Skeptic Project

I have been reading and referencing Dr Robert J Lifton since I first started my blog, it is him I can thank for everything I learnt about cults [dangerous/personality & financial].

His points on thought reform are what actually got me to totally re evaluate the venus project and its activist arm. I used this in my first ever blog and used it as justification as to why I had taken the name anticultist and why I was under the suspicion that TZM was and is becoming more and more cultish.

So to my amazement and happiness anonymous have used Dr Lifton in a recent set of videos they have made. I think those of you who doubt the similarities or question if it is a cult should watch them and consider the points.
While you may not agree I think you can at least acknowledge there are certainly a lot of similarities.

http://www.youtube.com/user/Anon2AllofUs#p/c/5FC523C764016058/0/mfcPlHYH7wg<br /> http://www.youtube.com/user/Anon2AllofUs#p/c/5FC523C764016058/1/q5cROQbbmns<br /> http://www.youtube.com/user/Anon2AllofUs#p/c/5FC523C764016058/2/VUU0ixtuivg</p>

Here are Liftons thought reform points in total to read:

DR. ROBERT J. LIFTON'S CRITERIA FOR THOUGHT REFORM
THOUGHT REFORM: THE PSYCHOLOGY OF TOTALISM
CHAPTER 22
(Chapel Hill, 1989)
THE FUTURE OF IMMORTALITY
CHAPTER 15 (New York 1987)

Any ideology -- that is, any set of emotionally-charged convictions
about men and his relationship to the natural or supernatural world
-- may be carried by its adherents in a totalistic direction. But
this is most likely to occur with those ideologies which are most
sweeping in their content and most ambitious or messianic in
their claim, whether a religious or political organization. And
where totalism exists, a religion, or a political movement becomes
little more than an exclusive cult.

Here you will find a set of criteria, eight psychological themes against
which any environment may be judged. In combination, they create an
atmosphere which may temporarily energize or exhilarate, but which at the
same time pose the gravest of human threats.

(BRIEF OUTLINE)

1. MILIEU CONTROL

the most basic feature is the control of human communication within
and environment if the control is extremely intense, it becomes
internalized control -- an attempt to manage an individual's inner
communication control over all a person sees, hears, reads, writes
(information control)
creates conflicts in respect to individual autonomy
groups express this in several ways: Group process, isolation from
other people, psychological pressure, geographical distance or
unavailable transportation, sometimes physical pressure
often a sequence of events, such as seminars, lectures, group
encounters, which become increasingly intense and increasingly
isolated, making it extremely difficult-- both physically and
psychologically--for one to leave.
sets up a sense of antagonism with the outside world; it's us
against them
closely connected to the process of individual change (of personality)

2. MYSTICAL MANIPULATION (Planned spontaneity)

extensive personal manipulation
seeks to promote specific patterns of behavior and emotion in such
a way that it appears to have arisen spontaneously from within the
environment, while it actually has been orchestrated
totalist leaders claim to be agents chosen by God, history, or
some supernatural force, to carry out the mystical imperative
the "principles" (God-centered or otherwise) can be put forcibly and
claimed exclusively, so that the cult and its beliefs become the only
true path to salvation (or enlightenment)
the individual then develops the psychology of the pawn, and
participates actively in the manipulation of others
the leader who becomes the center of the mystical manipulation (or
the person in whose name it is done) can be sometimes more real than
an abstract god and therefore attractive to cult members
legitimizes the deception used to recruit new members and/or raise
funds, and the deception used on the "outside world"

3. THE DEMAND FOR PURITY

the world becomes sharply divided into the pure and the impure, the
absolutely good (the group/ideology) and the absolutely evil
(everything outside the group)
one must continually change or conform to the group "norm"
tendencies towards guilt and shame are used as emotional levers for
the group's controlling and manipulative influences
once a person has experienced the totalist polarization of good/evil
(black/white thinking), he has great difficulty in regaining a more
balanced inner sensitivity to the complexities of human morality
the radical separation of pure/impure is both within the environment
(the group) and the individual
ties in with the process of confession -- one must confess when one
is not conforming

