Children of the Cult

Cults are those weird groups with those brainwashed people living by bizarre and often damaging rules. 

The saddest thing is, of course, the children. They're raised within the cult and often never know that any other way is possible.

A cult:

• is a group whose beliefs or practices are abnormal or bizarre    
• is a group that tends to manipulate, exploit, and control its members
• recruits people who suffer from a some variety of deprivation.
• promotes a belief system which is utopian/idealistic, and also dualistic and bi-polar in nature. Dualistic in that they see the world in terms of two opposite poles, such as good versus evil, the saved and the fallen, the enlightened and the ignorant, etc.
• is at high risk of becoming abusive to members - in part due to members' adulation of charismatic leaders contributing to the leaders becoming corrupted by power.
• is a group or movement exhibiting a devotion to some person, idea or thing and employing unethically manipulative techniques of persuasion and control designed to advance the goals of the group's leaders to the actual detriment of members, their families, or the community.

Meet the most successful cult ever

This cult's idea is the pursuit of more money - the cult of capitalism. And you're probably a child of the cult.
"Unlike other cults that are considered outside the norm, it has claimed center stage, and its propaganda appears to be unquestioned reality."

Living in the cult

Mostly, people

• hope to live in spaces with more than one room for each person. Social skills degenerate from isolation.
• cannot afford these large spaces - they spend their entire lives working off debt to live there.
• spend their days at tasks unrelated to anything or anyone they love
• do not know the people living around them
• live near so many other people they can't make meaningful connections
• buy objects (increasing debt) trying to replace connections with people

Power in the cult

Positions of power:

• are held by very few people
• cost enormous amounts of money to achieve - creating bias and corruption
• provide the illusion of democracy while real control is held by the companies providing money

Information in the cult

Most information:

• is controlled by a few large worldwide companies
• is propaganda to perpetuate the beliefs of the cult
• is presented as quickly and simply as possible, even when important meaning is lost
• avoids any positive reference to lifestyles contradicting the cult

Communication in the cult

Mostly, people communicate

• without even seeing each other
• using machines for very quick and short messages with little content
• badly, generating much confusion and ill feeling

Leisure time in the cult

Most entertainment

•  involves buying something
•  is enjoyed alone and is physically inactive (TV, computer games...)
•  includes propaganda for the cult

Food in the cult

Mostly, people...

• cannot and don't know how to provide their own food
• never eat any truly fresh food
• do not know where their food comes from
• do not cook much
• eat lots of foods which have been processed so much that very little nutrition remains
• eat lots of foods from animals who have been horribly abused their whole lives before being killed.

The cult invests in propaganda and promotes denial about food to protect profits.

Physical health in the cult
It's risky in here...

• Heart disease is the leading cause of death
• At least half of all people are overweight
• The next generation is expected to have a shorter lifespan
• The healthcare industry is a huge financial presence. Healthcare spending is increasing faster than society can create value

Mental health in the cult

Cults foster mental disorders.

Cults promote a vision of an ideal 'new self', which members believe they can attain by following the cult teachings.

The capitalist ideal new self is a wealthy person. The reality is that few can become wealthy. Many who fail to become wealthy blame themselves or other people.

Depression, violent crime, and suicide are skyrocketing.

Families in the cult

Most mothers and fathers pay someone else to care for their young children while they spend their day earning money (and generating money for an employer).

Mothers and fathers who care for their own children instead of earning money are low status and often ridiculed.

Most mothers

• although healthy mammals, give birth in hospitals and feed their babies with inferior artificial food they have to buy.
• are told by experts that they should separate themselves from their babies for everyone's sake.
• are isolated from their family and community
• suffer guilt, confusion, and depression about caring for their babies

Most children

• are in institutional care for most of their day instead of socialising with neighbours.
• Are regularly entertained by electronic devices instead of people
• Cannot concentrate on simpler entertainment
• Are more ignorant about the world than the previous generation

(Add your own section here)

I could continue...but so can you.

Escaping a cult

I've seen movies of people rescued from cults. They look stunned and a bit scared, coming out to freedom and the bigger world around them.

They have lots to learn.

Are you ready?

More Reading

• Obama on the profit motive
• Jimmy Carter's speech on consumption
• Capitalism and alienation
• Capitalism as a purely cultic religion