A Lesson About the Cult Mentality

Sargon of Akkad continued his series of videos about Dr. Arthur Deikman’s book The Wrong Way Home. In a recent video, Sargon goes through a series of case studies featured in the book.

Listening to those examples immediately brought to mind the current situation within the progressive movement. This is partly due to the similarity of their shaming and excommunication processes. Yet it is also because the case studies are essentially about liberal movements.

It worth noting that many of the people in these movements start out with good intentions. Many of them genuinely want to help other people. Yet as they become further entrenched in the ideology of the movement, the movement itself and the ideas that govern it grow in importance. It does not take long for the ideas to trump the people. Protecting the group becomes more important than helping or respecting others. This applies to every member of the group. Anyone can be chastised or kicked out, including the group’s founder.

I challenge people to listen to the case studies with an open mind, by which I mean do not limit the current examples of this behavior to the left wing. Look at how this plays out on the right wing as well. Here in the United States we saw this same behavior following Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential election. The Tea Party engaged in this very behavior, successfully convincing conservative voters to remove moderate Republicans and replace them with far-right Teat Party supporters. This resulted in the current political climate in which many Republican Congressman will place their politics over serving people, even when they previously expressed support for a position.

The effect of cult-like behavior is not limited to one political party, although it does appear one side is more inclined to engage in that behavior at the moment.