There are many different types of destructive cults, and the diversity of cult beliefs and practices sometimes makes it hard for family members and friends to decide whether their loved one is in trouble or not. Although there are still groups whose followers cut their hair short and wear identical clothing, like the member of Heaven’s Gate, this is by no mean the case with most modern-day cults group. Today, for example, many cults require their members to wear business suits so that they blend in with their environment. All cult members may not look alike, but I have found that destructive cults follow specific behavior patterns that set them apart from other groups. By learning to identify the these patterns you will be better qualified to determine if someone you care about is actually involved with a cult. A group should not be considered a “cult” merely because of its unorthodox belief or practices. Instead, destructive cults are distinguished by their use of deception and mind control techniques to determine a person’s free will and make him dependent on the group’s leader. Authoritarian Leadership In essence a destructive cult is an authoritarian group that is headed by a
person or group of people that has near-complete control. Charismatic cult leaders often make extreme claims of divine or “otherworldly” power to exercise influence over their members. Many legitimate religions have had powerful figures who have inspired enormous dedication in people. Being a powerful leader is not inherently wrong , though it carries a high potential for abuse. A group becomes destructive when its leader actively uses such power to deceive members and to rob them of their individuality and free will. For example, I was told to surrender my free will (viewed as Satanic) to God’s representative, Moon, and his subleaders. Marshall Applewhite told followers that an alien entity was speaking through him, and used his message to justify his absolute control over their lives. Deception Destructive cults also use deception to recruit new members. When I was first approached by Moonie recruiters, they told me they were part f the “One World Crusade,” which I later learned was one of many front groups for the Unification Church . They claimed to be students who were involved with a small community of young people struggling to overcome cultural barriers. It was not until much later that I found what its members really believed, and what would be expected of me. What makes this all so insidious is that members often speak and act with the greatest sincerity because they have been subjected to the same mind control techniques that they used to recruit others. 
Destructive Mind Control Finally, destructive cults use mind control techniques to keep members dependent and obedient. You will learn the specific criteria that define mind control in later but, generally, speaking, cult mind control can be understood as a system of influence that is designed to disrupt a person’s authentic identity and replace it with a new identity. By immersing people in a tightly controlled, high pressure social environment, destructive cults gain control of their members’ behavior, thoughts, emotions and access to information. They take over their mind.
A cult, particularly a destructive one, is almost any kind of organization whose followers have been deceptively and unethically recruited and retained. They use manipulative techniques, which are imposed without the informed consent of the recruit and are designed to alter personality and behavior. These groups are only concerned about advancing the mission or business of the group, and not the well being of the individual members. They pose great dangers not only against the society among whom they live but also against their own followers. Our modern history contains records of cults’ threats and human tragedies that have shaken the world. Talking on the tragic end the followers of a destructive cult might be led to Margaret Thaler Singer has said: Twice in less than fifteen years we have been shown the deadly ends to which cult followers can be led. In 1978, aerial photos of 912 brightly clad followers of Jim Jones, dead by cyanidelaced drinks and gunshots in a steamy Guyanese jungle, were shown in magazines and on television, reappearing with each subsequent anniversary of the end of Jonestown. And in early 1993, television news programs showed the Koresh cult’s shoot-out, then several weeks later its flaming end on the Texas plains. 1 They are only an example of many countless instances. As reported recently, Texas police raided a gated compound outside the tiny Texas cattle town of Eldorado built and run by the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Reportedly, more than 400 children and teens had been rescued and taken into temporary state custody while the authorities continued investigating allegations that girls at the compound were being sexually abused by men. The number of active cults only in the US is estimated to range from 3,000 to 5,000. It is hard to get a precise number as cults change their names, splinter off into other groups, or shut down in one area only to open back up in another. Unfortunately, there are approximately 180,000 new cult recruits every year and the cults are developing more sophisticated techniques to form and establish new aliases. They originally start under religious and political covers and it is only after getting totally involved in the cults that the followers come to recognize the real intention of the cults. One way to avoid being entrapped by the cults is to learn to recognize common cult-recruitment tactics and situations. The people who have suffered tensions or are in search of Utopia are most vulnerable to be recruited by the cults. In general, cults follow nearly the same tactics for deception and misrepresentation to recruit, retain and achieve cult-related ends. Today, it is really a hard task to distinguish a cult from another legal group but in the past decades there have been attempts to help people in cult prevention. There are identical factors shared by majority of cults which can be of great help to recognize a cult. Referring to important characteristics of a cult Robert Jay Lifton observes: First, all cults have a charismatic leader, who himself or her- self increasingly becomes the object of worship, and in many cases, the dispenser of immortality. Spiritual ideas of a general kind give way to this deification of the leader. Second, in cults there occurs a series of psychological processes that can be associated with what has been called”coercive persuasion”or”thought reform,”as described in some detail in this book. And third, there is a pattern of manipulation and exploitation from above (by leaders and ruling coteries) and idealism from below (on the part of supplicants and recruits). 2 Thus, the characteristics to mark a cult are three: 1. Charismatic and self-appointed leader who claims divinity or special knowledge and demands his followers unquestioning and total loyalty and obedience. 2. An organized structure of totalitarian hegemony with the leader at the top
3. Planned thought reform and brainwashing techniques to induce a state of high suggestibility and dependency on the group and self-alienation.
