Cults and Terrorism: A comparison.
June 13th 2008 12:20
Cults and Terrorism: A comparison.
We can make many comparisons that are just ridiculous or we can make some that are actually to the point. Few things seem on the surface to be so different as a cult and a terrorist organization but deeper down there are many similarities.
For starters we must never get hung up of the false assumption that oppressive cults are always religious. In fact many are not but are still just as dangerous as those that are. We can have UFO cults like Heaven’s Gate that committed suicide and killed each other in the hope of flying another planet. Some had even castrated themselves in preparation of a future without gender (ouch). We also have political extremists like Skinheads who terrorize for the sake of hate. Religious cult may make up the majority because of its attraction to certain types of people and because it is easier to establish a veneer of respectability by trading on the reputation of a higher ideal. Yet whether the ideal is material or non-material it can still be enough to motivate people to do engage in some terrible behaviour.
How oppressive cults motivate people and how terrorists motivate people are strikingly similar. The key to both groups starts with deception. Both groups intentionally deceive people, first to recruit them; then to indoctrinate; then convince people to accept notions that they would otherwise find abhorrent. Many oppressive cults operate smear campaigns in the same way that political parties do near an election. This is no accident as desensitizing the followers to all enemies, even imagined or perceived enemies, is the first step to seeing the enemy as less that human. L Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology still engage in the practice of fair game against enemies and still call outsiders as “Suppressive Persons”. Yet this just one example because many groups use words like dogs, animals, pigs to maintain a level of vitriolic hate in their followers. If the person ceases to be seen as human then killing that person ceases to be murder and further more it becomes a service to humanity. The outsider is not even fit to live because they threaten everything that the cult member is trying to protect. Any act of revenge is frame in such a way that it appears to be self defence.
How does this compare to a terrorist group? They also use denigrating language to maintain hate toward the enemy and all who support them. The desensitizing of the followers is an essential part of the indoctrination. Killing people is framed also in terms of self defence where killing civilians becomes a deserved fate for their decadent lifestyle. The Bali bombers showed contempt for the Australian witnesses and flung accusations at their unwillingness to convert to Islam as justification for the action. The KKK sees themselves as saviours of the Arian race rather than a bunch of gun crazy bigots in white sheets. Their stated fear is that the inferior races will pollute the gene pool and overwhelm good society with crime. Prior to 9-11 Al Qaeda saw themselves as Jihadists and practiced shooting with wall drawings of humans marked with crosses. The message was to tell the world who he was at war with. LTTE engaged in ethnic cleaning and even ordered all Muslims to leave the north of Sri Lanka or be killed. Their demand of an independent homeland is presented as being the only way to protect Tamils. All these terrorist groups have something in common and that is they need to see enemies as deserving no mercy because they are portrayed as so evil, vulgar and beastlike that they deserve to be killed.
Political extremism requires the cohesion of the common cause and common enemy to bring all the people together. The growth of armed militias in the USA has been noted by cult expert Rick Ross as of particularly concerning. Politically extreme, armed and very angry make the worst combination for any hope of a peaceful society. Yet guns alone are not necessary to do damage to any social order and peace. Long before a riot starts there is a build up of tension and the voices of self appointed leadership urging the angry mob on. What could simply be a few drunks in the park becomes a great threat to life and limb. What is also an act by a few individuals is suddenly claimed as typical of them all. Suddenly the concept of hitting them before it is too late seems sane.
This is the situation that occurred in Sri Lanka in 1983 when Tamil extremists attacked a police station killing the all. What occurred afterwards could only be described as insanity. A single headline in a newspaper read “KILL TAMILS” and in doing so was contributing to the riots that followed. Thousand killed, homes burned, people taken from busses and thrown on fires. 20 years later and we still have a brutal civil war that has thus far claimed over 70,000 lives. Today the LTTE have a devotion that is the envy of any manic religious cult. It is by definition a Secular Political Movement that has absolute dedication to the leader; the devotees all wear a vile of cyanide around their necks to be taken if captured; suicide bombings were invented by them; independent thought is suppressed in favour of the great ideal of a separate homeland.
