WARNING: The Cult Awareness Network was destroyed by the Scientology
crime syndicate in court and, when CAN went bankrupt, the Scientology
criminal enterprise acquired the use and title of the Cult Awareness
network. Now, if you call CAN, you will find yourself talking to
the Scientology crime syndicate! This gross injustice was due to a
massive frame up concocted by Scientology to destroy CAN and it
worked, prompting a Judge to order all of CAN's records handed over
to the very same criminal enterprise that most people contacted the
real CAN to complain about and to acquire help fighting. Spread
the word that the new Cult Awareness Network is now a Scientology
crime syndicate front! - flr, feb 2003
ÉÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍ»
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[6] WHO ARE WE AT I.C.I.X.?
Since we ask you to tell us a little about yourself, we felt you may want to
know a few things about us............
I.C.I.X. (Independent Computer Information X-Change) is a family run BBS. We
have been "fooling around" with the idea since about November, 1987. We got
serious enough to open the BBS "formally" on July 4, 1989 (INDEPENDENCE DAY)
Because we have had a family experience with cults, we have dedicated the
"serious" side of I.C.I.X. to providing information in the form of a
bibliograpy and text files relating to this subject. We also encourage
dialogue in the message base. Even though we feel we have been successful (and
lucky) in resolving our family problem, we also find that 1) we are not alone
...there are many families being subjected to this trauma 2) with easy access
to accurate information, a great many of cult related problems can be avoided.
Because we have a family that enjoys computers, we have dedicated the "not-so-
serious" side of I.C.I.X. to providing callers access to a variety of files,
Utilities, Entertainment, Graphics, Doors, etc....for use and/or for download.
Also, the Message Base is great for meeting new people!!
We hope you understand our position, but most of all we hope you have a good
time here often and........ refer lots of people
[9] ____________B R A I N W A S H I N G________________
Repeat and repeat till they say what you are saying
Repeat and repeat till they are helpless before your
repetitions.
Say it over and over till their brains can hold only what
you are saying.
Speak it soft, yell it and yell it, change to a whisper,
always in repeats.
Come back to it day on day, hour after hour.
Till they say what you tell them to say.
To wash A B C out of a brain and replace it with X Y Z----
This is it.
- - Carl Sandburg
[10] THE CULT CRISIS -- HERE IS THE PROBLEM.......
Thousands of families have been rudely awakened to the fact
that cults are recruiting people of all ages despite Jonestown
and all of its ominous warnings. There are approximately 3,000
cults in the United States.
Destructive cults, high pressure therapy groups and
extremist movements are as much a part of the contemporary
American landscape as teenage pregnancy or drug abuse.
A destructive cult is a group of people under the control of
an authoritarian leader who uses deception and psychological
manipulation to enhance his/her power, wealth or vanity.
The impact of the cult phenomenon is not limited to individuals
and families. In the past twenty years, destructive cult groups
have been responsible for actions which include mass suicide,
human sacrifice, murder, child abuse, involuntary servitude,
entrapment, charities fraud, obstruction of justice and a
whole range of activities and behaviors which can best be
described as the unethical use of influence.
A destructive cult may be disguised as a religion, a
Bible fellowship, a self-improvement group, a business or a
political party. Their followers are usually very bright,
loving, accepting, concerned for others, and from all age groups.
They are unaware that they are in a cult and are being
manipulated by their leader. Their sincerity and dedication is
usually genuine.
A cult recruiter's goal is to bring potential members to a
group meeting, Bible study, seminar, etc... There the recruit is
subject to subtle mind control techniques which are not easily
recognizable. These techniques may be part of seemingly innocent
activities; e.g. participating in long periods of praying or
chanting, unusual rituals, unfamiliar games, or group
confessions. A skilled lecturer can use these methods to alter
feelings and behavior patterns of unsuspecting recruits to be
enticed to stay on or return for additional sessions.
The cult phenomenon in all of its ramifications constitutes
a major social issue. Because destructive cults pose problems to
families, health care professionals and government, THERE IS A
COMPELLING NEED FOR CULT AWARENESS EDUCATION.
----------------------------------------------------------------
This information is from THE CULT CRISIS, a brochure circulated
by CAN (Cult Awareness Network) of Illinois
----------------------------------------------------------------
As always we invite you to dialogue in our Message Base... We
welcome your comments and opinions.....
Thank You,
Your SysOp
[11] CULT TECHNIQUES OF COERCIVE PERSUASION
LEARN TO RECOGNIZE THEM!
ISOLATION: Recruits are isolated from society and from contact
with opposing points of view to prevent critical judgement.
PEER GROUP PRESSURE: Recruits doubt their own convictions when
everyone around them acts totally convinced of other beliefs.
LOVE BOMBING: A beguiling sense of belonging is contrived
through flattery, touching, hugging.
REMOVAL OF PRIVACY: One is never left alone to think through and
sort out these confusing new experiences.
SLEEP DEPRIVATION AND FATIGUE: Adequate sleep is prevented, work
hours are excessive over long periods of time, making members
vulnerable and disoriented.
GAMES: Playing strenuous games with confusing rules builds
increasing dependence on group leaders for correct answers, thus
undermining the member's decision-making skills.
INDOCTRINATION: Members are conditioned to stop thinking and to
accept without question the 'revealed truths' from the 'master'.
Fatigue prevents the members from seeing the contradictions.
CONFESSION: Recruits are maneuvered into sharing innermost
secrets. This helps destroy personal egos, induces them to buy
the new 'truths'. Later any escape possibilities are compromised
by the knowledge that these exaggerated secrets may be revealed.
CHANGE OF DIET: Omission of nutrients increases susceptibility
to manipulation of one's emotional 'highs' and 'lows'.
GUILT: Guilt is used endlessly to force members to work harder
and without relief. Guilt about mankind's sorry state and the
member's personal 'sins' is used as a lever to force acceptance
of 'holier' beliefs.
FEAR: Physical and spiritual fear is constantly injected to
maintain group loyalty. The slightest negative thought is held
to be soul threatening. Tragic consequences for self and family
are prophecied for anyone leaving the group.
