Janja Lalich is a well-known American sociologist and author, and an honorary professor of sociology at California State University, Chico. On October 8, 2021, in response to netizens' questions about cults, she released a video to answer them. These questions include: How did the "Manson family" of the American cult attract believers? What kind of people are the leaders of the cult? Why do believers in the cult "Gates of Heaven" wear the same shoes when they commit suicide? What kind of people are easily pulled into a cult? And how people are brainwashed and so on.
Janga Larich
How the "Manson family" recruited believers
In the video, Janga Laric first explains how the "Manson family" attracts believers.
Charles Milles Manson was born in 1934. In the late 1960s, he founded the cult "Manson Family" in California, USA. Manson and his followers were later charged with committing a total of nine serial killings in July and August 1969.
Charles Manson
Professor Laric said Manson was a very typical cult leader. At that time, the United States was in the era of hippie epidemic, some young people were full of confusion about the future, and Manson just brought a very sick, very fatal attraction. He will look you in the eye to attract you and make you feel like he is the most important part of his life. In addition, Manson also used drugs on his followers, and he often gave girls LSD hallucinogens, and the girls fell into the atmosphere of hallucinogens and Manson's deliberate creation.
In addition, there are many cults that use basic social psychology to manipulate people's minds.
What kind of person is the leader of the cult?
There may be a misconception that cult leaders must be ruthless and vicious, but in Laric's view, this is not the case.
She believes that cult leaders are usually narcissists who believe the world revolves around them. There are even some cult leaders who look very knowledgeable and connotative in appearance, like a polite businessman. For example, the leader of the American cult "Heaven's Gate" even seems to be polite in the video of inducing his followers to commit suicide. However, don't be fooled by their appearance. The so-called "people's hearts are separated from the belly", what you see is often the illusion they deliberately created.
Marshall Applewhite, the leader of the American cult "Gates of Paradise."
Why victims of "Heaven's Gate"
Wearing the same shoes before you die?
Professor Larich said cult adherents often don't have their own preferences. After joining the cult, they were imprisoned to the point of being unable to have their own personalities at all. For example, cult leaders will require them to wear the same clothes, they must have the same patches on their clothes, and so on. This is often one of the ways in which cults control their followers — to make them lose themselves.
At the scene of the suicide of the believers in the "Gate of Heaven", everyone wore the same clothes and shoes
What kind of people are easily pulled into a cult?
Many people believe that only people who have a nervous breakdown or who have suffered major misfortunes will join a cult, but this is only one of the cases. In Larich's view, there are many other possibilities.
For example, cults want to recruit powerful people. They want rich people, they want people with connections, and they also want believers to become good "workers" who can work very hard for the cult. And cult leaders themselves don't need to work in person, they are usually lazy, so they want powerful people to join. Cults don't really give you any benefit either, what they need is your "dedication" and look for the kind of people who can provide benefits for themselves.
For example, cults are also willing to recruit "good people or idealists" who believe that these people will be easily confused by their desperate desire to change the world, and thus be used by cults.
How do cults brainwash people?
Larich said there are times when each of us doesn't feel good. For example, just moved to a new place and did not adapt, just divorced, the family pet died, and so on. At this time, if we hear someone give you a little comfort, and then be pulled by him/her into a new circle that will allow you to temporarily forget the pain and be completely different from your previous life, this feeling should be very good, right? Then you will follow him/her to two or three parties, and then make a commitment to join them, and this commitment, usually made in front of all the other participants, will also invisibly bring you the pressure that you can't get out of.
In fact, cults are tempting people to join little by little. People don't get brainwashed overnight, it's often a process of re-socialization, and the joiners are often changed little by little. Their ultimate goal is to change you into a cult they are obedient to.
When will cult followers realize it?
Are you in a cult?
Laric said some cult adherents will gradually realize that they are in a cult organization and try to figure out how to get out. In fact, every believer in the cult may have doubts about the organization they join at some point, Laric said, but those doubts cannot be expressed in the first place. In Larich's view, this is a bit like constantly putting things on the shelf, when they put their doubts on the shelf little by little, the shelf will become heavier and heavier, until at some point, the shelf can not bear the weight and collapses, they will really realize that the organization they are in is not right. They may not identify it as a cult in the first place, but they will think it is not in their own interest and start thinking about how to leave.
After the collapse of the cult
What happens?
When the cult disintegrates, everything that the believers have previously given, including time, property, and so on, will disappear. This is often quite tragic for believers who were once obsessed with it, because their entire lives fall apart.
Scene of the "People's Temple" massacre Source: BBC
In some extreme cases, this can lead to a tragic end. For example, the leader of the American cult "People's Temple" saw that it was cornered, so it coerced more than 900 believers to commit suicide en masse. Therefore, we should also be cautious in cracking down on and dealing with cults.
For us ordinary people, we must remember that if we accidentally join a cult, we should find a way to leave as soon as possible, which is the most correct choice.