Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id OAA05241 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Mon, 18 Feb 2002 14:00:45 GMT From: "Lawrence DeBivort" <debivort@umd5.umd.edu> To: <memetics@mmu.ac.uk> Subject: RE: Words and memes: criteria for acceptance of new belief or meme Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2002 08:33:46 -0500 Message-ID: <NEBBKOADILIOKGDJLPMAIEFCCLAA.debivort@umd5.umd.edu> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1" Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook IMO, Build 9.0.2416 (9.0.2910.0) Importance: Normal In-Reply-To: <873D86A6-241A-11D6-8DEC-003065B9A95A@harvard.edu> X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V5.00.2919.6600 Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Well said, Wade. There is a general tendency within any organization to view
the departure of members as a threat, as it provides an implicit criticism
of those 'left behind'. Cults of any ilk go, I think we agree, beyond this
general tendency by proactively providing punishments to those who do, even
when it is legal for a member to leave. (This last provision to distinguish
cults from, say, the military.)
The nuclear family -- can you say more about your thought on this?
Lawrence
> From: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk [mailto:fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk]On Behalf
> Of Wade T.Smith
>
>
> On Sunday, February 17, 2002, at 01:10 , Lawrence DeBivort wrote:
>
> > What does, IMHO, separate cults and religions from other belief
> > systems, is
> > that they [snip] make it particularly hard for their
> > targets to [snip] leave the [snip] system.
>
> Yes. You don't hear 'go back where you came from!' inside a cult too
> often.
>
> On the same hand, try to eat meat in a vegan restaurant. Or vote
> republican in Cambridge, MA.
>
> There is an opposition to almost any and all heresy, in any cultural
> enclave. And once you're part of one, they want you to stay. The real
> problem with cults is that they don't allow you to _know_ anything else,
> and they draw the walls closer every time you look out the window.
>
> Try to do science in a homeopathic clinic.
>
> The problem with having to do as the Romans do while in Rome, is that
> everyone thinks they are in the only Rome.
>
> The narrow range of a cult's cultural environment is also a mirror of
> the nuclear family.
>
> - Wade
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