CHANTING AND SINGING: Constant repetition of mind-narrowing
chants block rational thought and induces a quasi-hypnotic state
of susceptibility.
CHILDLIKE DEPENDENCE is promoted by denying opportunities for
normal decision making.
NO QUESTIONS are allowed. Blind acceptance is mandatory.
DRESS: Conformity in dress removes one's individuality and
promotes disorientation.
ELITISM: Only the group is righteous; everyone else is satanic,
or at best, misguided.
REPLACEMENT OF RELATIONSHIPS is promoted by sabotaging commun
ication between members and families. Cult-arranged marriages
further disrupt previous ties.
REJECTION OF OLD VALUES: Old life values are constantly
denounced to make them seem worse than they were.
FINANCIAL COMMITMENT: Members burn their bridges to the real
world by donating earnings, savings, cars to the cult, thereby
limiting escape possibilities for lack of money to start over
again.
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Do ALL cults use ALL of these techniques? NO. Are these
techniques ALL inherently evil? Not necessarily, but their power
is being destructively used by cults to entrap, to coercively
persuade, thus denying the very freedom of choice and religion
which the Constitution of the United States was meant to protect.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
........As always, we invite you to dialogue in our Message Base
....we welcome your comments and opinions..............
Thank You,
Your SysOp
[12] ----------------------------------------------------------------
THOUGHT REFORM AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TOTALISM
A Study of "Brainwashing" in China by Robert Jay Lifton
Chapter 22 has been used as an accurate criteria to gauge the
level of environmental control in destructive cults. If the
person coming out of such a group can come to understand the
control methods used, they have the beginning tools to recovery.
ARE CULTS REALLY HARMFUL? Dr. John Clark of Weston, Mass. has
noted the following effects on those who have remained within the
strict confines of a cult for even a short time....
.....Loss of free will and control of one's life
.....Reduced use of irony, abstractions, and metaphors
.....Diminished intellectual ability, vocabulary and sense of humor
.....Reduced capacity to form flexible and intimate relationships
.....De facto slavery
.....Poor judgement
.....Physical deterioration
.....Malnutrition
.....Hallucinations, panic, guilt, identity diffusion and paranoia
.....Neurotic, psychotic or suicidal tendencies
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WHO IS VULNERABLE? "We don't realize how vulnerable we ALL are
to being influenced without knowing it. Most of us are such
trusting souls," says Dr. Margaret T. Singer, Professor of
Psychology. She is an expert on brainwashing techniques, having
interviewed our repatriated American prisoners after the Korean
War, former members of Jonestown's People's Temple, Patty Hearst
and many ex-cultists. "We don't realize the sophistication of
methods used by many cults to recruit new members."
--------------------------------------------------------------
Please feel free to leave comments and opinions on the message
base.......As always, we welcome your input!
Thank You,
Your SysOp
[13] THOUGHT REFORM AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TOTALISM
by: Robert J. Lifton (W.W. Norton Co., NY)
CHAPTER 22: Ideological Totalism
Any ideology - that is, any set of emotionally - charged
convictions about man and his relationship to the natural or
supernatural world - may be carried by its adherents in a
totalistic direction. But this is most likely to occur with
those ideologies which are most sweeping in their content and
most ambitious - or messianic - in their claims, whether
religious, political or even a scientific organization. And
where totalism exists, a religion, a political movement, or even
a scientific organization becomes little more than an exclusive
cult.
Here you will find a set of criteria..eight psychological
themes against which any environment may be judged...In
combination, they create an atmosphere which may temporarily
energize or exhilarate, but which at the same time pose the
gravest of human threats...
1. Milieu Control
2. Mystical Manipulation
3. The Demand For Purity
4. The Cult Of Confession
5. The "Sacred Science"
6. Loading The Language
7. Doctrine Over Person
8. The Dispensing Of Existence
1. MILIEU CONTROL.....the most basic feature of the thought
reform environment, the control of human communication..the
totalist environment seeks to establish domain over not only the
individual's communication with the outside..but also with
himself..it creates an atmosphere reminiscent of Orwell's
1984..Totalist administrators look upon milieu control as a just
and necessary policy..at the center of this self-beatification is
their assumption of omniscience, their conviction that reality is
their exclusive possession..thus there is a disruption of balance
between self and the outside world..a personal closure.0
2. MYSTICAL MANIPULATION.....the next step is extensive personal
manipulation. Initiated from above, it seeks to provoke specific
patterns of behavior and emotion in such a way that these will
appear to have arisen spontaneously from within the environment.
The totalists create a mystical aura around the manipulating
institutions, party, Government, Organization..they are the
agents chosen by history, by God or some supernatural force, to
carry out the mystical imperative..The individual then develops
the psychology of the pawn, participates actively in the
manipulation of others.
3. THE DAMAND FOR PURITY.....The experiential world is sharply
divided into the pure and the impure, the absolutely good and the
absolutely evil..There is an ethics of continuous reform..Since
ideological totalists become the ultimate judges of good and evil
within their world, they are able to use these universal
tendencies toward guilt and shame as emotional levers for their
controlling and manipulative influences... Moreover, once an
individual has experienced the totalist polarization of good/evil
he has great difficulty in regaining a more balanced inner
sensitivity to the complexities of human morality
4. THE CULT OF CONFESSION.....Confession is carried beyond its
ordinary religious, legal and therapeutic expressions to the
point of becoming a cult in itself...The purging milieu enhances
the totalist's hold upon existential guilt. Second, it is an act
of symbolic self-surrender...Third, it is a means of maintaining
an ethos of total exposure...Finally, it makes it virtually
impossible to attain a reasonable balance between worth and
humility.
5. THE SACRED SCIENCE.....The totalist milieu maintains an aura
of sacredness around its basic dogma holding it as an ultimate
moral vision for the ordering of human existence. This
sacredness is evident in the prohibition against the questioning
of basic assumptions and in the reverence which is demanded for
the originators of the word, the present bearers of the word and
the word itself...The assumption here is not so much that man can
be God, but that man's ideas can be God.
