One of the posts trending in hot https://steemit.com/hot for a brief moment today was about Allison Mack.
> Mack, who was arrested April 19 in New York, is accused of being a leader and prime recruiter for a sorority-esque group of young women who were manipulated into serving as “slaves” for male “masters.” She is facing 15 years to life imprisonment on charges of sex trafficking, conspiracy, and conspiracy to commit forced labor.
Quoted from: http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/allison-mack-smallville-sex-cult-1202788522/
This reminds me of a story I heard at BBC world. BBC world is my favourite radio station & it really has a variety of shows. I like all of the shows except the ones on Sports. I don't listen everyday, I just listen in my car on the way to work and back. Sometimes, when there is a great story, I extend the listening to my phone app.
Anyway, the story was about a male supermodel who was also very smart. He had a degree from Princeton. He joined a cult and according to him, he didn't even know that he was in one. He severed ties with his family when they "accused" him (or so he thought) of being in a cult. He was interviewed by BBC and I was really awestruck. So much emotion went through my mind while listening to the interview & I was even angry at him for being so stupid. But, while retelling his story, he was very calm.
In summary, he met this guy, the leader of a cult almost innocently at a beach. He had heard of the guy's reputation which at the time was not as a cult leader but more of a guy with The "new age" philosophy. All along, he thought that the guy was doing him a favour and he attributed his success as the only male supermodel at the time to this guy (sorry I forgot his name but I will put a link below to his full story). This went on for years from the time he was 16. He eventually left the cult after this guy died. He gave everything he got to this cult and he didn't even know that it was a cult. He was academically smart (he got a degree from Princeton) but how come he couldn't use the same faculty (i.e his brain) to realise that he was being manipulated.
Here's his story : http://www.mainlinetoday.com/Main-Line-Today/June-2017/John-Hoyts-Journey-from-Male-Modeldom-to-a-Cult/
>You want stories? Hoyt has them. Some are incredible, like how a kid from Princeton turned down an offer—and a fat payday—to fly to Europe for a photo shoot because he had an econ exam that day. But not all of them are upbeat—like the mental image of Hoyt having his head shaved by angry Eternal Values cult members tired of his preferred status. A bit more amusing, perhaps, is how Fabio helped him escape.
>It’s tough to listen as Hoyt talks about recovering some sanity and esteem after being berated for hours by EV acolytes about his unworthiness. He speaks willingly about his time in Eternal Values, his struggle to regain his life after leaving, and how important it is for him now to help others heal from similar experiences.
>Hoyt’s smile is ready, and his wit is more than just a defense mechanism. He’s reached a point in his life where his time in Eternal Values no longer defines him. He may look pretty much the same on the outside, but Hoyt has changed on the inside.
>“It’s been a hard process,” says Hoyt’s older sibling, Rory. “He’s grown a lot and matured. He left Eternal Values when he was 37, and he was still 20 in terms of his maturity. Now, he seems like a regular 54-year-old.”
Picture from mainlinetoday.com
>
“No great mind has ever existed without a touch of madness.” ― Aristotle
It is very difficult to imagine why anyone would join a cult of their own free will. There are so many cults in existence, all over the world with millions of members. According to many psychologists and sociologists, there is no stereotype of the sort of person who would join a cult. <b>In fact, it could be any one of us, myself inclusive. I almost join the flat earth cult. I watched a few videos and I was convinced that they were right. My husband and 2 daughters laughed at me and I sent them the videos and told them to watch and to convince me otherwise. My youngest daughter, aged 13, was the only one who was even interested to watch the video, my husband and elder daughter just ignored me. My husband even asked me if I was bored. After watching the video till the end, my daughter took less than 2 seconds to convince me that it was a really stupid video. She just gave me 1 reason and I was "unconvinced" of the flat earth theory.</b>
For Hoyt's, his reasons were a few:
* Finding purpose in life.
* Low self esteem.
* Trying to save the world.
* He had no idea it was a cult.
As smart as Hoyt's was, he was so stupid to actually buy into the idea of this cult. Here's more of his story from http://www.mainlinetoday.com/Main-Line-Today/June-2017/John-Hoyts-Journey-from-Male-Modeldom-to-a-Cult/
>Hoyt’s school situation may not have been his ideal, but his summers were idyllic. His family spent long stretches in Nantucket, where he would join siblings, cousins and friends in typical seaside adventures at Nobadeer Beach. “We called it ‘No Brassiere Beach,’” Hoyt says.
>It was there, when he was 16, that Hoyt first encountered Frederick von Mierers. “Nantucket is not where you think you’re going to meet a cult leader,” Hoyt says.
>Von Mierers was a charismatic type, with blond hair and striking good looks. He spoke about ancient cultures and astrology, topics that interested Hoyt and ones he didn’t generally discuss with those close to him. Hoyt and his friends attended von Mierers’ parties, looking to get free beer. “I thought I was working him and taking advantage of him,” says Hoyt, not understanding at the time that von Mierers was actually working him.
