Is the New Right a Destructive Cult?

[ck4829]

"Destructive cult" (Some prefer "Doomsday cult") is a term used to refer to nominal religions (and other groups) which have caused harm to their own members or to others. Some researchers define "harm" in this case with a narrow focus, specifically groups which have deliberately physically injured or killed other individuals, while others define the term more broadly and include emotional abuse among the types of harm inflicted.

Steven Hassan, author of the book Combatting Cult Mind Control, defines the term as such: "A destructive cult is a pyramid-shaped authoritarian regime with a person or group of people that have dictatorial control. It uses deception in recruiting new members (e.g. people are NOT told up front what the group is, what the group actually believes and what will be expected of them if they become members)."

Michael Langone, executive director of the International Cultic Studies Association, defines a destructive cult as "a highly manipulative group which exploits and sometimes physically and/or psychologically damages members and recruits."

Into the Rabbit Hole contributor Randall Waters cites psychiatrist Robert Lifton's Though Reform and the Psychology of Totalism, specifically Lifton's "Eight Criteria for Thought Reform", as criteria to identify a destructive cult.

In Perfected Mind Control - The Unauthorized Black Book of Hypnotic Mind Control author J. K. Ellis also cites Lifton's criteria, writing: "If most of Robert Lifton's eight point model of thought reform is being used in a cult organization, it is most likely a dangerous and destructive cult."

In a statement which Congressman Leo J. Ryan later read into the Congressional Record, Dr. John Gordon Clark cited totalitarian systems of governance and an emphasis on money making as characteristics of a destructive cult.

In Cults and the Family the authors cite Shapiro, who defines a "destructive cultism" as a sociopathic syndrome, whose distinctive qualities include: "behavioral and personality changes, loss of personal identity, cessation of scholastic activities, estrangement from family, disinterest in society and pronounced mental control and enslavement by cult leaders."

The "Eight Criteria for Thought Reform":

1. Milieu Control. This involves the control of information and communication both within the environment and, ultimately, within the individual, resulting in a significant degree of isolation from society at large.

2. Mystical Manipulation. There is manipulation of experiences that appear spontaneous but in fact were planned and orchestrated by the group or its leaders in order to demonstrate divine authority or spiritual advancement or some special gift or talent that will then allow the leader to reinterpret events, scripture, and experiences as he or she wishes.

3. Demand for Purity. The world is viewed as black and white and the members are constantly exhorted to conform to the ideology of the group and strive for perfection. The induction of guilt and/or shame is a powerful control device used here.

4. Confession. Sins, as defined by the group, are to be confessed either to a personal monitor or publicly to the group. There is no confidentiality; members' "sins," "attitudes," and "faults" are discussed and exploited by the leaders.

5. Sacred Science. The group's doctrine or ideology is considered to be the ultimate Truth, beyond all questioning or dispute. Truth is not to be found outside the group. The leader, as the spokesperson for God or for all humanity, is likewise above criticism.

6. Loading the Language. The group interprets or uses words and phrases in new ways so that often the outside world does not understand. This jargon consists of thought-terminating clichés, which serve to alter members' thought processes to conform to the group's way of thinking.

7. Doctrine over person. Member's personal experiences are subordinated to the sacred science and any contrary experiences must be denied or reinterpreted to fit the ideology of the group.

8. Dispensing of existence. The group has the prerogative to decide who has the right to exist and who does not. This is usually not literal but means that those in the outside world are not saved, unenlightened, unconscious and they must be converted to the group's ideology. If they do not join the group or are critical of the group, then they must be rejected by the members. Thus, the outside world loses all credibility. In conjunction, should any member leave the group, he or she must be rejected also<1>.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Destructive_cult
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thought_Reform_%28book%29

Now, let's go over the warning signs:

Milieu Control - "Liberal Media", 'nuff said.

Mystical Manipulation - "No terrorist attacks since 9/11", I wear green socks, and I've never been diagnosed with cancer while wearing those green socks, does that mean my socks prevent cancer?

Confession - This one is tricky, but I think it can be defined. We've got conservatives like Rick Santorum saying there is no such thing as privacy, and conservative followers fall for it. This follows the "If you've got nothing to fear, then you've got nothing to hide" meme they use so very much.

Sacred Science - The "Sacred Science" is conservatism, the ideology itself, we're not talking about your average conservatives here, we're talking about the conservatives who don't simply think that liberalism is the other side of the aisle, but that liberalism and even moderate conservatism is not only wrong, but evil and should be stamped out.

Loading the Language - New Right talking points like "We've got to fight them over there so we don't have to fight them over here" seem an awful lot like loading the language to me.

Doctrine over person - Have you seen what happens when a conservative turns against his brethren? Just look at Scott McClellan for example.

Dispensing of existence - In their eyes; fetuses are people, we aren't people, corporations are people, people in Latin America in the 1980's weren't people, Iraqis aren't people, and the rich are people. This is also goes very well with the "You've got to break a few eggs to make an omelet" Neo-Conservative faction of the New Right.

And I can go on!

Harm:

Terrorism and violence - I believe I do not have to explain this one

Fear - Be afraid of liberals, be afraid of dark skinned people, be afraid of everyone not conservative

Isolation - Everybody else is "liberal" and not to be trusted. Only the elites of the New Right speak the truth.

Purity - Ever notice how fast the New Right is quick to say that liberals are "mentally diseased," have "Bush Derangement Syndrome," or whatever?

To tell you the truth, as long as I've been politically aware, I've always thought the Limbaugh-Savage-Coulter wing of the Right Wing was a cult, them always blaming things on the "liberal media" did seem kind of "cultish" in my book. But, with all that's happened in the past few days it's been confirmed 100%.

We're not dealing with a movement here, the New Right is a certifiable destructive cult.

[napoleon_in_rags]

1. Great, but a key part was missed.

Confession is key, and its wrong here. Look at all these guys like Haggert or Larry Craig, elevated to positions of power with these "problems". Now imagine somebody knew about these problems, even had pictures, but was very forgiving of the sins. Very accepting. Now these people in positions of power owe a lot to their "confessors" don't they?

This is a major part of the right wing cult. They need all these family values to create bonds between those who break them, bonds of secrecy and power. The confessions are what define these secret internal power structures and are the reason people like Guckert/Gannon exist.

[Warpy]

2. You've misidentified confession

because it has nothing to do with sexual matters or even sin in any traditionally understood sense of the word.

Haven't you wondered how somebody like Tweety can almost make sense one day and by a raving bastion of right wing orthodoxy the next, echoing whatever lunacy he rejected on that first day? That's the nature of right wing cult confession, a reaffirmation of orthodoxy after a lapse.

I'd say it's pretty obvious the confessional part is in force, especially among media figures.

[napoleon_in_rags]

3. Oh I see, interesting interesting.

Good point. I still think there is a certain culture of - we can break the rules we make because we are the elite - which you see all throughout the right, and its used to create bonds. Whether what you're saying is more inline with the spirit of the original paper I don't know, it may be.

[roody]

4. I realized it was a cult when I saw a "W" flag

flying in Pleasant Hell, I mean Hill, Iowa. My family's very bad judgement suddenly made sense.

[bdf]

5. Cult or cu*t? Both words fit. (n/t)