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How cults can produce killers
The Irish Times ^ | Jul 16 2005 | Dennis Tourish

Posted on 07/16/2005 3:40:55 AM PDT by AdmSmith

One of the commonest reactions to the revelation of the London bombers' identities has been that they were so ordinary, and in at least some instances so well educated. How could such people have callously bombed dozens of their fellow citizens into oblivion? The surprise, really, is that we can be so easily surprised.

In truth, throughout history ordinary people have believed and done extraordinary things. The key to understanding why is to recall that they do so when driven by two things - intense commitment to a powerful ideology and when they join a high control group environment whose every ritual is designed to reinforce their ideological commitment. Groups of this kind are generally known as cults.

Most people assume that, since what cults do is mad, the members must be mad to join. But in fact researchers have found no correlation between cult membership and psychological disorder.

Counterintuitively, most cult members are of at least average intelligence and have perfectly normal personality profiles. It is this which makes them valuable to the cult's leaders - those who are certifiable would be useless at recruiting others, raising money or successfully engaging in terrorism. Consistent with this, a recent analysis of 500 al-Qaeda members found that the majority of them had been in further education and were from relatively affluent families.

The only difference between a cult member and everyone else is that they tend to join at a moment of heightened vulnerability in their lives, such as after a divorce, losing a job or attending college away from home for the first time.

At such moments we are more likely to crave certainty, and the comfort of belonging to some group that gives our lives a higher purpose than day-to-day survival.

Cults promote a message which claims certainty about issues which are objectively uncertain. Despite this logical flaw, the message is alluring. Most of us want to believe that the world is more orderly than it is, and that some authority figure has compelling answers to all life's problems. An individual who claims to have "The Truth" is more convincing than someone who announces "I don't know".

We should never underestimate the power of ideology. Cult leaders know this. They invest their ideology with extraordinary power by exaggerating the extent to which they are confident in its precepts. Conviction becomes faith.

Since we can't see into their heads, we take their public performance of certainty as more authentic than it probably is. And by virtue of their skill as interpreters and purveyors of the chosen ideology, the leader also becomes a powerful authority figure, whose pronouncements are taken very seriously by his or her followers, however strange they seem to outsiders.

Moreover, most of us are much more willing to do bizarre things on the word of authority figures than we care to realise. This was famously shown by Stanley Milgram, an American psychologist in the 1960s. Milgram convinced his subjects that, by administering potentially lethal shocks to other subjects in the next room, they would be helping him in a learning experiment - a rationale, or ideology, that justified despicable behaviour.

In point of fact, the recipients of the shocks were actors who, on cue, shouted and screamed with great conviction. Threequarters of Milgram's real subjects carried his instructions through to an end, when the fake subjects next door were silent, signifying that they were unconscious - or dead.

The London terrorists had two ultimate authority figures - Osama bin Laden, and, beyond him, God. Cults, whether secular or religious, generally go to great pains to project their leaders in a semi-divine light, blessed with uncommon insight, charisma and dedication to the cause. Convincing messages from such sources, cloaked in the language of ideology, have a powerful effect.

The ideology is therefore critical, and cults are adept at reinforcing its power. Members spend more and more time talking only to each other. They engage in rituals designed to reinforce the dominant belief system. Language degenerates into a series of thought-stifling clichés which encourages other actions that are consistent with the ideology of the cult.

The world becomes divided into the absolutely good and the absolute evil, a black and white universe in which there is only ever the one right way to think, feel and behave. Members are immunised against doubt - a mental state in which any behaviour is possible, providing it is ordained by a leader to whom they have entrusted their now blunted moral sensibilities.

A further factor is what has been described as the principle of "commitment and consistency". It has been found that if people make an initial small commitment to a course of action or belief system they become even more motivated to engage in further acts that are consistent with their initial commitment.

For example, if we persuade people to attend a Tupperware party the chances are that they will buy something, even if they have no particular desire to do so. In a similar vein, if we get someone to buy cult literature, attend a meeting or engage actively in any other activity at its behest, more will follow.

The key is that each new step is but a small advance on what has already been done. A terrorist cult does not order each new recruit to engage in a suicide bombing tomorrow. But they will gradually build to that point, so that the final act of detonation is but a small incremental step from that which was taken the day before. The gulf from where the person started to where they have ended up is not immediately apparent.

Within the cultic environment I am describing, ideological fervour is further strengthened by the absence of dissent. Imagine, if you can, a senior DUP member daring to suggest that Gerry Adams has some redeeming qualities.

The reaction of his or her colleagues can be readily imagined. It is even more difficult to imagine a group of terrorists listening patiently while one of their number offers the view that "maybe bombing London is not such a good idea". Rather, any deviation from the official script is met by a combination of silence, ridicule and yet louder assertions of the group's dominant ideology.