>After graduation and a year at Haileybury boarding school outside of London, Hoyt began at Princeton, where he majored in economics and played football. Being in Central Jersey gave him greater access to von Mierers, who had an apartment in Manhattan and was a fixture on the New York social scene. Hoyt and his friends would head north for parties, again thinking they were fortunate to have such a connected patron. “I thought it was awesome,” Hoyt says. “I saw Truman Capote and Andy Warhol.”
>During a stretch after his sophomore year, Hoyt lived rent free in von Mierers’ apartment, where he met a Brooks Brothers designer who encouraged him to consider modeling. It was an awful lot for a college student, although Hoyt didn’t suspect anything untoward. “We shared spiritual values, but we were also having a good old time,” he says. “I was experiencing life, and it seemed innocuous at the time.”
>About those “shared” spiritual values: Von Mierers said he was from the star Arcturus, which is in the constellation Boötes and is located 36.7 light-years from the sun. According to the cult leader, Arcturus is the “spiritual center of the universe,” and it was there that the members of Eternal Values—in a previous incarnation—had gained the necessary knowledge to save planet Earth from the coming apocalypse.
>As Hoyt heard more about Arcturus and met those who’d come back from the star, he felt a desire to join them in their quest to preserve the planet. For almost seven years, von Mierers had given Hoyt the soft sell, enticing him with parties, lodging and friendship. In 1985, having just graduated from Princeton and at the genesis of what would become a remarkably successful modeling career, Hoyt was ready for more.
>Von Mierers had built steadily to a crescendo. When he met the teenaged Hoyt on the beach, he didn’t lead with the post-apocalyptic tale. He worked up to it. “I wanted to be on the inside of the club,” Hoyt says. “Everybody else was Arcturian. What about me? For me, [von Mierers’ Arcturus story] wasn’t far-fetched. How far-fetched is it that someone can walk on water?”
>As Hoyt has learned more about the psychology of cults, he has come to understand that their main manipulative tool is eroding people’s ability to think critically. Once the information is introduced, “recruits” become intent on learning more. After a period of indoctrination, any instinct to question the story or those telling it is looked at as a lack of faith and a stepping away from the group that has become their primary social network.
Mack's story started somewhat similarly to Hoyt's but there is no interview from her yet. : More at http://variety.com/2018/tv/news/allison-mack-smallville-sex-cult-1202788522/
>Mack’s connection to Raniere is believed to be rooted in the time she spent in Vancouver, where “Smallville” was shot. With so many TV series heading north to take advantage of Canadian tax credits, Vancouver has developed a large community of working actors, many of them young adults. Around the 2005-2006 period, a source said the actor circles in Vancouver seemed to take on a “new age-y vibe” with a focus on tools for self-help and empowerment. Some pegged it to the release of the 2006 documentary “The Secret,” based on the book of the same name, which features a number of philosophers, authors, scientists discussing “the secret” to personal and professional success that purportedly aided historical figures ranging from Plato to Beethoven to Albert Einstein.
Back the the issue at hand, i.e why do people join cult? I found some answers here and I think I need not write my own:
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/265-who-joins-cults-and-why
>Most experts agree, though, that whether the joiner is young or old, certain predisposing factors may facilitate attraction to a cultic system, the success of recruitment and indoctrination efforts, and the length and depth of involvement. These factors include:
>A desire to belong
>Unassertiveness (the inability to say no or express criticism or doubt)
>Gullibility (impaired capacity to question critically what one is told, observes, thinks, and so forth)
>Low tolerance for ambiguity (need for absolute answers, impatience to obtain answers)
>Cultural disillusionment (alienation, dissatisfaction with the status quo)
>Idealism
>Susceptibility to trance-like states (in some cases, perhaps, due to prior hallucinogenic drug experiences)
>A lack of self-confidence
>A desire for spiritual meaning
>Ignorance of how groups can manipulate individuals
But we need to be aware that <b>PEOPLE WHO JOIN CULTS ARE NOT STUPID</b>
http://www.apologeticsindex.org/265-who-joins-cults-and-why
>While we are at it, let’s shatter another myth: people who join cults are not stupid, weird, crazy, weak-willed, or neurotic. Most cult members are of above-average intelligence, well adjusted, adaptable, and perhaps a bit idealistic. In relatively few cases is there a history of a pre-existing mental disorder.
>Anyone is capable of being recruited (or seduced) into a cult if his personal and situational circumstances are right. Currently there are so many cults formed around so many different types of beliefs that it is impossible for a person to truthfully claim that he would never be vulnerable to a cult’s appeal.
>Cult recruitment is not mysterious. It is as simple and commonplace as the seduction and persuasion processes used by lovers and advertisers. However, depending on the degree of deception and manipulation involved, the resultant attachments can be even more powerful.
Have you ever been inclined to join a cult? Apparently, if you are educated and have above average IQ, you are statistically more likely to join a cult....
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