them are strictly about faith in deific figures. Mania is sweeping through the world right now, turning people against one another as these cults are growing worldwide. Censorship and exile are tools used to prevent any mutual truth from being found and keep people trapped within these cults. Don't let yourself fall into these traps. You may have to accept exile from your cult, but it's better than perpetuating this dangerous behavior.
But seriously.
Some people in cults use these same measures to try to project on others to -join- their cult, so be wary. "You're being censored." "You're being rejected" "Join us in the truth we have" A reminder that the removal of misinformation is not censorship. An opinion should not be censored, but so many people think their misinformation spouting and lying is an 'opinion'. Stating "2+2=3" is not an opinion. It's wrong. The same goes for outlandish claims that spread between one another in similar beliefs in order to be used to further their falsified oppression, strife, vilification of others, and so on.
So keep in mind, journals like these can be used as 'traps' by cultists to 'uno reverse card' them into recruiting for their cults. I've seen it before, and I doubt I'll never see it again, my uncle pulls this shit. "Well, <Media> says such and such." is usually his excuse when approached about it, then he goes into rants about how he's being censored, and how people are violent towards him.
So a reminder that all of these things are not pure criteria for such. Some people deserve criticism for lies and misinformation, and they will act oppressed or that they're being attacked for not wanting to be wrong.
Final note.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cult
Good resources on what a cult is and understanding them. A reminder that calling someone who disagrees with you a cultist does not mean they're in a cult, because I've noticed that behavior a lot lately.
What makes it cultish is when people lash out at dissenting opinions and try to silence them or worse, cancel them. Because of the aforementioned "publish or perish" paradigm, even scientific studies are not absolute evidence of anything and should be taken with a grain of salt. Veritasium did a great video about how the publication process greatly favors wrong results: https://youtu.be/42QuXLucH3Q
Where we all fall to darkness is where information that goes against these potentially flawed and unconfirmed studies gets labelled as misinformation and censored, and studies that attempt to confirm either are vanished down the memory hole or aren't even attempted for fear of being accused of spreading misinformation. This makes our system of selective scientific funding and publishing, and the very tight media filter that further limits information a horrible mess that has the potential to paint a completely wrong picture of reality. Again, truth should stand on its own without censorship, so we should be extremely suspicious of censorship. This situation is not too different from Catholic Church in the dark ages when the Church similarly tightly restricted access to information. Worse, is people turning on each other and attacking each other precisely for being skeptical of this tightly controlled world view and this is what turns it from a potentially dangerous religion into a cult.
There are multiple non-exclusive cults running amok this very day so if you think I'm only talking about one, think again. These behaviors have existed for millennia and they're still being exploited today by a number of people. What I'm asking is that people do not attack and cancel friends, family, and associates because of different views. That maybe there are multiple sides to an issue that are not very well presented. And that censorship only further elevates these ideas from "irrefutable" to "questioning is heresy".