Ridicule is a powerful social force. It strengthens people's faith in their belief system. Rather than risk becoming marginalised, most of us wish to affiliate even more closely with those groups that we have come to regard as important.

Secondly, when no one is openly critical we tend to imagine, wrongly, that those around us are more certain of their views than they are. The absence of obvious doubt from anyone else quells any reservations that we ourselves may be harbouring, and tempts us into ever more enthusiastic expressions of agreement with the prevailing orthodoxy.

We reason that, if something was wrong, someone other than ourselves would be drawing attention to it. Psychologists call the process "consensual validation". What seems mad to an outsider becomes the conventional wisdom of the group. All sorts of dismal group decisions, including many made by business and government, can be partly explained by this dynamic.

People have been attempting - and failing - to imagine what must have been going through the minds of the bombers in their last minutes. Surely they must have looked around, and had some glimmer of doubt? It is necessarily speculative, but my guess is that any such feeling would have been muted.

Within cults, the gap between rhetoric and reality is so pronounced that, of course, doubts do occasionally intrude. But cult members are taught a variety of automated responses to quell the demon of dissent. For example, a member of the Unification Church who suddenly doubts that the Rev Moon is the ordained representative of God on earth might chant "Satan get behind me".

It is likely, I think, that the London bombers spent their last moments in a final silent scream, designed to obliterate in their minds the pending screams of their soon-to-be victims. It is a sound we all must now attempt to deal with.

What therefore can be done? It is certainly clear that where cultic groups engage in illegal activities the full force of the law should be deployed against them. It is less clear that outlawing any group deemed cultic is the way forward. Who, ultimately, is to decide on the difference between, say, your legitimate religion and my view of a cult?

We must become suspicious of those who claim certainty, we must challenge all authority figures and we must cherish dissent: it is these responses that diminish the leaders of cults, rather than the society in which we live.

Dennis Tourish is a professor of management and organisational behaviour at Robert Gordon University in Scotland. He is co-author of On the Edge: Political Cults, Right and Left published by ME Sharpe


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; War on Terror
KEYWORDS: alqaeda; cults; islam; london; londonattacked; londonunderground; terrorattack
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Here is a qoute from http://www.mayhem.net/Crime/cults1.html

"Killer cults tend to be led by charismatic megalomaniacs who pit themselves and their churches against the rest of the world. They are usually apocalyptic visionaries drunk with lust and power that have physical and sexual control over their followers. In most cases their beliefs stem from twisted interpretations of established doctrines. These self-proclaimed divinities usually amass a large arsenal of weapons before bringing forth their personal day of reckoning."

1 posted on 07/16/2005 3:40:56 AM PDT by AdmSmith
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To: nuconvert; Dog; Coop; Cap Huff; Saberwielder

Looking into the head of UBL and similar megalomaniacs.


2 posted on 07/16/2005 3:43:25 AM PDT by AdmSmith
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To: AdmSmith
How could such people have callously bombed dozens of their fellow citizens into oblivion?

Here's the answer.

Islamic Scholar Warns U.S. of Two Faced Muslims
3 posted on 07/16/2005 3:49:18 AM PDT by Man50D
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To: AdmSmith
Consistent with this, a recent analysis of 500 al-Qaeda members found that the majority of them had been in further education and were from relatively affluent families.

And it is this small analysis that is consistently overlooked by the MSM and the liberals. They claim terrorism is often caused by the poor & suppressed in the ME or culture. And until it is understood that this is not the case at all we will remain vulnerable to attack. We are not at war with the poor in the ME, but the rich of the ME and that gives a whole different perspective on the WOT and the phrase "Nation of Islam."

4 posted on 07/16/2005 3:53:32 AM PDT by EBH (Never give-up, Never give-in, and Never Forget)
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To: AdmSmith
But in fact researchers have found no correlation between cult membership and psychological disorder.

LOL!

The smallest minority in the world is the individual.

Individual vs Collective

Freedom vs Slavery

Life vs Death

5 posted on 07/16/2005 3:53:39 AM PDT by PGalt
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To: AdmSmith; swordfish71; broadsword; Nesher; Fred Nerks; jan in Colorado; ariamne; ...
Good post AdmSmith...I also think that there must be some type of drugs involved, as there was in the days of the Assassins

PROP Ping!

6 posted on 07/16/2005 3:55:41 AM PDT by Former Dodger ( "Insanity: Doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results." --Einstein)
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To: AdmSmith
Charismatics? ROFL! More like sociopaths with delusions of grandeur. That's the kind of guys who lead killer cults.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
7 posted on 07/16/2005 3:57:19 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: AdmSmith
We should never underestimate the power of ideology.