4. CONFESSION

cultic confession is carried beyond its ordinary religious, legal
and therapeutic expressions to the point of becoming a cult in itself
sessions in which one confesses to one's sin are accompanied by
patterns of criticism and self-criticism, generally transpiring within
small groups with an active and dynamic thrust toward personal change
is an act of symbolic self-surrender
makes it virtually impossible to attain a reasonable balance between
worth and humility
a young person confessing to various sins of pre-cultic existence can
both believe in those sins and be covering over other ideas and
feelings that s/he is either unaware of or reluctant to discuss
often a person will confess to lesser sins while holding on to other
secrets (often criticisms/questions/doubts about the group/leaders
that may cause them not to advance to a leadership position)
"the more I accuse myself, the more I have a right to judge you"

5. SACRED SCIENCE

the totalist milieu maintains an aura of sacredness around its basic
doctrine or ideology, holding it as an ultimate moral vision for the
ordering of human existence
questioning or criticizing those basic assumptions is prohibited
a reverence is demanded for the ideology/doctrine, the originators of
the ideology/doctrine, the present bearers of the ideology/doctrine
offers considerable security to young people because it greatly
simplifies the world and answers a contemporary need to combine a
sacred set of dogmatic principles with a claim to a science embodying
the truth about human behavior and human psychology

6. LOADING THE LANGUAGE

the language of the totalist environment is characterized by the
thought-terminating cliche (thought-stoppers)
repetitiously centered on all-encompassing jargon
"the language of non-thought"
words are given new meanings -- the outside world does not use the
words or phrases in the same way -- it becomes a "group" word or
phrase

7. DOCTRINE OVER PERSON

every issue in one's life can be reduced to a single set of principles
that have an inner coherence to the point that one can claim the
experience of truth and feel it
the pattern of doctrine over person occurs when there is a conflict
between what one feels oneself experiencing and what the doctrine or
ideology says one should experience
if one questions the beliefs of the group or the leaders of the group,
one is made to feel that there is something inherently wrong with them
to even question -- it is always "turned around" on them and the
questioner/criticizer is questioned rather than the questions answered
directly
the underlying assumption is that doctrine/ideology is ultimately more
valid, true and real than any aspect of actual human character or
human experience and one must subject one's experience to that "truth"
the experience of contradiction can be immediately associated with guilt
one is made to feel that doubts are reflections of one's own evil
when doubt arises, conflicts become intense

8. DISPENSING OF EXISTENCE

since the group has an absolute or totalist vision of truth, those who
are not in the group are bound up in evil, are not enlightened, are not
saved, and do not have the right to exist
"being verses nothingness"
impediments to legitimate being must be pushed away or destroyed
one outside the group may always receive their right of existence by
joining the group
fear manipulation -- if one leaves this group, one leaves God or loses
their transformation, for something bad will happen to them
the group is the "elite", outsiders are "of the world", "evil",
"unenlightened", etc.

http://www.ex-cult.org/General/lifton-criteria

That's not always the case in cultic behaviour or definitions. But in dangerous and religious cults yes thats a characteristic, but not a singular defining factor.

But I am not here to argue this, I just wanted to educate people about cult characteristics and what to watch out for. And point out the characteristics and behavioural mannerisms that are surfacing, have surfaced within this movement.

Very true Ed, if only one factor is missing then like you say its not exactly saying much for a defense against being called a cult.

How timely. It seems ZM has implemented a test that a user has to pass in order to become a member of the forum. See this thread, you can start on this post: http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=99999&func=view&catid=9&id=264550&limit=10&limitstart=30#264842

Hey, I might get banned soon =P

Peter Joseph Merola said in reply to domokato:

I suggest you be careful with your rhetoric. I have examined your posts in dialogue in other threads and I, along with other mods, have begun to wonder why you are here at all. As you obviously know, the easiest, most thoughtless and hence moronic excuse to put down TZM at this time is to refer to the group as a whole as "cultish". Please be more clear in your communication. If it is "cultish" to you, why don't you do what all the others don't do and describe WHY.

I have been explaining why it Is a cult for months now, and he still pretends noone has ever done it even though he himself has been over to my blog. He is just Bullshitting on his home patch because he Is safe there, he wouldn't fucking dare come over here and argue why he isn't a cult. Because he can't control the environment here, and megalomaniac cult leaders hate the inability to have no control.

Not only this it has been brought up on his own forum in the past with evidence and yes those people were banned.

And see how he warns you about calling them cultish.

