Cults, p.

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Gemma Pisano
UWRT 1101-088
October 2014

Cults: A Story Between Savage and Prey

Introduction/Background
Imagine waking up to find out that 2% of the entire worlds population has
disappeared. When most people think of this scenario, they think of children disappearing
in Africa, or abductions happening in Mexico. What most people dont do, is put
themselves in this situation. Imagine finding your brother not in the bunk below you, your
wife no longer next to you in bed, or you daughter disappeared from her crib. The world
as you know it would never be the same. With no explanation or therapy for this strange
occurrence, people just give up.
In the HBO series The Leftovers this exact occurrence is what pressures every
day American citizens to turn to a group of manipulative and forsaken leftovers. This
group of people refer to themselves as the Guilty Remnant (GR). Made up mostly of
people who have no one left to turn to, the GR does not need to do much recruiting. They
believe that they are living reminders of the Departure and their main goal is to never
let anyone forget who they lost and how they will never be able to say goodbye. They
refuse to refer to themselves as a cult, but attributes and characteristics of this group show
otherwise.

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Whether it be for praising God, or condemning him, cults are very present in
America today. The Leftovers has shone a light on cultish behaviors and in itself inspired
me to research why cults are so prevalent and why they never seem to disappear. The
Leftovers only has had one season so far, season two is scheduled to premier in 2015. I
knew after seeing the first trailer of the show that I would really enjoy it. I loved that the
show posed the idea of what IF an apocalypse really happened and how would society
react? After finishing the first season of the show, I was inspirited to further educate
myself on cultish activities. I, myself, have always been fascinated with stories involving
master manipulates like Jim Jones and Charles Manson, two infamous cult leaders in
America. I have always wondered how one could use pure ingenious manipulation to
influence thousands of people to do and think such terrible things. This paper will
consider why cults have been and still are so prevalent in the United States. More
specifically, I will be providing input on why I think so many people join cults and are
manipulated by their ways.

Review of Relevant Literature

The dictionary defines a cult as: a small religious group that is not part of a larger
and more accepted religion and that has beliefs regarded by many people as extreme or
dangerous (Merrium-Webster 2014). Due to the fact that cults view themselves as above
regular people it is rare that we hear of their whereabouts. Regardless, cults were, and
still are, very prominent in todays society. Probably the most famous and predominant
cult in the United States is the Klu Klux Klan, a cult originating in 1865 that is dedicated
to white supremacy. A more relatively new cult today would be the study of Scientology,

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a religion dedicated to a scientific explanation for everything that happens in the world.
No matter what cult you choose to observe, one thing almost all have in common is
religion.
In Meltons Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America, he states that all cults
have similar ways of recruiting new members. Some may actively search and recruit new
members, others simply use literature and propaganda to lure in innocent members.
Melton also explains that members of a cult take induction into a cult very seriously.
Most have a training period in which all members teach new members their ways. In
The Leftovers, the GR does not stray from these values. Once a new member is invited
into the GR safe house, all members gather to hug and welcome the fresh faces. A
seemingly genuine gesture, leads to brainwashing and converting every day citizens to
believe that they are above anyone who does not agree with their ways.
A psychologist by the name of Margaret Singer, conducted a study of ex-cult
members observing information on why and how they were manipulated to join a cult.
According to their own reports, many participants joined these religious cults during
periods of depression and confusion, when they had a sense that life was meaningless..
Cults supply ready-made friendships and ready made decisions about careers, dating, sex,
and marriage, and they outline a clear "meaning of life." In return, they may demand total
obedience to cult commands (Singer 2014). After reading this article it become clear to
me that not all people who join cults are bad. Most are in such a state where a welcoming
group is the only people they can turn to.
Ex-cult members are often lost when they decide to leave their cult. Most
commonly, they do not know how to how to interact with people or revert back to their

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ways before they joined a cult. So much help is being needed for them, that Michael D.
Langone Ph.D, wrote a book along side some of his fellow psychologists guiding ex-cult
members back to reality. This book is a product of the Americans Family
Foundations Project Recovery, a multi year project to improve the quality and quantity
of professional services for ex-cult members (Langone 2014). I personally admire the
works of Langone and Singer because they understand that instead of shunning and
rejecting ex-cult members, we need to extend our help to them.

