Casual reminder: the Jonestown folks were, among other things, civil rights activists and evangelists for progressive politics of the time. Politics that, outside the context of their cult, were completely agreeable and even good.
There are different ways cults convince you to cut ties with those outside the group, to rely on them as your primary or only source of community. Some will fall back on old school bigotries and social mores (strict gender roles, racism, ableism, etc). Others? Will tap into actual movements for positive ideologies and use the existing isolation that can exist with those valid but often belied beliefs to encourage even further isolation, for “self protection”, to “remove toxic people”, because others are “the enemy”.
All of which can be healthy things to do in theory, but be cautious of who’s suggesting you do them and why.
As folks have said above, it’s not just self proclaimed “religions” and “movements”. It’s also self-help, wellness, MLM companies, exercise groups, book clubs, basically any group that regularly gets together, and in the modern era? That includes: discords, subreddits, group chats, forums, etc.
I think one of the biggest mistakes people make about cults is reading all these kinds of warnings and garnering from it that there is intention and planning and malice in these manipulations. But here’s the most important thing to know: usually, the people “recruiting” you or “indoctrinating” you? They also mean well. They are genuinely other likeminded people who are trying their best. They’re true believers and they genuinely believe they are offering you solace and community that is good for you. You’ll say “but these people can’t be a cult, they’re so nice!” Yes they are! “They’re not evil!” Yeah! That’s what makes a cult a cult. The defining feature of a cult, above all else, is its ability to get otherwise good rational people to act in ways deeply outside their interest, ways they would normally never act.
“And they’re smart people!” Yes! There’s no “being too smart” to fall for a cult. In fact, many cults cater to those with above average intelligence. Often being “smart” can make it harder to leave, because you’re better at finding justifications for what should be unjustifiable. Finding rationale for what is irrational.
There are a few common avenues of daily reinforcement and control. Sex is the most notorious (there’s a reason people have been studying Incels under the model of a cult despite them lacking the technical qualifier of an unquestionable leader - a qualification that some are wondering if the internet hasn’t rendered moot given the propensity of communities to self-radicalize en masse with this new medium). There’s also Food, Sleep, Language, Clothes, Work, Entertainment.
Especially when the group manages to take the focus away from its stated ideologies to those mostly symbolic abstractions? And treating them as equivalent? That’s a method of thought control, and a means of getting you to voluntarily self-isolate. It starts reasonable and then morphs into controlling.
My religion thinks bodies are sacred and should be respected - becomes My religion thinks bodies should be kept private except to your immediate family - becomes My religion mandates we can’t wear clothes that expose our shoulders - becomes My religion is warning against hanging out with people who wear tank tops because they could be a bad influence.
The initial ideal the action represents is almost always good. It’s the abstraction and reformation of it into something small and mostly unrelated to the first goal, something that makes you afraid to step outside the group, that is the problem, and more than that, it’s then the enforcement of that now largely arbitrary and abstract rule.
Something reasonable like “We need to care for the environment and the wellbeing of animals” becomes “I could lose my entire community and would be considered irreparably evil if I ate an egg”.
Being vegan because you want to be? Because there’s good reasons to be? Because you like it? Chill. Being vegan because your entire social structure is based on it and you’re afraid of the moral and social consequences of doing differently? Because you worry it would make you morally bankrupt and beyond deserving love? Not chill.
Or not entirely beyond deserving love, the group tells you. There is a reparation you can make, but only the group holds that salvation, so you have to prostrate yourself before them on their terms to be accepted in the only community you have left.
This can become a cycle of guilt and repentance that keeps you trapped. You’re not supposed to masturbate, but you do. You feel guilty, so you confess. The group gives you a mandated penance that’s nearly impossible to meet. The guilt and anxiety overwhelm you. All you want is to feel good for just a second. You masturbate again. The cycle repeats. The group says you have an “addiction”, when a healthy attitude outside the group would call your initial act totally healthy and normal, and the diagnosis of it as a problem and the unnecessary shame as the actual problem. The group provides a solution to a problem they themselves invented.
Even if it’s not a full blown cult, if you’re afraid of the social retribution you might face for doing things like enjoying a movie or using the wrong label for yourself or choosing the wrong product brand - question that community and whether it’s actually good for you. (And if the RIGHT product brand happens to be owned by a major figure within the community? That’s a cult baby! Someone’s grifting you, get the hell out!)
Look out for love-bombing. For thought terminating cliches. For strict in-group/out-group boundaries. For so many alternate definitions to words that your conversations becomes nearly indecipherable to anyone outside the small community. For unreasonable demands of ideological purity. For things that can physically impair your judgment- like a strictly controlled diet, fasting, massive physical exertion, weird sleep schedules, mind altering substances. For outright dismissal of standard sources without examination (“oh you trust the mainstream media still?” “They just want to silence us.”) For ostracism or vilification of defectors or people who disagree, especially when it’s about relatively minor sticking points.
Cults and conspiracy theories can steal your relationships, your sense of self, your time, your money, and they can make you willingly do things that are actively hurtful to yourself and others in the name of the group or the conspiracy.
Be careful. We really are in a prime time for another cult boom. Cults thrive on people in states of stress and worlds in states of change and on the uncertainty of it all. Look out for each other.
