"Have you seen a new documentary about cults?"
"The super hot hunting video on the short video, I sent it to you."
"Do you know what 'Anonymous Q' is?"
Amanda Montreal is a linguist who has published Cults: The Language of Fanaticism. In her opinion, in 2021, many conversations on the Internet in the United States are beginning to discuss such a theme - cults.
Cults: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montre
In Amanda's view, this is really not a coincidence, for many cults have always been able to find the soil for long-term survival and development in the United States, but what is the reason behind this? Why are many young Americans now inexplicably attracted to darkness, and is there a deeper reason for this?
She pointed out in the article that historically, the attractiveness of cults to people has often increased significantly in the historical period when existing problems have been discussed.
▲ Cult-related documentary Source: YouTube
She gave a simple example of the widespread tension in the United States in the 1960s and 1970s on a number of social issues. Along with this phenomenon, many new cultural forms, subcultures, hippies and other ways of life have emerged, and the peak of cults in the United States has also followed.
Amanda Montere also said that if you are very fond of astrology, or dream of moving to a remote place to fulfill your unrealistic fantasies, there is a good chance that you will encounter some kind of cult in the United States 50 years ago.
▲ A bus parked on the street with the slogan "Son of God" printed on it. The "Sons of God" is a cult founded in California, United States in 1968.
In the middle of the last century, so-called devotionals arose in the United States, people rejected the traditional church, from the "Unification Church" to the "Davidian Sect", these new cults suddenly appeared to meet people's spiritual needs. Like the followers of some extremist sects today, most of these followers are young, countercultures whose eyes society has "failed" them and can only achieve self-worth in extremist sects and even cults.
Of course, Amanda also said that the emergence of these new sects and even cults threatens traditional Catholicism and Christianity, but it has not attracted the attention of the US government, and no one has linked these extreme sects to crime and the huge threat to society.
Until the murder of the "Manson family" that occurred in 1969.
According to The New York Times, in the late 1960s, the hippie movement reached its climax in the United States, with sexual liberation, drugs and seclusion becoming its hallmarks. A large number of young people from middle-class backgrounds have taken to the streets to escape mainstream culture with a primitive life of settlement.
▲ Apocalypse Ranch, the hermit of the "Davidian Sect"
Manson was one of the street youths, who attracted a group of young people with his musical talent, and more and more people gathered around him. As the "Manson family" grew, Manson also began to consciously brainwash and control these followers.
Manson believed that so-called "chaos" was coming, and that "chaos" referred to the end of the world's race war.
He believes that killing will lead to the race war he has been waiting for.
For this reason, Manson committed a total of nine murders, most notably seven brutal killings collectively known as the murders of Tate LaBianca.
▲ Captured Charles Manson Source: The New York Times
The most famous of the victims was actress Sharon Tate, whose husband was film director Roman Polanski. Taylor was killed along with four others at her home in Beverly Hills when she was eight and a half months pregnant.
All of Manson's actions were supreme to his followers. Manson tattooed an X on his forehead, and the girls followed suit, saying what he said, known as the "oracle."
▲"Manson Girl" with X tattooed on her forehead Source: The New York Times
In the eyes of their followers, these murder cases, and their hidden sexuality, drugs, and Satanism, seem to have helped them define the anti-authority of the 60s, and are an extension of the "be yourself" spirit.
After the "Manson Family" murder, the 1978 "Jonestown Massacre" once again shocked the world. Linguist Amanda said these unprecedented tragedies have made the words "cult" and "extremist sect" a symbol and synonym for national fear.
▲ "Jonestown Massacre" scene Source: BBC
Over time, people realized the horror of the cult, but it also became "cool" to a small number of young Americans. Young Americans in the 1970s created "cult movies" and "cult bands" and other related content.
Decades later, dangerous old-school cults have become a retro trend, and Amanda says she doesn't understand it. Some young people are keen to collect vintage CDs and T-shirts from the cult "Heaven's Gates". At a barbershop in Los Angeles, Amanda once heard a girl say to her hairdresser, "I want a hairstyle like a 'Manson girl.'" One of Amanda's friends also threw a cult-themed birthday party in the Hudson Valley, and the dress code was that everyone had to wear a white slip dress, and the overall feeling was really like a cult party.
▲ The official website of the cult "Heaven's Gate"
For this situation, Amanda is also worried while not understanding. She said: "The desire for connection and belonging has been around since the birth of mankind, and in times of social unrest, when these desires are not met, cult groups always appear. The reason why a significant portion of young people in the United States are obsessed with extreme sects and even cults in this time is that this is an era of social media domination, and you can "join" the group as long as you tap your fingertips to pay attention.
▲ Scars of cult Nxivm members Caster Source: The New York Times
And these maverick young people are more likely than ever to find like-minded people online. Amanda writes that big data computing also guarantees that when you click on a piece of content related to an extremist sect or even a cult, the next push will be related to it.
"What all of these groups have in common is that they are all groups that are stimulated by the internet." In an interview with Religion and Politics, the theologian and journalist Tara said, "They are a group of people who want to change the rules, they focus only on their inner desires, they feel that society is dangerous, institutions are dangerous, because social institutions prevent them from realizing their truest selves." ”
Amanda Montere also concludes by saying that the most important point is that no matter how rampant cults are like wildfires, as long as we are aware that they lurk around us, it can help us be vigilant away from them.