6. LOADING THE LANGUAGE.....The language of the totalist
environment is characterized by the thought-terminating cliche.
The most far-reaching and complex of human problems are
compressed into brief, highly reductive, definitive sounding
phrases, easily memorized and easily expressed...Totalist
language is repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon,
prematurely abstract, highly categorical, relentlessly judging,
and to anyone but its most devoted advocate, deadly dull: in
Lionel Trilling's phrase, "The Language of Non-Thought".
7. DOCTRINE OVER PERSON.....This sterile language reflects
another feature of totalism, the subordination of human
experience to the claims of doctrine. The underlying assumption
is that doctrine - including its mythological elements - is
ultimately more valid, true and real than any aspect of actual
human character or human experience.. The will to orthodoxy
requires that man be modified in order to reaffirm the myth.
8. THE DISPENSING OF EXISTENCE.....The totalist environment
draws a sharp line between those whose right to existence can be
recognized and those who possess no such right...Totalists feel
themselves compelled to destroy all possibilities of false
existence as a means of furthering the great plan of true
existence to which they are committed...Existence comes to depend
upon creed...(I believe, therefore I am)...upon submission...(I
obey, therefore I am)...and beyond these upon a sense of total
merger with the ideological movement. Ideological totalism may
offer man an intense peak experience, a sense of transcending all
that is ordinary and prosaic of freeing himself, entering a
sphere of truth, reality, trust, sincerity and embeddedness.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Please feel free to leave comments and opinions on the message
base.......As always, we welcome your input!
Thank You,
Your SysOp
[14] BIBLIOGRAPHY--
* Alexander, Brooks et al. THE GOD MEN: WITNESS LEE AND 'THE LOCAL
CHURCH.'Berkeley, CA: The Spiritual Counterfeits Project, 1977.
Allen, Steve. BELOVED SON. A STORY OF THE JESUS CULTS. Indianapolis and
New York: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, Inc., 1982.
* Appel, Willa. CULTS IN AMERICA: PROGRAMMED FOR PARADISE.
New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1983.
Barron, Bruce. IF YOU REALLY WANT TO FOLLOW JESUS. Sycamore, IL 60178:
Partners Press, 1984 (Shepherding)
Barrs, Jerram. SHEPHERDS AND SHEEP: A BIBLICAL VIEW OF LEADING AND
FOLLOWING. Downers Grove, IL 60515: Inter Varsity Press, 1983
Belfrage, Sally. FLOWERS OF EMPTINESS: REFLECTIONS ON AN ASHRAM.
Dial Press, 1981 (Rajneesh)
Biemiller, Lawrence. "CAMPUSES TRYING TO CONTROL RELIGIOUS CULTS."
The Chronicle of Higher Education, April 6, 1983.
B'nai Brith Cult Education Project. THE MAGNETISM OF CULTS.
Washington, D.C. 20036: B'nai B;'rith, 1640 Rhode Island Avenue, NW,
1983 (Videotape: $60 rent, $75 purchase)
* Boettcher, Robert B. GIFTS OF DECEIT. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and
Winston, 1980.
Breeze, Dave. KNOW THE MARKS OF THE CULTS. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books,
1977.
* Burtner, Rev. Wm. Kent. COPING WITH CULTS: HOW THEY WORK IN AMERICA.
Kansas City, MO 64040: N.C.R. Cassettes, Box 281, 1980.
Audiocassettes, 3 1/2 hours, $29.95.
* Bussell, Harold L. UNHOLY DEVOTION: WHY CULTS LURE CHRISTIANS.
Grand Rapids, MI: The Zondervan Publishing House, 1983.
Clark, John G. Jr., MD, et al. DESTRUCTIVE CULT CONVERSIONS: THEORY,
RESEARCH, AND TREATMENT. Weston, MA 02193: Center on Destructive
Cultism, P.O. Box 336, 1981.
* Congressional Information Meeting on "THE CULT PHENOMENON IN THE UNITED
STATES." Weston, MA 02193: American Family Foundation, Box 336. 161
pages, $17.00. February 5, 1979.
* Conway, Flo and Jim Siegelman. SNAPPING: AMERICA'S EPIDEMIC OF SUDDEN
PERSONALITY CHANGE. New York: J.B. Lippincott Company (Also Dell
Publishing), 1978.
Conway, Flo and Jim Siegelman. "INFORMATION DISEASE: HAVE CULTS CREATED
A NEW MENTAL ILLNESS?" Science Digest, January 1982,86ff.
Daner, Francine Jeane. THE AMERICAN CHILDREN OF KRISHNA: A STUDY OF THE
HARE KRISHNA MOVEMENT. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1976.
* Davis, Deborah Berg. THE CHILDREN OF GOD: THE INSIDE STORY. Grand
Rapids, MI: The Zondervan Publishing House, 1984.
* Delgado, Richard. "RELIGIOUS TOTALISM: GENTLE AND UNGENTLE PERSUASION
UNDER THE FIRST AMENDMENT." Southern California Law Review, Volume 51,
Number 1, 1977.
* Edwards, Christopher, CRAZY FOR GOD: THE NIGHTMARE OF CULT LIFE.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall, Inc., 1979.
* Enroth, Ronald. YOUTH, BRAINWASHING, AND THE EXTREMIST CULTS. Grand
Rapids, MI: The Zondervan Publishing House, 1977.
* Enroth, Ronald. A GUIDE TO CULTS AND NEW RELIGIONS. Downers Grove, IL
60515: Inter Varsity Press, 1984.
* Freed, Josh. MOONWEBS: JOURNEY INTO THE MIND OF A CULT. Toronto,
Ontario, Canada M5W 1C2: Canada Wide Feature Services, Ltd., Box
345, Station A, 1980.
Gerstel, David U. PARADISE INCORPORATED: SYNANON. Novata, CA: Presidio
Press, 1982.
Goldberg, Lorna and William. "GROUP WORK WITH FORMER CULTISTS." Social
Work, March 1982.