To determine how dangerous a cult might be, Bonewits draws a Cult Danger Evaluation Frame which can be a good help to determine just how dangerous a cult or group might be in comparison with other groups. The factors indicated by Bonewits include:
1. INTERNAL CONTROL 2. WISDOM CLAIMED by leader(s3. WISDOM CREDITED to leader(s) by members 4. DOGMA 5. RECRUITING6. FRONT GROUPS 7. WEALTH 8. POLITICAL POWER 9. SEXUAL MANIPULATION 10. CENSORSHIP11. DROPOUT CONTROL 12. VIOLENCE13. PARANOIA 14. GRIMNESS 15. SURRENDER OF WILL16. HYPOCRISY 3
It seems that Bonewits has developed a good understanding of cults’ menace in the modern world which is shared with other researchers. A look at Dr. Robert Jay Lifton’s criteria for a destructive cult is a precise approbation:
1. Authoritarian pyramid structure with authority at the top
2. Charismatic or messianic leader(s) (Messianic meaning they either say they are God or that they alone can interpret the scriptures the way God intended.
3. Deception in recruitment and/or fund raising
4. Isolation from society — not necessarily physical isolation, but this can be psychological isolation.
5. Use of mind control (Mileu Control, Mystical Manipulation, Demand for Purity, Confession, Sacred Science, Loading the Language, Doctrine Over Person, Dispensing of Existence) 4
Considering signs that distinguish a destructive cult, a precise evaluation of MKO well crystallizes it as one of the most destructive and visible examples of a cult that jeopardizes the security and thought well-being of the people among whom it takes refuge under the cover of a pro-democratic, political group. Far beyond being recognized as an alternative to Iranian regime as MKO claims, it is an alternative to a destructive cult sharing their characteristics. For sure, no sensible people consent to a dangerous cult to steer the country.
References: 1- Thaler Singer, Margaret; Cults in Our Midst: The Continuing Fight Against Their Hidden Menace, p. 3.
2- Ibid, XII.
