So I have a few disclaimers for this video.
It’s a whole long text, but the crux of it is that this video is sponsored so don’t
trust a word I say and also don’t start a cult.
It ranks pretty high on the list of bad ideas up there with invading Russia during the winter
and buying discount coleslaw.
Nonetheless, it’s interesting to look at cults from an academic perspective because
they are one of the few real instances where real mind control is really used in real life.
“Nobody wakes up and says 'Hey I’m going to go join a cult.’”
(Donovan, 28:20) That’s Mia Donovan, and she’s an expert on cults since she made
a movie about them, available on Netflix.
“Nobody in a cult will say they’re in a cult.”
(Donovan, 28:05) Similarly, nobody from Minnesota will admit they actually live in Canada but
that doesn’t make it not true.
So what is a cult?
Well, most of these groups have a front as a bible study or political or some other sort
of group, but what makes a cult a cult is often that overwhelming influence the leader
has over their followers.
One could call it brainwashing.
Now, the actual process of brainwashing is somewhat disappointingly abstract and inconcrete.
There’s no three step guide to brainwashing your cult followers.
The process is more of an art than a science, so here’s your scientific three step guide
to brainwashing your cult followers.
“The first stage is break people down.
Get them broken.
(Ross, 2:45) So that’s Rick Ross, no relation, and he’s also an expert on cults.
He calls this process “coercive persuasion” since he’s an academic and doesn’t have
to worry about click-baiting YouTube viewers.“Say you get invited to a talk or a dinner by a
group of people that you’ve never met before and suddenly you’re like the center of attention
and everybody’s showering you with affection and praise and interest and this is something
that a lot of cults will do because that’s a very irresistible thing—to be at the center
of somebody’s attention” (Donovan, 13:56) Making people feel special is an overwhelmingly
great feeling that traps them in.
Overall, in this stage you need to, as Rick says,“Talk about everything negative in
the world, negative in their life, put a lot of pressure on them to crack and break, and
then second, change them.
You know, once they’re in that broken state introduce your ideas.”
(Ross, 2:45) As a cult leader, you’ll probably have some sort of mission for your followers
whether it be political, religious, or something else.
This second stage is where you fix it in your followers minds.
And people won’t necessarily accept what you say immediately because, if you’re a
cult leader, you’re probably saying something controversial, something novel, something
anti-conformist along the lines of “doomsday is coming,” or “let’s kidnap people,”
or “hand driers are the work of the devil.
They’re loud, they’re slow, and you know what, you probably think they’re better
for the environment but the optimistic studies say they’re only 20% better while some others
say they’re not even greener at all.
Did you know that hand driers actually increase the bacteria on your hands by 117%.
You’re better off not washing your hands at all!
Hand driers kill!”
That was just an example…
the reason brainwashing works within a cult, is because there is that peer pressure.
Things that seem normal in the real world seem that way because everyone accepts them
while abnormal things seem normal in a cult environment because everyone within the group
accepts them“And a lot of it’s accomplished by environmental control, social isolation,
information control.”
(Ross, 4:17) Cult leaders create a new normal by manufacturing people’s worlds.
“And then once the person has accepted that program, then you move to the third stage
which is reinforcement.”
(Ross, 2:45) You need people to continue to believe and continue to stay in a cult once
it's established.
At this point I should probably make sure I don’t get in loads of trouble by inspiring
dozens to start new cults.
I'll reiterate, don't start a cult.
It may be fun for a while but it almost never works out, especially because there are guys
like Rick Ross, still no relation, who work as deprogrammers.
Essentially, his job is to break people out of cults by dismantling their brainwashing.
It’s a pretty complicated process, but essentially he starts by convincing people that they’re
in a cult, explaining the harm that they’re causing, and then showing them that there’s
another way.
His other job is as the cult expert for the game Far Cry 5.
In the game, this guy named Joseph Seed starts a cult, recruits a bunch of people, takes
over a big part of Montana, kills a bunch of people, yada yada yada, but the good news
is the game is actually factually accurate because Rick Ross said so!
I was able to play an early copy of the game and, even though I’m by no means a gamer,
it was a ton of fun because the story and premise was just so good.
If you’re interested at all in how this sounds, go watch the trailer, it’s amazing,
and you can also pre-order at the link in the description before the game comes out
on March 27, 2018.