Hefley, James C. THE YOUTH NAPPERS. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books,
1977.
* Heller, R.K. DEPROGRAMMING FOR DO-IT-YOURSELFERS. Medina, OH 44258: The
Gentle Press, Box 47, 1982.
* Horowitz, Irving Louis, Editor. SCIENCE, SIN, AND SCHOLARSHIP; THE
POLITICS OF REVEREND MOON AND THE UNIFICATION CHURCH. Cambridge, MA:
MIT Press, 1978.
Kaslow, Florence and Marvin Sussman. "CULTS AND THE FAMILY." Marriage
and Family Review, Vol. 4, Numbers 3/4. New York: The Haworth Press,
1982.
* Kemperman, Steve. LORD OF THE SECOND ADVENT: A RARE LOOK INSIDE THE
TERRIFYING WORLD OF THE MOONIES. Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 1981.
Lane, David Christopher. THE MAKING OF A SPIRITUAL MOVEMENT-THE UNTOLD
STORY OF PAUL TWITCHELL AND ECKANKAR. Del Mar, CA: Del Mar Press, 1983.
Larson, Bob. LARSON'S BOOK OF CULTS. Wheaton, IL: Tyndale House
Publishers, 1982.
* Lifton, Robert J. THOUGHT REFORM AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TOTALISM-A STUDY
OF "BRAINWASHING" IN CHINA. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc.,
1961. (See Chapter 22)
* MacCollam, Joel A. CARNIVAL OF SOULS (1978) and WEEKEND THAT NEVER ENDS
(1977). New York: Seabury Services/Episcopal Church Ministries.
Martin, Rachel. ESCAPE Denver, CO 80215: Accent B/P Publications, Box
15337, 1979 (Brother Evangelist/"Garbage Eaters")
Martin, Walter. THE NEW CULTS. Santa Ana, CAL: Vision House, 1980.
McManus, Una. NOT FOR A MILLION DOLLARS. Author's account of her years
in Children of God. Nashville, TN: Impact Books, 1980.
* Mehta, Gita. KARMA COLA--MARKETING THE MYSTIC EAST. New York: Simon and
Schuster, 1979.
Methvin, Eugene H. SCIENTOLOGY: ANATOMY OF A FRIGHTENING CULT (May 1980)
and SCIENTOLOGY; THE SICKNESS SPREADS (September, 1981). Pleasantville,
NY: The Readers Digest.
Mills, Jeanne. SIX YEARS WITH GOD--LIFE INSIDE REV. JIM JONES'S PEOPLES
TEMPLE. New York: A & W Publishers, Inc. 1979.
* Mitchell, Dave and Kathy and Richard Ofshe. THE LIGHT ON SYNANON. New
York:Seaview Books, 1980.
Patrick, Ted and Tom Dulack. LET OUR CHILDREN GO! New York: E.P. Dutton
and Company, Inc., 1976.
Reiterman, Tim and Jacobs, John. RAVEN: THE UNTOLD STORY OF THE REV. JIM
JONES AND HIS PEOPLE. New York: E.P. Dutton and Company, Inc., $17.95,
1982.
* Ruden, James and Marcia. PRISON OR PARADISE. Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1980.
* Sargent, William. BATTLE FOR THE MIND: THE PHYSIOLOGY OF CONVERSION AND
BRAINWASHING. New York: Harper and Row, 1971.
Sargent, William. THE MIND POSSESSED. New York: Penguin Books,Inc.,
1975.
* Schwartz, Alan. THE WAY INTERNATIONAL. New York 10017: Anti-Defamation
League, 823 United Nations Plaza, 1982.
* Singer, Margaret T. "COMING OUT OF THE CULTS." Psychology Today, January
1979.
Singer, Margaret T. and Louis J. West. "CULTS, QUACKS, AND NON-
PROFESSIONAL PSYCHOTHERAPIES," COMPREHENSIVE TEXTBOOK OF PSYCHIATRY,III
Baltimore: Williams and Wilkins, 1980.
Sklar, Dusty. GODS AND BEASTS: THE NAZIS AND THE OCCULT.
New York, Harper and Row, 1977.
Sparks, Jack. THE MIND BENDERS. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson,
Publishers, 1977.
* Stoner, Carroll and Jo Anne Parke. ALL GOD'S CHILDREN: THE CULT
EXPERIENCE--SALVATION OR SLAVERY? New York: Penguin Books, 1979.
* Underwood, Barbara and Betty. HOSTAGE TO HEAVEN: FOUR YEARS IN THE
UNIFICATION CHURCH BY AN EX-MOONIE AND THE MOTHER WHO FOUGHT TO FREE
HER. New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1979.
Verdier, Paul A. BRAINWASHING AND THE CULTS: AN EXPOSE' ON CAPTURING THE
HUMAN MIND. Los Angeles: Wilshire Publishers, 1977.
* Wallenstein, Herbert J. FINAL REPORT ON THE ACTIVITIES OF THE CHILDREN
OF GOD TO HONORABLE LOUIS J. LEFKOWITZ, ATTORNEY GENERAL OF THE STATE
OF NEW YORK. Charity Frauds Bureau, September 30, 1974.
Wallis, Roy. ROAD TO TOTAL FREEDOM: A SOCIOLOGICAL ANALYSIS OF
SCIENTOLOGY. New York: Columbia University Press, 1977.
West, L.J. and Richard Delgado: "PSYCHING OUT THE CULTS' CO'LLECTIVE
MANIA." Los Angeles Times, October 26, 1978.
White, Mel. DECEIVED: THE JONESTOWN TRAGEDY. Old Tappan, NJ: Fleming H.
Revel Company, Spire Books, 1979.
* Williams, J.L. VICTOR PAUL WIERWILLE AND THE WAY INTERNATIONAL. Chicago:
Moody Press, 1979.
Wood, Allen Tate with Jack Vitek. MOONSTRUCK: A MEMOIR OF MY LIFE IN A
CULT. New York: William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1979.
