Drinking the Kool-Aid: How Normal People Become Cult Members Essay Example
The phrase “drinking the Kool- Aid” was popularized following the infamous Jonestown Cult murder-suicide on November 19, 1978, in Guyana. Hundreds of Jim Jones’s followers willingly ingested cyanide-laced punch because he ordered them to do so. Most people view this as absurd—they could not fathom the idea of anyone making such a sacrifice simply because it was asked of them, or the thought of anyone with an ounce of sanity joining a cult in the first place. With an estimated two to three million cult members in America (Coming Out of the Cults), the majority of which are both educated and employed (Rousselet et al. 29), it is clear that cults do not appeal only to the insane. To understand why a normal person could become so entirely devoted to a cult that they would make any sacrifice asked of them, there is a combination of elements that must be considered. The first is predisposition: environmental and psychological factors majorly affect a person’s likelihood of joining a cult (Padilla et Al. 900; Lipman-Blumen). The second is the conversion process, in which a cult missionary piques the target convert’s interest in the cult. From there, the target is integrated into the cult’s life, and commitment is then ensured through an initiation ritual. Finally, the leader uses brainwashing tactics to gain complete control over the subject. This paper examines these elements so as to explain why normal people can become so entirely devoted to a cult that they are willing to make the ultimate sacrifice.
Humans are complex creatures, and an individual’s predisposition to cult conversion cannot be reduced to a single element. Factors that create a need in the individual that can be fulfilled by a cult are highly motivating. In the preliminary stages of the conversion process, the cult does not yet have complete control over the potential convert. As such, conversion is more likely to occur if the individual has an internal drive to join. One main factor that creates a need that the cult can fulfill is crisis (Rambo 44). This crisis may be a singular life-altering event, an ongoing situational crisis, or internal conflict. An example of a life-altering crisis is having a mystical experience (48). Feeling the need to explain this unusual experience could draw an individual to a cult because it could provide an explanation for it. The next example of a life-altering event is apostasy (53-4), the affliction of the loss of structure, belief, and connections that results in feeling a strong need to replace this loss. A situational crisis could be a strained or non-existent relationship with family members or support systems (Curtis 453-4). In this case, the social aspect of cults, the seemingly unconditional support and affection in particular, would appeal to these individuals (Schwartz & Kaslow 19). An internal conflict could involve the search for a sense of self. Many aspects of cults appeal to this search. A specific example is the “you are god” philosophy promoted by many New Age cults (Hanegraaf 204). This notion is appealing because being told that one is God entirely fulfills the need to know who one is. Overall, the reciprocity between the individual’s need and the cult’s ability to fulfill that need offers a strong incentive for cult involvement.
The aim of the cult conversion process is to evoke a symbolic self-sacrifice in the target convert. A successful conversion process typically involves three sequential phases: encounter, interaction, and commitment (Rambo 87-124). During the encounter phase, the potential convert makes initial contact with a cult missionary. Initial contact may occur publicly or privately and may be personal or impersonal in nature. For instance, impersonal contact tends to occur publicly in the form of media, radio, or television messages, group rallies, or revival meetings. Personal contact occurs more privately, for instance, through work and social events, or through a missionary visiting the home of a potential convert to offer pamphlets or invitations to group meetings. Ultimately, the missionary’s aim here is to pique a person’s interest in the cult and its teachings. Following this, the cult members build relationships with the target that strengthen their emotional ties to the group. Subsequently, cult rituals are used to provide integrative modes of identifying with and connecting to the new way of life. Next, the target individual adopts the group rhetoric which, because language has a powerful influence over people’s perception and consciousness (Brown & Lenneberg 454-62), can, over time, align how they think, feel, and act in line with the cult’s ideology. The last element of the interaction phase is assigning a role to the target. This secures their participation in the cult by providing them with a sense of purpose. In the final phase, the target commits to membership. This is made out to be extremely significant, and emphasis is placed on the target’s free will in the decision. It is typically carried out through an initiation ritual or ceremony. The end goal of the initiation ritual is to create a symbolic self-sacrifice to the cult and a “no going back” mentality. It is evident that the cult conversion process involves a missionary establishing the target’s interest in the cult, integrating them into cult life, and finally, solidifying their commitment.
Once members are committed, leaders use intense manipulation to gain complete control over them and ensure they remain in the cult. Robert Lifton’s theory of ideological totalism proposes a model that emphasizes the leaders’ manipulation of the social environment and psyche (419-37). His model consists of eight elements: Milieu Control, Mystical Manipulation, Demand for Purity, Cult of Confession, Sacred Science, Loading of Language, Doctrine over Person, and Dispensing of Existence. First, Milieu Control is often facilitated by geo.