I bet if you went in there with a ton of research and doctorial evidence he would dismiss it offhand in his anti credentialist pseudo intellectual manner. And ban you for causing trouble and not being in synchronisation with his cult.
Ironically he can not see how he is making it more cultish by saying what he says and doing what he does. Denying the evidence and banning people for bringing the evidence is erm...fucking cultish.

On that 35 million Euro thread they were talking about helping others with free power for life, a decent idea, but some guy talked about how they just *wouldn't get it* and should be brainwashed (to be fair, he said the "good kind" of brainwashing).

In the second zeitgeist movie, Peter Joseph narrates about money, politics, religion and technology.
The way he narrates purposes that both money and politics are almost run like a religion itself, thus he believes that people worship these 'religions' by getting jobs and being consumers by buying competitive brands to have a wholesome lifestyle, also with politics we have competitive people wanting power and we choose who to have that power.

And Religion, well people worship religions for premise of hope, which is almost like a comsumer who is able to choose to worship over different competitive religions.

Then he introduces technology, which he brings as a light of hope to all viewers, now i won't actually say anything bad about this, because technology is fundamental part of our day and indeed with the rest of the world, hell without technology i wouldn't even being writing this post, with different technologies we can make the world a better place, curing diaseases, creating greener and cleaner ways to travel, in hinds point to save lives and bring a better future.

But the future he has in mind is almost a fairytale, and I think he doesn't understand the premise of freedom of choice, or indeed how the world actually works.

The way he brings it in, is almost how a cult runs, they mention past difficulties that many people have endured with, these in this case being money, politics, religions and brings in a new answer to solve all our lifes problems.

Of course most cults run like that they will travel to other planets, or alien spirts are controlling our emotions ( I apologise to any scientologists, but i find this just rather silly ), he promises a brighter future, with like other cults, just giving everything up from the past and the present.

He promises a future that is a pure fairytale, something extraordinary, something we thought we could never achieve in this life time, or even the next, he brings false hope to people, by promising something that will probably never happen, and this is exactly how cult draws in people and continues to function.

With the major religions:Christianity,Islam and Judaism losing control and influence over the public and society and more people turning to atheism and agnosticism they are looking for something to believe in.Cults that fall into the realm of new ageism or science(Like the Raelians and TZMs and Heavens Gate which was a hybrid of new age/science and Christianity)take advantage to this need for people who have lost faith in God or indeed mainstream religions fill this new position when they are at there most vunerable.

I agree, but the fact is that the ZGM isn't new age by any of those comparisons.

They attract the new agers "The Secret" style of course but what they are is political, conspiracist and pseudo scientific.

The way they behave and its followers are very cult-like in every other aspect it seems, but I wouldn't call them a new age movement. New age conspiracy movement maybe.

Hey Domokato, this is Virtue_Reality. I heard Peter kind of gave you a banning threat over there due to your skepticism and criticisms. That michel5891 is funny, but what's funnier is there is truth to the sarcasm he is displaying in that thread in regards to Peter and the mods having a condescending and ostracizing tone if folks consistently have their own suggestions, disagree or question their motives. TZM + TVP are anti-credential, yet you have certain ring leader(s) looking for credential in how much members know their material in order to get Zeitgeist tattooed on their forehead. But this test may be another fuel to the current attrition of the movement.

Yeah, but Merola made the test, so it can't be NWO-influenced ala all educational credentials.

Most of Lifton's criteria also applied to the cult Nathaniel Branden built around Ayn Rand in the 1960's. Even outside observers noticed the creepiness of Rand-obsessives in the 1960's:

The Cult of Angry Ayn Rand

The organized cult has pretty much vanished, but Rand's way of thinking which enabled the creation of this cult has persisted down to our day.

anticultist, something just totally creeps me out about the posts in that thread. What's even more creepy is that PJ (and others) are actively reading this forum to weed out their own.

Hey, anticultist beat me to it, but I'm finally banned! For completely rational and non-trollish behavior. Basically, for not being a productive member in complete agreement with them, is the best they could come up with. Presumably also for trying to spread rationality as well. Trash talking on other forums? Hah, cultishness confirmed.

Once you are banned I believe you are banned from everything.

If not, I believe they will ban him from that as well, and frankly if you say that you are who you are on there and question them they will probably ban you quickly on iRC as well.

Here seems to be the straw that broke the camel's back: http://www.thezeitgeistmovement.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_kunena&Itemid=99999&func=view&catid=231&id=264550&limit=10&limitstart=130#266088