Wooden, Kenneth. THE CHILDREN OF JONESTOWN. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1981.
* Yamamoto, J. Isamu. THE PUPPET MASTER: A BIBLICAL PERSPECTIVE AND
INQUIRY INTO SUN MYUNG MOON. Downers Grove, IL 60515: Inter Varsity
Press, 1980.
* Yanoff, Morris. WHERE IS JOEY? LOST AMONG THE HARE KRISHNAS. Athens, OH
Ohio University Press, Swallow Press, 1981.
Zimbardo, Philip G. and Susan M. Andersen. "RESISTING MIND CONTROL". USA
Today, November 1980.
* BEST BET
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
These books do not necessarily represent the views of ICIX BBS
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This list represents most of the best books available, a few may be out
of print. We encourage you to ask for them at your library. As always,
we invite you to dialogue in our Message Base... We welcome your reviews,
comments and opinions......
Thank you,
Your SysOp
[15] ASK AT YOUR LIBRARY FOR:
THE DEVILS WEB by Pat Pulling
"An exploration of the influences of the occult on children,
from fantasy role playing games to heavy metal music to
dabbling with satanism, with useful appendices for resource
aids."
THE FAITH HEALERS by James Randi
"Expose of the intrigue and corruption behind the scenes of
America's prominent evangalists and faith healers."
LYNDON LaROUCHE AND THE NEW AMERICAN FACISM by Dennis King
"The complete, unadulterated story of a political fanatic and his
mission - Lyndon LaRouche and his vision of a Facist America."
AN EXPOSITION OF A.L. WILLIAMS: CULT OR CRUSADE? by R. Michael
"The only book written which exposes this huge commercial cult."
L.RON HUBBARD: MESSIAH OR MADMAN? by Bent Corydon
"A true inside view of Scientology and it's founder that exposes
the corruption and mind control within the movement."
CULTS & CONSEQUENCES: THE DEFINITIVE HANDBOOK
Edited by Rachel Andres and James R. Lane
"Contains invaluable information which could prevent someone from
joining a cult or help those who are dealing with a cult
problem."
CULTS: WHAT PARENTS SHOULD KNOW
By Joan Carl Ross, Ed.M. & Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.
"An excellent study about cult involvement from the perspective
of the family and the cult member."
CULTS IN AMERICA: PROGRAMMED FOR PARADISE by Willa Appel
"An engrossing account of the origins, purposes and techniques of
destructive cults in America."
COMBATTING CULT MIND CONTROL by Steven Hassan
"MUST reading for anyone who has been touched by the cult
phenomena, their friends and loved ones, and all those concerned
with preserving freedom in our society."
MONKEY ON A STICK by John Hubner and Lindsey Gruson
"A story of the Hare Krishnas infused with horror and suspense
and informed by exhaustive research."
THOUGHT REFORM AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TOTALISM by Dr. Robt J Lifton
"A newly re-issued edition of a classic textbook and case study on
victims of thought reform and the elements of thought reform programs."
NOT FOR SALE by David Racer Jr.
"A personal look at how the American Freedom Coalition is controlled
by the Unification Church of Sun Myung Moon and the influence this
organization exerts on the conservative Right."
SPIRITUAL WARFARE by Sara Diamond
"A penetrating study of the interwoven relationship between cults and
the Christian Right, with a special emphasis on shepherding movements."
UNHOLY DEVOTION: WHY CULTS LURE CHRISTIANS by Harold Bussell
"A book for Christians on why they are especially vulnerable to some
types of cults and how they can recognize when this vulnerability is
being exploited."
THE DECIPLING DILEMMA by Dr Flavil R. Yeakley, Jr.,ed.
"An examination by Christian ministers of the Boston Church of
Christ/Multiplying Ministries movement based on extensive inter
views with members, leaders and ex-members."
EASILY FOOLED by Bob Fellows
"A 36-page booklet geared for teachers and parents who wish to help
their children resist manipulation, and for those who do public
speaking on cults."
CULTS, SECTS, AND THE NEW AGE by Rev J LeBar (Rev K Burtner, Rev
J McGuire)
"A Catholic perspective on why people are recruited into cults and
how the Catholic Church should respond."
THE NEW AGE RAGE by Karen Hoyt
"A detailed review from a Christian perspective of all the aspects
of the New Age movement--its origins, identifying beliefs and
lifestyle."
CHILDREN OF DARKNESS by Ruth Gordon
"The true story of a woman's search for love, and how she joined
and ultimately escaped from 'The Children of God'."
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THESE BOOKS DO NOT NECESSARILY REPRESENT THE VIEWS OF I.C.I.X.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This list reflects some of the most current books available. We
encourage you to ask for them at your library. Your reviews and
comments are welcome! -- Use the Message Base
Thank You,
Your SysOp
[16] CULTS, Faith, Healing, and Coercion by Mark Galanter
New York: Oxford University Press, 1989.
230 pages, $22.95.
REVIEWED BY: Margaret T. Singer, Ph.D Adjunct Professor, Dept.of
Psychology, University of California, Berkeley
THE AUTHOR AND HIS GOAL:
Marc Galanter is a professor of psychiatry and Director of
the Division of Alcoholism and Drug Abuse at the New York
University School of Medicine.
Galanter's book, CULTS: FAITH, HEALING AND COERCION, appears
at a time when scholars and the general public are searching for
quality research and insight into cults, but it is unfortunate
that this book fails in its purposes. It is marred by major
defects. First Galanter equates highly diverse groups on the
basis of a single feature which he terms charisma; he then relies
on a markedly restricted and outdated list of references; and
finally he analyzes cult membership only after a person has
joined a group, ignoring until late in the book the active agency
of cults in recruiting members. He views most cult members as
distressed seekers who find "relief by joining" a group, thus
adding to the literature on victim blaming. Galanter writes that
his "purpose is to convey a psychological understanding of
the charismatic group...A charismatic group consists of a dozen
or more members, even hundreds of thousands...Members (1) have
shared belief system, (2) sustain a high level of social
cohesiveness, (3) are strongly influenced by the group's
behavioral norms, and (4) impute charismatic (or sometimes
divine) power to the group or its leadership." (p.5) He further
writes, "Among these groups are cults and zealous religious
sects; some highly cohesive self-improvement groups; and certain
political action movements, among them some terrorist groups."