The problem is not so much one of left verses right or secular verses religion but one of oppressiveness. Not all cults are evil to their core, not all political groups are extremists. Not all people who are in disagreement with your core values are insane. The line is often hard to draw except in one area: how quick the group justifies violence and brutality. The demonization of opponents is a symptom of a bigger malaise where power over people is the end in itself. If you visit the hard core hate sites of the world you will notice this demonization as if to intentionally be taunting the enemy. The mixture of hate and paranoia are honed to keep the loyal followers from ever questioning what the leaders say. It is a siege mentality where they are in a state of war with the enemy that they have defined with fictions and half truths. Unfortunately they use real people for the final target.
I many ways it could be argued that terrorists are basically oppressive cults with more guns. The mentality is almost identical in how they are willing to do, say and crush anything to achieve their ends. The Cult of personality runs deep both; so too can the Cult of false martyrdom and morbid obsession with the dead. What is certainly clear in all dangerous extremists is the belief that some human are not human at all.
We can make many comparisons that are just ridiculous or we can make some that are actually to the point. Few things seem on the surface to be so different as a cult and a terrorist organization but deeper down there are many similarities.
By the power of the gun
For starters we must never get hung up of the false assumption that oppressive cults are always religious. In fact many are not but are still just as dangerous as those that are. We can have UFO cults like Heaven’s Gate that committed suicide and killed each other in the hope of flying another planet. Some had even castrated themselves in preparation of a future without gender (ouch). We also have political extremists like Skinheads who terrorize for the sake of hate. Religious cult may make up the majority because of its attraction to certain types of people and because it is easier to establish a veneer of respectability by trading on the reputation of a higher ideal. Yet whether the ideal is material or non-material it can still be enough to motivate people to do engage in some terrible behaviour.
Deception is a clear sign that something is wrong. Why would Scientology used a cross as its symbol when they are not Christian?
How oppressive cults motivate people and how terrorists motivate people are strikingly similar. The key to both groups starts with deception. Both groups intentionally deceive people, first to recruit them; then to indoctrinate; then convince people to accept notions that they would otherwise find abhorrent. Many oppressive cults operate smear campaigns in the same way that political parties do near an election. This is no accident as desensitizing the followers to all enemies, even imagined or perceived enemies, is the first step to seeing the enemy as less that human. L Ron Hubbard and the Church of Scientology still engage in the practice of fair game against enemies and still call outsiders as “Suppressive Persons”. Yet this just one example because many groups use words like dogs, animals, pigs to maintain a level of vitriolic hate in their followers. If the person ceases to be seen as human then killing that person ceases to be murder and further more it becomes a service to humanity. The outsider is not even fit to live because they threaten everything that the cult member is trying to protect. Any act of revenge is frame in such a way that it appears to be self defence.
Weapons on your flag may indicate where your priorities lie. In violence or in peace?
How does this compare to a terrorist group? They also use denigrating language to maintain hate toward the enemy and all who support them. The desensitizing of the followers is an essential part of the indoctrination. Killing people is framed also in terms of self defence where killing civilians becomes a deserved fate for their decadent lifestyle. The Bali bombers showed contempt for the Australian witnesses and flung accusations at their unwillingness to convert to Islam as justification for the action. The KKK sees themselves as saviours of the Arian race rather than a bunch of gun crazy bigots in white sheets. Their stated fear is that the inferior races will pollute the gene pool and overwhelm good society with crime. Prior to 9-11 Al Qaeda saw themselves as Jihadists and practiced shooting with wall drawings of humans marked with crosses. The message was to tell the world who he was at war with. LTTE engaged in ethnic cleaning and even ordered all Muslims to leave the north of Sri Lanka or be killed. Their demand of an independent homeland is presented as being the only way to protect Tamils. All these terrorist groups have something in common and that is they need to see enemies as deserving no mercy because they are portrayed as so evil, vulgar and beastlike that they deserve to be killed.