Entering the Conversation

A lot of criticism and judgment comes with joining a cult, no matter how nice the
members are or how normal they may seem. Most would argue that they are
brainwashed into joining a cult, which is true. What I want to know is, why do people
join cults without being brainwashed or persuaded? In Hassans Combating Cult Mind
Control, Hassan states that because the mind control techniques practiced by destructive
cults can seriously interfere with an individual's ability to think for himself, it is
important to approach cult members with compassion rather than condemnation.
The Guilty Remnant serves the purpose of being daily reminders to people of
whom they lost and how they are never coming back. Because of this, the GR get
harassed and picked on any time they are seen in the streets. Why would anyone want to
join a cult that is subject to beatings and shunned by almost everyone in the town?
In the case of Megan Abbot (Assignment One), the GR was her only option.
A very common attribute of those looking to join a cult is the sense of feeling lost.
Most newly initiated members are highly impressionable and can be persuaded easily.

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These are the exact people that cults target. In the case of Megan Abbot, she had lost all
hope in the world and her only option was to turn to the GR. The GR would not turn
anyone away so the fact that they welcomed her with open arms, gave Megan a sense of
feeling wanted. This feeling overcame her feelings of helplessness and depression, that
she did not care what the cult was telling her or what their actions were doing to people
around the town.
In conclusion I feel that most people are too quick to judge those who look to a
religious cult for guidance. Most of those who do join, are lost and in need of guidance.
Unfortunately they are guided by the wrong source and it can end up in a dangerous
result. As far as why people join cults, almost everyones answer and opinion would
differ. I hope that by adding my input to the conversation more people will understand
that cults will continue to grow as long as there are influence-able people in the world.
Conclusion/So What?
When it comes to the topic of cults, many questions are still left unanswered. Endless
efforts to stop doomsday cults will ultimately result in nothing. It is apparent by the map
conducted in Cults of America: A Reconnaissance in Space and Time (Stark, Sims,
Doyle 2014) that cults will always be a part of American society. But, I want to educate
those who do not know of the manipulative powers of cult leaders. Those who fall victim
to the ways of a cult, sometimes have no control over it. Many times when ex-cult
members are interviewed they say that they had no idea the cult was so evil before they
joined it. The only people that should be getting persecuted for cultish activities are those
leading the cults.

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Help is not far from ex-cult members, though. Ex-members in contact with support
groups showed reduced levels of neuroticism and sociotropy in comparison with those
who were not (Walsh, Russel, Wells 2014).
Often times, if you are not living next to a member of the KKK, or across from a
scientology church, cults are irrelevant to you. Educating yourselves is the number one
way to prevent yourself from falling victim to sadistic leaders. In The Leftovers, the GR
thrives off the hatred from townspeople. Yet, they still seem to be recruiting new
members without saying a word. If you lost everything you had, who would you turn to?
Now, I call to you to never forget who you are in order to fit in with a certain group.

References

Cult [Def. 1]. (n.d.). Merriam-Webster Online. In Merriam-Webster.

Retrieved October 8, 2014, from http://www.merriamwebster.com/dictionary/citation.

Melton, J. (1986). The Encyclopedic Handbook of Cults in America. New York: Garland
Pub.

Singer, M. (1979). Coming Out of the Cults. Psychology Today. 2014

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Hassan, S. (1988). Combatting Cult Mind Control. Xiii, 226pp-226pp. Retrieved January
1, 2014, from http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1989-97110-000

Langone, M. (1995). Recovery from Cults. W.W Norton & Company. 2014

Walsh, Wells, & Russell. (1995). The Personality of Ex-Cult Members. Retrieved
January 1, 2014, from
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/019188699500074G

Pisano, G. (2014). Assignment One. The Leftovers, HBO series.

Cults of America: A Reconnaissance in Space and Time. Rodney Stark, William Sims
Bainbridge and Daniel P. Doyle. Sociological Analysis, Vol. 40, No. 4, Sects,
Cults and Religious Movements (Winter, 1979), pp. 347-359