Soon Galanter views cults, Alcoholics Anonymous and Ayatollah
Khomeini under the rubric of charismatic groups.
He is aware that the Ayatollah sent to the Iran-Iraq war-
front "youth twelve to seventeen years,...unarmed...often bound
together by ropes in groups of 20 to prevent the faint of heart
from deserting" (p.194) Few persons familiar with Alcoholics
Anonymous and its ono-coercive, non-violent, independence
promoting methods would attempt to explain its conduct in the
same category with the Ayatollahs and many modern cults.
TWO QUAGMIRES:
Galanter's two major reasoning problems are: He equates
groups with extremely diverse conduct as similar by the very fact
that he labels them charismatic--a single attribute is allowed to
override their vast differences. He then offers a retrograde
explanation of affiliation with a sect (read cult) after
membership has occurred, neglecting to take into account the
active recruiting tactics of the groups. These two tactics--
calling diverse groups charismatic but ignoring their vast
differences in conduct, and beginning his explanations about
membership only after a person has become involved with a group,
keep him in logical binds throughout the volume.
ONE SIMILARITY DOES NOT EQUATE DIVERSE GROUPS:
One common attribution (charismatic) among myriads of
characteristics on which groups such as cults, the Ayatollah, and
Alcoholics Anonymous differ, is not logically the most important
characteristic in understanding their conduct. For example,
elephants, lions and sheep all breathe oxygen. However,
elephants are herbivores with no natural predators; lions are
carnivores with no natural predators and sheep are herbivores who
get preyed on a lot. It is their differences that are paramount
in explaining their conduct. Their differences tell more about
the conduct of these animals than the fact that all these
organisms metabolize oxygen. Once Galanter has committed himself
to the idea that cults, terrorists and Alcoholics Anonymous are
charismatic groups (never defining charismatic) and then adopts
the premise that he is going to reason about membership only
after affiliation with a group has occurred, he has many
problems.
THEORIES AND ATTEMPTED EXPLANATIONS:
Galanter attempts to equate and analyze these diverse groups
by applying concepts from systems theory, ethology,
sociobiology, social psychology, and studies of altered states of
consciousness. Yet in the end, he fails to meet his own goal of
conveying "a psychological understanding of the charismatic
group." In spite of forays into many theories of human behavior,
and his awareness that group pressures, influence and many
psychological issues exist, he does not convey that he grasps how
social influence, social and psychological coercion work upon any
one human psyche. A reader expects a psychiatrist to offer an
explanation of the inner mental states that result from the
transactions between the mind of the new member and the conduct
of the charismatic group. However, Galanter avoids dealing early
on in the book with group recruitment practices, even though
later he writes of subterfuge and deception in recruiting
practices.
The author does not achieve any synthesis among his many
notions about sect-cult-charismatic group memberships because he
uses parts of many models to partially explain bits and pieces of
members' behavior. A reader is never offered a unified
conceptual framework. Galanter's assumptions are: (1)
Distressed people experience relief on joining charismatic
groups. (2) This "relief effect" keeps the member in the group
and the group rewards conformity and acceptance, thus reinforcing
the person's desire to remain. (3) Leaving the group produces
distress. He then jumps from this perspective, to "a different
scientific perspective--a systems approach..In looking at a
system, we do not first ask what motivates an individual member
to act. Instead we say, How are the group needs met by the
overall behavior observed in its membership?" It is jumps in
reasoning like this which leave a reader with a smorgasbord of
bits and pieces of theories and the feeling that Galanter does
not consistently analyze his material, especially as he hesitates
early on in the book to deal with the known, active recruiting
tactics of the groups he has studied.
THE BIBLIOGRAPHY AND BOOK INDEX:
Before commenting on his efforts to apply many theories
without truly seeming to understand how social influence actually
operates, and offering little or no grasp of its "psychology"
which he contends is his goal in the book, it is well to inspect
his "bibliography" (which actually is a reference list). The
citings are relatively outdated. Eighty percent were published
before 1980. This is a real defect since the fields he purports
to draw upon (systems theory, sociobiology, drug and alcohol
abuse, and cult and terrorist studies) are each fast developing
fields with vast literatures accruing since 1980. Beyond being
outdated, the references reflect a narrow and selective coverage
of the fields. He cites only one reference on terrorists and
fails to include a single work written by an ex-member of any
cult. Further, from the vast array of books about cults, he
notes only Conway and Siegelman. Thus his references are dated,
narrow and non-representative of the areas he purports to
consider. In analyzing his premises and theses, one comes to see
that in order to apply his selected ideas from theoretical
fields, he had to avoid acknowledging a vast literature or he
would have had quite a different book.
The index contains no headings labeled "cults, coercion,
faith, or healing" the terms in the book title. In the text he
applies the term cult only to small groups with little threat
power, (the Word of God, p.108) writes of cults in the abstract,
or labels now defunct groups such as the Peoples Temple, MOVE,the
Manson Family, and Black Jesus as cults. (p.192) Knowing the
threat power of some of the large groups he terms sects, almost
any author and publisher today attempts to avoid pre- and post-
publication legal harassments. Perhaps now the terms sect or
even charismatic group will become touchy ones.
AWARENESS OF PRESSURES AND INFLUENCE TECHNIQUES:
Galanter writes in the preface that he found the study of
"contemporary charismatic groups" compelling "because of the
remarkable ability of these groups to exert influence on the
thought and behavior of their members, often greater than our
most potent treatments. An understanding of the 'cult'
phenomenon might offer valuable insights in areas as diverse as
the treatment of mental illness and the understanding of group
violence." He then outlines the various theories and paradigms
he used in his work, such as systems theory, sociobiology, and
ethology.
