Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id SAA16906 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Tue, 22 Jan 2002 18:38:11 GMT To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Message-Id: <AA-CBAFDEBC108839E123A5F246B6AAC982-ZZ@homebase1.prodigy.net> Date: Tue, 22 Jan 2002 13:34:14 -0500 From: "Philip Jonkers" <PHILIPJONKERS@prodigy.net> Subject: Re: Scientology Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Philip:
>>Indeed, ultimately it is the orginator of the idea
>>who is the `master', who is human. But that
>>doesn't mean that people can't be spellbound by
>>infectious memes. Cult-idealogical memes set a good
>>example. Such memes fill a need to some receptive
>>people indeed, but in return you will work as a
>>slave for the cult-doctrine for the rest of your
>>life (unless you get deprogrammed of course).
Grant:
>Remember that song that has the lyric: Just keep on
using me until you use
>me up.
>
>In the song, his friends felt he was being used, but
he didn't feel that
>way. Who was right? If I'm doing what I want to do
and it benefits someone
>else, is that being used? Why are cult members
necessarily being used? I
>was raised in a parochial school and the nuns
certainly didn't feel like
>they were being used or that the order they decided
to join was bad in any
>way. Why should a scientologist who has made a
decision about what to
>believe be thought of as someone who has been
captured and used by the
>forces of evil? John Travolta doesn't look ensnared
and enslaved to me.
>Some cult leaders do evil things but there is no
reason to tar them all with
>the same brush.
>
>The Chinese are trying their damnedest to make the
world believe the Falun
>Gong are something evil. Their philosophy concerns
exercising for good
>health and telling the truth at all times. But the
communists also call the
>Catholic Church and any other church that does not
allow itself to be
>managed by the party in China an "evil cult." You
can go to jail in China
>for attending a service in an unauthorized church. A
number of people have
>recently been arrested and put on trial for smuggling
bibles into China.
>
>A cult is what people call an organization they fear
and don't understand.
>If they are successful in keeping their members, some
people will assume it
>is because the members are being held against their
will or they have been
>tricked in some manner to do something they would not
willingly do
>otherwise.
>
>Some people might see me as a slave to my wife and
kids, but I see myself as
>their willing servant and protector. My salary is
the good feeling I get
>about myself and what I'm doing. Many cult members
must feel much the same
>way.
Okay, Cults may not be very overt in exercising
control over their members. If cult-leaders were like
true prison-guards cults would not be able to flourish,
at least not to great extent and would never make
it to the next level: religion. Cults exercise a
subtle form of mind-control but strong enough to drive
some to mass-suicide or armed revolts. Mind-control
in cults succeeds by disguising coersion in a cloak
of perceived `welldoing'.
Philip.
===============================================================
This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the
Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission
For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing)
see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Jan 22 2002 - 18:53:31 GMT