Saturday, October 22, 2011
Thursday, October 6, 2011
Cultism
A cult is a religious group, often considered fanatic or extremist and often lead by an authoritative and charismatic leader. Cultism is really an unfortunate thing. I believe that the followers should be viewed as victims since they dedicate their lives blindly following a false prophet, risking thier own well being as well as that of their families.
There was this one incident I remember seeing on TV. It involved a man, Marcus Wesson, who claimed to be the "god" over his entire family. When his wife was 8 years old he convinced her they were meant to be married and we she became old enough to bear children, they began to build a family. He fathered 18 children, including those he had with his own daughters. They were not allowed to communicate with the outside world and were taught that anyone outside their family was evil and could not be trusted. He molested his own daughters, calling it "loving". Wesson even justified impregnating his own daughters by claiming they needed to bring more children in to the world. The children (and wife) were brainwashed into thinking all of this was okay, and even agreed to a suicide pact if they were ever discovered. The older kids were in charge of taking the lives of the younger ones before their own.
In the end, the results the devastating. When two of the women tried to rebel against him, the police got involved. He appeared to be compliant at first, but that was far from the truth. He went back into the house and killed 9 out of 18 children. The other 9 were lucky to not have been in the house at that time. He was arrested and put on death row. In the program I watched, the survivors were interviewed. How could they follow a man like that? Well, first of all, he was their father. He had complete control over their lives. And how could they know anything was wrong when they were born into this environment? In news footage after the crime took place, you could tell how dedicated they were and backed their father up 100 percent. They saw nothing wrong with his actions and stated that if they had been there, they would have gone through with the suicide pact. That was then. Now, the survivors have seen just how wrong things were. They struggle to get past that dark part of their past.
Cults are really terrible things, but its easy to see why a person can be sucked into one. Its especially easy if the leader is convincing and charismatic. Cult members have been persuaded into the twisted values of the leader who often claim to be a god or even God's messenger. They often promote a close-knot community, where a person can feel like they belong. This forms a "family" where members display respect for each other and even more reverence towards the leader.
There was this one incident I remember seeing on TV. It involved a man, Marcus Wesson, who claimed to be the "god" over his entire family. When his wife was 8 years old he convinced her they were meant to be married and we she became old enough to bear children, they began to build a family. He fathered 18 children, including those he had with his own daughters. They were not allowed to communicate with the outside world and were taught that anyone outside their family was evil and could not be trusted. He molested his own daughters, calling it "loving". Wesson even justified impregnating his own daughters by claiming they needed to bring more children in to the world. The children (and wife) were brainwashed into thinking all of this was okay, and even agreed to a suicide pact if they were ever discovered. The older kids were in charge of taking the lives of the younger ones before their own.
In the end, the results the devastating. When two of the women tried to rebel against him, the police got involved. He appeared to be compliant at first, but that was far from the truth. He went back into the house and killed 9 out of 18 children. The other 9 were lucky to not have been in the house at that time. He was arrested and put on death row. In the program I watched, the survivors were interviewed. How could they follow a man like that? Well, first of all, he was their father. He had complete control over their lives. And how could they know anything was wrong when they were born into this environment? In news footage after the crime took place, you could tell how dedicated they were and backed their father up 100 percent. They saw nothing wrong with his actions and stated that if they had been there, they would have gone through with the suicide pact. That was then. Now, the survivors have seen just how wrong things were. They struggle to get past that dark part of their past.
Cults are really terrible things, but its easy to see why a person can be sucked into one. Its especially easy if the leader is convincing and charismatic. Cult members have been persuaded into the twisted values of the leader who often claim to be a god or even God's messenger. They often promote a close-knot community, where a person can feel like they belong. This forms a "family" where members display respect for each other and even more reverence towards the leader.
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