Jim Jones and his 900 dead followers. You can see the empty vat of poison juice that everyone was made drink.
Political extremism requires the cohesion of the common cause and common enemy to bring all the people together. The growth of armed militias in the USA has been noted by cult expert Rick Ross as of particularly concerning. Politically extreme, armed and very angry make the worst combination for any hope of a peaceful society. Yet guns alone are not necessary to do damage to any social order and peace. Long before a riot starts there is a build up of tension and the voices of self appointed leadership urging the angry mob on. What could simply be a few drunks in the park becomes a great threat to life and limb. What is also an act by a few individuals is suddenly claimed as typical of them all. Suddenly the concept of hitting them before it is too late seems sane.
Young, armed and trained to kill. There is something perverse about a child wearing a suicide capsule around his neck.
This is the situation that occurred in Sri Lanka in 1983 when Tamil extremists attacked a police station killing the all. What occurred afterwards could only be described as insanity. A single headline in a newspaper read “KILL TAMILS” and in doing so was contributing to the riots that followed. Thousand killed, homes burned, people taken from busses and thrown on fires. 20 years later and we still have a brutal civil war that has thus far claimed over 70,000 lives. Today the LTTE have a devotion that is the envy of any manic religious cult. It is by definition a Secular Political Movement that has absolute dedication to the leader; the devotees all wear a vile of cyanide around their necks to be taken if captured; suicide bombings were invented by them; independent thought is suppressed in favour of the great ideal of a separate homeland.
The problem is not so much one of left verses right or secular verses religion but one of oppressiveness. Not all cults are evil to their core, not all political groups are extremists. Not all people who are in disagreement with your core values are insane. The line is often hard to draw except in one area: how quick the group justifies violence and brutality. The demonization of opponents is a symptom of a bigger malaise where power over people is the end in itself. If you visit the hard core hate sites of the world you will notice this demonization as if to intentionally be taunting the enemy. The mixture of hate and paranoia are honed to keep the loyal followers from ever questioning what the leaders say. It is a siege mentality where they are in a state of war with the enemy that they have defined with fictions and half truths. Unfortunately they use real people for the final target.
Kuruna: He looks almost handsome for a person who conscripted children as soldiers.
I many ways it could be argued that terrorists are basically oppressive cults with more guns. The mentality is almost identical in how they are willing to do, say and crush anything to achieve their ends. The Cult of personality runs deep both; so too can the Cult of false martyrdom and morbid obsession with the dead. What is certainly clear in all dangerous extremists is the belief that some human are not human at all.
To the dead it does not matter what cause they had died for.
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Comment by S. L. Bradish
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Thanks for your comments.
Man is a social animal and needs others.
The heard or mob mentality hook people all the time.
Michael Savage?
Are you serious?
Not since the "KILL TAMILS" headline had I read something so vulgar and tasteless.
And
He is what I would call part of the problem.
Angry, extreme and promoting violence.
A perfect example of political extremism.
Comment by tlcorbin
Coffee Quip
A Global Citizen
Paranormal Paranormal
Is Why
Alaska Chronicle
Cool aid drinkers vs tigers in diapers; in a real sense they are all victims of brain washing and social manipulation.
Their leaders ought to spend time in a gulag; riding the water boards, playing dodge the bullets, competing in three legged races through mine fields and playing catch with armed grenades. These social events would probably not help, but would comfort their survivors.
Sigh, but I realize that if there were thought police, I'd have vanished years ago.
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Perhaps we could invite Michael Savage to play.
Talking big and dealing with the problems people create are two different things.
Comment by Howard
Real Crash
Comment by Damo
For the Sake of Argument
My Apologetics
Euro-bureaucrat Super-state?
Loaded language is just another method of demonization.