Hey everyone!
Welcome to Blog post v2.48 ^_^
Well my topic for this week is cult culture.. so I'm gonna go ahead and start my own so I can examine the happenings from within my own organization (MUAHAHAHA!!). Just kidding... but seriously... join my cult. All you gotta do is fill out this information and email it to 'razaldivar@gmail.com' :)
Name:
Age:
City:
Country:
Food: One food you would eat till you puke it's that good
Hero:
Favorite war hero who was also a primate or pirate
Politics: Your evaluation of any third world country's socio-political
situation and its impact on their economy
Bono vs. Mike Tyson: Explain which one you'd invite to dinner and why
Hair: Describe your hair
Music: Favorite 80s new wave band
Numbers: SSN, driver's license number, and/or credit card
number...whichever you're most comfortable giving out to a total stranger
Commute: Your average commute time
Commute, Part II:
The average number of times you want to "liberate someone from his or her soul" during your commute:
Reason: Your self-perceived purpose on this planet
Ahh fun stuff... I actually got this application from www.piratemonkeycult.org. Totally stumbled upon this site while perusing 'teh world wide webz' and got a bit of a chuckle while I moved down the list.. good stuff :P
But serious time!!
Cults are actually kind of a big thing now a days (which I didn't think to be true). To start off, cults are loosely defined as a group of persons who's beliefs/practices are abnormal and/or bizarre. Cults were first developed (at least this is what sociologists believe) within religious communities. In 1932, American sociologist Howard P. Becker coined the term to be able to classify deviant religious groups that developed to novel and seemingly sacrilegious believes/practices. For the sake of doing a blog post that is almost relevant to the topic, I'm gonna go ahead and write about what are called 'Destructive Cults', and the 'Cult Suicide' that occurs within these cults.
Well a destructive cult, is a cult in which there is a high probability that harm will occur either to its members or to others. These cults can cause harm in multiple ways; groups that deliberately phisically injure or kill other individuals, and groups that also inflict emotional abuse to humans. Lots of people think this term is used loosely and unfairly which is causing an extremely negative stigma to be applied. A good number of authors now a days are relating cults to terrorism, characterizing Osama bin Laden as a 'destructive cult leader'.
The most common types of physical harm associated with cults are sexual abuse and suicide. Suicide is generally done throughout the whole cult and not just the leaders.. a few incidents of a mass suicide instrumented by a cult are that of Heaven's Gate, Order of the Solar Temple, and Peoples Temple. But there are a few isolated incidents of the cult supporting mass suicide without actually encouraging all members to participate (they told them the cyanide was in the kool-aid).
The Peoples Temple incident is the most well known. In 1978, some peoples who strongly believed in the Socialist/Communist system followed a man named Jim Jones, and throughout the time period of this cults' existence... they migrated to Jonestown, Guyana, killed a congressman, an NBC reporter, then a few more people at a nearby airstrip before consuming enough Kool-Aid for 909+ people to die of cyanide poisoning... but the reason I'm adding this specific scenario to my paper, is for the reasoning behind the Kool-Aid! This cult claimed that their suicide wasn't blind, and that it was "Revolutionary Suicide" in order to protest the conditions of the inhumane world. They believed that since America was so corrupt with its hyper-realist media and bourgeoisie ran government, they needed to establish a colony of their own (hence the whole Jonestown thing). After establishing their colony, they attempted an exodus to Russia where they could happily live under a system of Communism without the oppressive government within evil Capitalist America! But no matter... this was all sad so I do feel sorry for all of the 300+ children who were brainwashed into this extreme cultism, and when pondering this it made me think of this video I stumbled upon a few months back... I'll link you to it here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjrjE8LHOVs
So yeah... cults are a pretty touchy subject, and can pretty darned harmful to large populations of people if left un-monitored by a decent governing body.
MUSIC TIME!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3MCMicgOcOc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogG2p_ZUaaQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UnAbszcy3bs (HAHA IRONY)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHlJODYBLKs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ogMNV33AhCY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRpeEdMmmQ0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3OzHBEcymw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ei3FUVPBGYQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aC1tNah8n-c
lol funny beginning1 i am so joining you cult:). good job
ReplyDeleteName: Andree Devove
ReplyDeleteAge: 16( I know it's a young age but I really do hope you accept into your cult!)
City: Fort lauderdale
Country: USA , FL
Food: Cookies and CHEEESE
Hero: Jack sparrow from pirates of the Carribean and Tarzan's best monkey friend)
Politics:I love communism!
Mike Tyson: because he was in the hangover and he has tiger!
Hair: Long with blue highlights because I like to get attention at school
Music: !
Numbers: 12345678901234567890 I have total confidence in a total stranger
Commute: running...
Commute, Part II: The average number of times you want to "liberate someone from his or her soul" during your commute: zero
Reason: to spread happiness :)
So that was my application, I really do hope that I will be accepted into this awesome cult. As for criticism of your blog, I think that it is very well researched and the example of the Kool aid suicide was interesting. Maybe you should have wrote more about other cults. Good job anyways
Sent from my iPad
There were also other cults in the past that committed mass suicide because the leaders brainwashed them into thinking the world was going to end. When you hear someone is in a cult it sounds cool (like this one that I would like to apply to) but once you actually know what the hardcore cults do, it is socially sanctioned. Great blog!
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ReplyDeletesorry you can delete that other comment :/ But i love how it's very informative and like the links. I like how you got into detail. Very well done good sir.
ReplyDeleteInteresting topic loved it from the beginning to the end, especially that video. omg that video!. I think I got the message, though I was confused at first. To be honest I heard about 'Jonestown' and was shaken by the documentary on CNN. Great post agin
ReplyDeleteWhat kind of cult is it? And what are the requirements to join? Do we just apply? Aside from that, the suicide cult sounds depressing. Your examples are scary, but informative.
ReplyDeleteVery much appreciated the satirical intro. Nicely done!
ReplyDeleteOf course Jim Jones was a socialist. Makes perfect sense.
ReplyDeleteI'm so upset I never read this blog earlier. I always learn something new from the great Raul Z III
ReplyDelete