Anon looks into cults

The guy pictured, Marshall Applewhite, wanted to fuck dudes and was ashamed of it so he got castrated. Then, after his best friend and cult's co-founder died, he convinced a bunch of people that the world was going to end and the only way they could survive was by committing suicide so that their souls could leave on an alien spaceship hidden behind Hale-Bopp comet as it passed by. Nobody can know what he was thinking but I'd wager he was just depressed and didn't want to die alone.

EDIT: Originally said it was Hailey's comet.

Fun fact, their website is still up https://www.heavensgate.com/
- Ah yes. Just seen it was the Hale-Bopp comet, not Hailey's.
- They were intentionally left behind to continue the mission/maintain the website. Lots of people have talked to them, they’re pretty easy to find interviews with.
I'm more interested in wtf everyone else was thinking.
- Iirc, a lot of them were forced to drink it.
so internalized homophobia is what got them all killed
I think an array of mental illness and drug abuse is more likely.

Scientology somehow managed to reach cult "escape velocity" and survive the death of its leader.

and mormonism
- And Christianity.
Interesting. I feel like this theory can be expanded to not just cult but also organizations in general like a start up or a hobby club. What are the defining characteristics of a group getting to escape velocity I wonder
- Own a fuck load of property, don't pay taxes, keep attracting new people to pay into the group, convince existing members to pay more, maybe scare the feds a little so theyre forced to try cooptation rather than direct suppression

There is one cult I would welcome the ritual suicide of.

They’re just about at 10 years now.

I had to think for a while.
- You had a thought? Congrats, you're not in the cult
I’m surprised by how quickly I went from “who tf could they be referring to?” to “Oh, well yeah, that would make a great deal of sense.”
- The problems with that cult is that it would suicide the rest of us along with them
They did nearly have a Fringe of them do it a few years back
they seem to be wanting to ritual suicide entire countries now.

Cults work by coercive control to brainwash people. They subtly do it using tactics including lovebombing, isolation, limiting information, sleep deprivation and getting blackmail material to gain total control over the person's mind and body. It's the same process a domestic abuse perp uses, but they have more resources at their disposal, making it even harder to break free

When will the Trump cult suicides start?

They need to be kickstarted from the outside
That's just going to be Trump dropping nukes on California
If some legitimate damning Epstein or Russia pee tape evidence came out I think that could put things in motion

Humans are super susceptible to charisma, tribalism, and dogma

it's really just americans (and maybe places heavily influenced by america ideologically I dunno) they really aren't a major problem elsewhere noone really joins cults in the uk
- China had a serious problem with cults, while Japan and Korea are heavily influenced by America, I don't see that reflected in their cults.
  Its not like the UK is less influenced by America than places were the average person has seen like 1 American TV show or movie.
- Japan has a cult that carried out (I believe) the worst terrorist attack their country has ever seen
- In India there is a new cult faith healer everyday, and Spoilers Alert they all want to fuck your daughter and wife in order for you to go to heaven. oh and give them all your gold and money on regular basis
- Isn't/wasn't the Jesus Army cult UK based? Like, the USA just has a LOT more people than the UK does, it makes sense for there to be more people that fall into fringe groups. But the UK certainly isn't immune to it.

Oh no this can't be true this would exclude major religions which are cults as well

Excuse you, in a religion the person at the top is dead.
Ehh ... The definition of a cult includes things like isolating you from your friends and family, and having secret teachings that only the initiated have access to. I.e. the Freemasons: secret teachings, but does not try to isolate you from friends and family. Secret society, but not a cult. Religion is a cult in terms of the original sense of the word: organised worship, but not a cult as we think of them. Though some subsets definitely do get pretty culty. Don't know about these days, but when I was at university the Campus Crusaders for Christ definitely had the love-bombing and isolating you from your friends and family going on.
- As a Catholic by baptism and family tradition I do sometimes find Christianity a bit outdated, but I still think it's capable of renewing.
  I don't really have time to go to church nowadays but for example when I last got to go at Easter the priest was a Russophile of all things (this happened in Hungary) and he very much made that part of his speech. Something about the Russians doing The Good Lord's job in Ukraine, just as they did back in WWII. I'm not even kidding.
  Then again when I got to regularly go to the youth service a few years back it was basically just singing to the guitar band and looking at the Bible which was really fun, the priest was very educated and seemingly didn't have any hateful opinions, which is sadly more than you can expect from most of the clergy nowadays.
  So yes TL;DR Christianity can be very fun and inclusive without acting like a cult, but the people who make up the Christian community come in all shapes and forms and sadly most of them aren't people you would want to spend much time with, and that includes some of the priests as well whose job it should be to make people more friendly in my opinion.
  Well at least these are my experiences but I haven't ever been an integral part of any Christian Club or something like that.
euheueheuheuheueheuheuhe
wow, you're so edgy. I bet this gets you mad bussy.
- Do you think they were trying to be "edgy" or are you just programmed to respond like this?

Of you haven't watched Wild wild Country and/or Raël yet you definitely should. It's incredible.

Dude, Wild Wild Country is insane.
I watched it when it came out, knowing nothing about it besides from "cult documentary". Holy shit lol
- Same here! I still thinking about it after years.
The Realeans are a fascinating bunch.

If you last longer you become a cultural heritage issue and are delegated away from cult status

Lots of cults, probably most of them, exists far beyond the ten years range unfortunately.

Yeah, some of the biggest ones have existed for about 2000 years now or a bit longer
- right, and they don't fuck your wives, but your kids

I don't know, sounds kind of fun.

The charisma thing though, that ain't happening