This holds true in many other areas as well. One just needs to look at the cult of Klintoon, or the cult of Feminism, or Scientology... or any any brain dead progressive committed to some loopy cause.

8 posted on 07/16/2005 3:59:25 AM PDT by Fzob (Why does this tag line keep showing up?)
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To: AdmSmith
Cults promote a message which claims certainty about issues which are objectively uncertain.

This is also unfortunately a classic definition of religion in general, and thus by itself gives us no way to differentiate between a "religion" and a "cult."

Of course, the traditional definition is that my beliefs are a religion, and yours are a cult.

9 posted on 07/16/2005 4:03:16 AM PDT by Restorer (Liberalism: the auto-immune disease of societies.)
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To: EBH
Exactly. And the other point is evil is a matter of personal CHOICE. Its not caused by social conditions, economic deprivation, familial abuse, or educational attainment. People who do evil do it because they enjoy violating society's rules and because it gives them a god-like power over others. They don't do it because society didn't give them a fair shake. That's the difference between how conservatives and liberals look at bad guys. We believe they need to be punished. Liberals believe they need to be understood and rehabilitated. In a nutshell, there's the difference between the two philosophies in our Age Of Terror.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
10 posted on 07/16/2005 4:05:57 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: Restorer
the traditional definition is that my beliefs are a religion, and yours are a cult.

Which is why it's futile to lable something a religion or cult. In reality, the phrase 'Islam' is just an identifier for a philosophy that is antithetical to the West.

We didn't need to know why the Japanese/Nazis hated us during WWII, and we certainly didn't care whether or not their religions (Shinto/Pagan) were cults.

11 posted on 07/16/2005 4:22:36 AM PDT by lemura
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To: AdmSmith
How cults can produce killers

Soooo, the Davidians PRODUCED Janet Reno?

12 posted on 07/16/2005 4:28:57 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: lemura

Personally, I do not care what someone believes.

I care a lot about their actions, particularly if they involve me and high explosives.


13 posted on 07/16/2005 4:30:55 AM PDT by Restorer (Liberalism: the auto-immune disease of societies.)
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To: Larry Lucido
What exactly did liberals have against the Davidians? They harmed no one and yet the Left relished finishing them off with tanks. The same Left that shrinks from the use of force against Islamofascist terrorists.

(Denny Crane: "Sometimes you can only look for answers from God and failing that... and Fox News".)
14 posted on 07/16/2005 4:35:50 AM PDT by goldstategop (In Memory Of A Dearly Beloved Friend Who Lives On In My Heart Forever)
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To: goldstategop

Precisely my point. It was self-appointed anti-cultists such as Rick Ross (who inexplicably has admirers on this site) who advised "Slash-and-Burn" on how to implement her final solution on the group.

The author of this pablum is prominently featured on the Ross site, not surprisingly.


15 posted on 07/16/2005 4:41:41 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: Man50D

No go on the link.


16 posted on 07/16/2005 4:43:01 AM PDT by DB (©)
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To: DB
Sorry about that. Try this.

Islamic Scholar Warns of Two Face Muslims
17 posted on 07/16/2005 4:47:33 AM PDT by Man50D
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To: AdmSmith
The author uses paragraph after paragraph of psychobabble to finally get to this "prescription":

What therefore can be done? It is certainly clear that where cultic groups engage in illegal activities the full force of the law should be deployed against them.

What the hell does that mean? Strictly enforce zoning laws against Jehovas Witness temples? More health department inspections at Hare Krisha-owned restaurants?

We must become suspicious of those who claim certainty, we must challenge all authority figures and we must cherish dissent: it is these responses that diminish the leaders of cults, rather than the society in which we live.

Yep, that will have the muzzies quivering in their boots.

18 posted on 07/16/2005 4:51:34 AM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: AdmSmith
Militant secularists try put down all other religions. Amish are very separate and commited but they do not blow themselves up.

And it is militant secularists who in the name of their cult murdered the largest number of people.

19 posted on 07/16/2005 4:58:03 AM PDT by A. Pole (For today's Democrats abortion and "gay marriage" are more important that the whole New Deal legacy.)
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To: Larry Lucido
What the hell does that mean? Strictly enforce zoning laws against Jehovas Witness temples? More health department inspections at Hare Krisha-owned restaurants?

Forced integration of the Amish, shaving the beards of the Hasidic Jews. Just do not do any profiling and do not look at these young men with Saudi passports.

Militant secularists are going to use Islamism as a reason for the new attack on all religions.

20 posted on 07/16/2005 5:02:13 AM PDT by A. Pole (For today's Democrats abortion and "gay marriage" are more important that the whole New Deal legacy.)
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