TRANSACTIONAL THEORIES AND PROCESS:
Each of the above theories is based on a process-oriented,
transactional vantage point. In studying a process, it is
essential to heed the time, the circumstances, and the context in
which any transaction between persons or systems occurs. A
researcher must remain aware of where in an ongoing process
he/she begins observing. Each theory Galanter relies on assumes
a researcher is aware that he/she is cutting into an ongoing
transactional process in which the researcher must take into
account the prior states of the components of the system and the
interaction process that begins upon contact. Sociobiology,
systems theory, etc. each assumes a researcher has accurately
noted the process between components at the point the researcher
begins his observations and deals with the interaction effects
one upon the other among the components. Once committed to his
notion of the "relief effect," Galanter absolves the group from
any active part in getting the member into the group. Thus, to
Galanter, the new member was a distressed seeker who found
a group. Let us look at an analogy.
Assume a woman is home watching television. The
doorbell rings and an encyclopedia salesman introduces himself
and his wares. Assume further that the salesman is able to sell
a set of encyclopedias to the woman. Any analysis of this
transaction or process, be it by the man next door, a systems
theorist, a sociobiologist, etc., each will note the salesman
initiated the transaction. The woman did not go out seeking an
encyclopedia salesman. Yet Galanter begins most of his analyses
of membership in "charasmatic groups" after a person has
affiliated with a group--after the salesman has left so to speak.
He would reason the woman in the apartment was a distressed
seeker of encyclopedias. For most of his book, in spite of his
forays into theory, he reasons on the basis of a simple
"distressed seeker looking for a group."
The author, in spite of later noting in his book that
groups actively seek out new members, primarily uses a "seeker
looking for a charasmatic group" explanation of membership. He
then unidirectionally attributes motivations.
CAUGHT IN TRAP OF WHO IS THE SEEKER:
Initially he uses a one-way attribution to explain
membership (seekers were looking for, approached and
voluntarily affiliated with a group.) Later in the volume,
Galanter reveals he is not unaware of the subterfuge, deception
and other practices that by this point in history many thousands
of observers and former members have revealed about many of
the groups Galanter describes. He says of the Unification
Church: "Discussions with church members from different parts of
the country indicated that during the peak recruitment years of
the early 1970's about half the new members were brought into
the sect by deceptive means."(p.135) "In the San Francisco Bay
area, the major source of recruits for the sect, the process
was generally surreptitious."(p.133) Having written of the
"induction by subterfuge,"(p.134), and the "covert recruitment
techniques" (p.135), Galanter describes in a workshop he
observed "communication was regulated...conversations and ideas
that did not bear on the themes under discussion were
discouraged...the balance between active members and nonmember
recruits during small group discussions also assured control by
the leaders over communication...it was possible to suppress
deviant points of view, often before they were expressed.
Potential converts were therefore engaged throughout the two days
in an organized agenda determined by the leadership, and designed
to discourage ideas contrary to the group's perspective."(p.137)
PUZZLING REMARKS BY THE AUTHOR:
The book contains a number of statements that are to say
the least puzzling, for example: "A member's decision to leave
the Unification Church reflects malfunction in the monitoring of
the church."(p.161) He reports that group has "a center for
the management of disturbed members"(p.172) after strongly
positing that group members produces a "relief effect." Of his
research methods, he writes that members "answered a
structured questionaire anonymously and sent their responses to
me for computer coding."(p.174) Then (p.175) he writes: "To
learn more about the role of coercion in relation to member's
attitudes, I arranged to have the project team designate which
respondents had been deprogramed based on their knowledge of each
one."(p.175) A reader wonders how Galanter defines "anonymous"
if his project team knew who the participants were and had in
fact located the subjects for him. Both his follow-up study and
his earlier current member study brings to awareness the many
criticisms made by other researchers that "there are no secrets
in the group. "Thus when a member of a high control group is
asked to be a study subject that member knows the rules and the
consequences of violating them. Such a person often is dependent
in all areas of life on the group, knows that deviance monitoring
is central and ever-present, and knows that non©compliance has
serious social, emotional, financial and other consequences.
When management administers a questionaire, how "spontaneous" and
"truthful" can answers be? How can anonymity be assured
especially in groups where members have themselves monitored
mail, phone calls, and know that a "party line" has to be
expressed to outsiders. Such persons are patently aware of the
penalties for deviance from these prescribed attitudes. Answers
to questionnaires administered and collected by management under
conditions in which there is knowledge that deviation in not
tolerated causes those evaluating such research to ask how much
credence can be given the answers. Perhaps some of Galanter's
own findings help to access this, especially his contention that
joining a charismatic group reduces distress, but later when
ex-members fill out questionaires, they reveal that distress was
present during their membership.
THERE ARE MANY FORMS OF COERSION:
The writer never really defines coercion but alludes to it
as if there is only physical coercion. At the same time,
he writes confusingly about Robert Lifton's seminal studies
of thought reform. He refers (p.64) to Lifton's work as being
about "brainwashing...in prison camps" citing Lifton's 1961 book
which assiduously uses the term thought reform and was not
about prisoner of war "prison camps" but about Chinese and
western civilians thought reformed both inside prisons and in
non-prison settings. Elsewhere after describing the system of
social controls in the Oneida community, many of which he has
cited as used presently in the charismatic groups, he writes:
"These techniques stand in sharp contrast to the crude, coercive
ones described by Lifton and others in their studies of
brainwashing by the Chinese Communists."(p.40) Since Lifton wrote
eloquently about social and psychological pressures, it is
difficult to know what "crude" methods Galanter has in mind. His
writings sugges the does not understand the power and
effectiveness of social and psychological coercion. This leaves
him with a limited notion that only physical brutality and
physical force coercion exist. He eventually finds himself in a
logical morass when he writes (p.64) about the sects he has
studied explaining that: "Involuntary conversions contact must be
maintained in a subtle (or deceptive) way, without forcing the
individual to comply with the group's views." How voluntary is a
conversion induced through deception? And how non©coercive and
legitimate in our society is deception? Is not deception a way of
forcing compliance?
