THE CULT CULTURE

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Will the Taliban cult gain recruits here?

A cult is a group whose members share one or several ideas, ideas which may be based on a certain interpretation of religion, spiritualism or philosophy, or a belief in a particular goal or personality. A study of specific cults or the phenomenon in general is interesting, and has been of great interest to sociologists.

The word ‘cult’ reminds one straight away of the Manson Family, or the Rajneesh Movement, but these are just some of the better-known cults, whose members included some people who were in the public eye, for example Bernard Levin, Parveen Babi, Mahesh Bhatt, Terence Stamp, Arianna Huffington, Vinod Khanna, Prince Welf Ernest of Hanover… associated with the Rajneesh cult; and Sharon Tate, Phil Kaufman, Deanna Martin (daughter of Dean Martin), and Squeaky Fromme (who attempted to assassinate Gerald Ford), associated with the Manson Family.

There are both religious and secular cults out there, and even anti-cult cults, destructive cults, political cults, doomsday cults, polygamist, racist, and terrorist cults– and others, all over the world. Why do they occur? Why, in some cases, do they attract so many followers? And what can be done to prevent people from joining the harmful ones among them?

Cults are attractive because they present an illusion of peace and comfort (which are often overlapping states) by promising things that are rarely attainable by the means suggested by the cult. For example, you have to work for peace. You cannot attain it, inner or outer, by means of violence, or meditation. As for comfort, people who have the means, those who are relatively well off, they do not lack comfort in their lives. That means that it is predominantly those who yearn for it because they do not have it who are most attracted to cults which offer some version of comfort that could be attained by means such as violence, sex, drugs… Some cults also create the illusion that comfort is possible regardless of one’s finances– which it can be to an extent but not to the extent that it is promised.

Cults satisfy the human desire for definite answers, by compartmentalizing things, events and people as ‘good’ or ‘bad,’ rather like Snowball’s summary of the difference between animals and humans, in Animal Farm: ‘Four legs good, two legs bad.’ Simple. The problem is that life is not as black as white, and answers to problems can only be attained by means of reasoning, and a certain amount of education. So, once again, it is the uneducated who are more drawn to such conclusions.

Cults are even more attractive to people with low self-esteem, who may yearn to belong to a group, have friends, be accepted, or be involved in something ‘big’. A result-oriented educational system that does not cater to the individual is likely to give rise to many adults with low self-esteem.

Cults are made particularly attractive for potential or new recruits, who are surrounded by a very deliberate and flattering response to their presence, in an attempt to lure them in, regardless of academic performance, financial status or appearance. How many organisations in any society can boast such a thing?

Members generally do not realise that this friendly, exciting thing that they signed up for, this group that holds out so many promises and has suddenly provided them with a feeling of belonging and many friends and colleagues, is actually a cult.

Cults promote an ‘us versus them’ mentality, which is already a major factor in societies like ours where the huge gulf between the haves and have-nots promotes this attitude. They’d have no problem at all gaining recruits here.

It is easier to join a cult than to leave it. Penalties for trying to leave one can include death for the person and his family. This grim fact can help the organisation achieve a frightening sort of power that is attractive to some people.

Many cults are able to provide the excitement that is so craved by young people, not very different to what must have been experienced by the band of Scarlet Pimpernel followers.

Cult leaders are good at mind control, and possess the ability to get people to do exactly what they want. They are masters at enticement, promising what might be completely unrealistic, making it appear within easy reach. They are also good at self-projection, often projecting an image that is powerful, and quite unlike reality. One of Manson’s followers for example said later on that Manson never had to say that he was Jesus. It was just ‘obvious’ that he was the closest to Jesus that this follower would ever witness on earth.

So, here’s a profile of those who are likely to be attracted to cults. It may be something of a generalization but it’s likely to be not too far from the truth.

Most people who are attracted to a quick, often militant, extremist solution to the ills of the world and for their own problems are likely to be those who are not given to rational introspection, who perhaps have little time for it, and although there are many exceptions, who are less educated. These would be people who have learnt the hard way that striving and hard-work does not pay.

They are willing to give up their comfort zone, perhaps because there ain’t much of it anyway, and because they find that it gives them a sense of purpose to take up arms for a given cause. The sense of belonging and adventure that goes with the undertaking proposed by the militant extremist group might also make life worth living for them. They are willing to take by any means what they consider to be rightfully theirs. And because cult leaders excel at holding out elaborate promises, we have the promise of paradise and all its lures, reachable by some extreme short-cuts. It sure beats a life-time of being on one’s best behaviour.

It may seem as though we in Pakistan are relatively free from cult culture, but that is not true. With the militant extremists gaining power in Afghanistan as rapidly as they have done, we would do well to worry. Very much.

It is unrealistic to ascribe the ascent to power by the extremists in Afghanistan to violent means alone. There is after all the question of where the manpower to wield those arms comes from. And now that they are close to gaining Kabul, we in Pakistan must realise who our real adversaries are, and they are yet another powerful cult, and ours is a culture very much attracted to power and cults.

There is a large segment of society attracted to militant extremism in Pakistan. It is important to pay attention to why that is so. And to the solutions, which have little to do with armed intervention.

Some suggested solutions would be a more widespread and better education, and more facilities for the young where they can participate in activities and expend their energy, both mental and physical. A big aspect is to provide them with a better, more rational approach to religion. And a society in which hard work pays off, even in the absence of ‘contacts’ in important places. A society in which there is no compulsion to bribe, extort, and fight for what is rightfully yours.