Another amazing statement is "Members of charismatic
groups are remarkably compliant in filling out long
questionaires, so long as it is sanctioned by their leadership.
I have found, however, that more independent sorts in less
zealous groups can give an investigator no end of trouble."(p.32)
A reader can conclude that Galanter finds dealing with the
subservient, the controlled, the totally obedient members of
totalistic groups preferable to dealing with free and independent
subjects.
ALTERED STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS:
This section is Galanter's clearest and most useful chapter.
Perhaps that results from his drawing upon his training as
a psychiatrist. Here he gets closest to explaining
the transactional interplay between psychological and
social influence processes operating in a group and individual
responses to group process. For most of the book he has left his
fields of expertise--psychiatry, drug and alcohol abuse--and
attempted to look at "group" features without actually providing
transactional links between group activities and individual
reactions. However, in this chapter he has made an attempt to
relate altered consciousness, group process and individual
reactions. He reports observing or knowing of altered states of
consciousness in members of the Divine Light Mission, TM,
Deutsch's Baba group,the Unification Church and "est." He writes
of Erhard Seminars Training that: "Certain alterations of
consciousness and subjective state within this large group
context are apparently used to promote this conversion©like
experience. Workshop members are subjected to a variety of
unsettling circumstances for long hours at a stretch that act to
peel away those layers of psychological stability that normally
bolster their usual state of consciousness."(p.80©81)
DISTRESS BEFORE, DURING AND AFTER MEMBERSHIP:
Galanter claims that joining a charismatic group
reduces emotional distress. Yet when writing about
Transcendental Meditation he notes: "One senior editor at a New
York publishing house had mild hallucinations if she exceeded the
prescribed forty minutes per day" of TM meditation.(p.70)
Elsewhere he devotes attention to a number of persons who had
major psychological problems while in charismatic groups and
makes no effort to reconcile his theory that joining produces a
"relief effect." At points he states that leaving a charismatic
group, especially if at the urging of family, is the cause of
any distress he detects. He is hard put to deal with the
known distress reported by and seen in members of charismatic
groups whether he saw the persons or dealt with responses from
them on questionaires.
For example, in a follow©up study of 66 who left
the Unification Church , he writes (p.174) "36% reported that
they had experienced 'serious emotional problems' after
leaving...24% had 'sought out professional help' for these
problems and two had been hospitalized." A reader cannot tell if
the 36% includes the others or if one is to add 36%, 24% and 3%
for a total of 63% with "serious emotional problems after
leaving." At various points in the book he attempts to explain
that distress reported by ex-members was caused by their
"leaving" and does not consider the role of their experiences
while in the group as possibly relating to their states after
leaving.
FINAL COMMENTS:
This book falls far short of what is expected from a
person who was the editor of the American Psychiatric
Association's official report on cults and new religious
movements. It reveals the writer has had only brief clinical
experience with members of only a limited number of groups, and
most of that from paper and pencil questionaires or talks with
management personnel in the groups, and a few persons seen in
consultation. There is little or no indication that he has had
long-term therapeutic or other contact with former members of
even the groups he studied via questionaires. This combined with
his reference list which has already been described as narrow and
non-representative of the available literature leaves a reader
wary about expressing enthusiasm about this book or recommending
it broadly.
The book does have some interesting sections about the roles
of altered states of consciousness in priming and altering
attitudes. The book contents suggest the author has not had
enough hands-on experience with a large variety of sects and
cults, nor experience with truly studying and analyzing the
effects of various group practices on members' psychological and
psychiatric status. He has left his role of a clinical
psychiatrist and ventured into efforts at social surveys and
group data gathering.
On the whole the author is protective of "sects" he has
studied. He is aware that cult-sects-charismatic groups have the
potentials for harm to individuals, and depending on their
behavior can present problems to the general society.
The epilogue and the appendix appear caveats encouraged by
editors or reviewers. In those eight pages Galanter briefly
comments on the down-side of the groups he calls charismatic:
"Agression sometimes flows from the zeal of charismatic religious
sects and domestic political movements gone awry; this
combination has fueled the growth of international
terrorism."(p.191) He then refers to "religious cults," naming
Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Lindberg Sanders and "political
charismatic groups," naming only the Weathermen and the Order in
his comments on terrorism. Since he has not cited any of the
vast literature on violence by cults, and only one reference on
terrorists, this epilogue and added warning about violence from
cultic groups is rather pale and "tacked on."
He wavers between purporting an awareness that not all is
well in the "sects" and being an apologist for them. An example
of the latter occurs when he attempts to "explain away" the
conformity of 5,150 members of one of the mass Unification Church
weddings: "When the day of the ceremony arrived, members who were
to be married dressed in identical outfits, as if to flaunt their
conformity before those who insisted that the church made
automatons of its members. The 2,075 brides all wore Simplicity
Pattern #8392 with the neckline raised two inches to preserve
their modesty; the grooms wore dark blue suits and maroon
ties. "(p.153) A reader has to ask, if Galanter likes the
conformity of the members when they fill out questionaires for
him, how can he here attribute to them that utter conformity is a
sign of humorous flair on their part--2,075 women and 2,075 men
all agreeing spontaneously! Were they earlier, just kidding when
they filled out his questionaires?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Margaret Thaler Singer, Ph.D., has been affiliated with the
University of Colorado School of Medicine, Walter Reed Army
Institute of Research in Washington, D.C., the Adult Psychiatry
Branch of the National Institute of Mental Health, and the
University of California at San Francisco and at Berkeley.
Currently she is an adjunct professor in the psychology
department at the University of California, Berkeley and
in private practice.
She has received national awards for her research from
the American Psychiatric Association, the American College
of Psychiatrists, the National Mental Health Association, and
the American Family Therapy Association. She is the recipient of
the National Institute of Mental Health Research Scientist award,
and for her research on cults the Leo J. Ryan Memorial Award.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
SOURCE; CAN (Cult Awareness Network) News, August, 1989
----------------------------------------------------------------
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As always we welcome all comments and opinions.....please
express your views by using the message base........Thank you
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