3- www.qed.net/bonewits/ABCDEF.HTML
4- www.refocus.org Research Bureau, Mojahedin.ws, April 9, 2008
Cults are complex phenomenon in the modern world because of their dubious positions towards the media and the sophisticated communication technology. They, based on their natural potentiality, misuse the media and modern means 
for censure, persuasion, distortion, brainwashing and mind-control activities against their insiders and sympathizers. Cults show diverse and double reactions in their dealing with the media that draw substantial public attention to accomplish a variety of objectives. Besides, the media in any form play a key role in the formation of public opinion and thought, life-style, and even the depiction of a nation’s destiny. For sure so important, versatile phenomena of the modernity never escape the attention of the cults. In the same way that the media can give warning against the threat and the evil nature of the cults, they can also be at their service, depending on the amount of revenue and how influentially they can master them, to instil noxious ideas into a society. However, since the media can hardly be an exclusive medium for the cults and in many occasions it is too expensive a means for propagation with the least expected outcome, and sometimes inflicts irreparable damages, the cults prefer not to invest much trust in the media. The case is sometimes different with the political cults. If we consider deliberate isolation tactic as one of the cults’ most common mechanisms of control and enforced dependency, then the social persuasion is the identical definition of the mechanism. The recruits are encouraged to disrupt their common lifestyle and leave whatever they are attached to behind to adapt themselves to the cult’s milieu in isolation. In this process, what is considered to be a threat in neutralizing the effects of the social persuasion will be the media which the cults favour to avoid. That is mostly because cults’ prompt of black-and-white thinking fails to be functional and productive in the media which has to be repelled. However, cults are not so powerful as the governments that can have total control over the media for social persuasion and people’s mind-control if they will. Quoting Orwell reasoning the effectiveness of the media coming under the complete control of the governments, Singer states: Orwell reasoned that if a government could control all media and interpersonal communication while simultaneously forcing citizens to speak in a politically controlled jargon, it could blunt independent thinking. If thought could be controlled, then rebellious actions against a regime could be pre- vented. 1 Milieu control, that is total control of members’ communication in the cults, is a mechanism to keep members from communicating anything other than what the cults approve and often involves discouraging members from contacting relatives or friends outside the cult and from reading, watching and listening to anything unapproved by the cult or the organization. Consequently, the effectiveness of the media in illuminating facts about the cults and active organizations is actually neutralized and the insiders are told not to believe and trust in anything they see or hear reported by the media that has to be accounted as an agent in the enemy’s front. In this way, the cults’ leaders blindfold members about historical facts: Milieu control also often involves discouraging members from contacting relatives or friends outside the group and from reading anything not approved by the organization. They are sometimes told not to believe anything they see or hear reported by the media. One left-wing political cult, for example, maintains that the Berlin Wall is still standing and that the "bourgeois capitalist" press war people to think otherwise in order to discredit communism. 2 As a result, cults’ hostile position against the media decreases the influence of the media on the members to a zero degree. Furthermore, cults exploit a variety of approaches and legal levers in the war against the media. Sometimes they use violent tactics such as threatening, intimidation and harassment to frighten away the critics, reporters, journalists and authors and to compel them cease anti-cult productions and programs: A metropolitan newspaper’s desk editor was harassed after he ran a piece critical of a local cult. He and his family had to move out of their home after receiving seventy-two hours of continuous phone calls from cult members. 3 As mentioned earlier, if possible, cults will set up complex networks of public relations and radio-TV stations to make a direct channel of communication and contact with the sympathizers rather than letting them refer to public media for information. Such a biased medium works as sufficient to hold the followers hooked onto the cult. As Singer explains: Cults have found many ways to restrict and control public information about them. Some groups have brochures, handouts for the press, and written overviews and endorsements of the group, often prepared by sophisticated public relations firms. In essence, these materials imply that "you need go no further. Here is who we are. Here is all you need to know to understand us perfectly. Take this material and use it. Everything is fine." The implication is that the material is objectively represented and relatively comprehensive. 4 As a leftist cult, Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) has adopted various tactics to muzzle and beat the media. It will be discussed in the following article. References: 1. Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst, JOSSEY-BASS, 2003, introduction. 2. Ibid, p. 70. 3. Ibid, p. 224. 4. Ibid, p. 226.
The main goal of producing a new identity in cults is to make insiders dependant on the cult and to be obedient. The mechanisms the cults exploit to achieve the goal are interrelated but each can be discussed separately since they are all prerequisites for insiders’ persuasion and control and the final transformation of the recruits into real cultists. It will not be wrong to say that whatever the cults do is to cut the members off from the outside world to produce a new identity and belief totally different from what the members previously held as right and dear. The process finished, the insiders will adopt a new and reborn personality as Singer states: 
As part of the intense influence and change process in many cults, people take on a new social identity, which may or may not be obvious to an outsider. When groups refer to this new identity, they speak of members who are transformed, reborn, enlightened, empowered, rebirthed, or cleared. The group’ approved behavior is reinforced and reinterpreted as demonstrating the emergence of "the new person." Members are expected to display this new identity. 1 The new personality totally split from the outside world is manipulated for a variety of group tasks based on the objectives of the group and cult that consider the outsiders as the enemies who have to be confronted: The conflicts a mass movement seek and incites serve not only to down its enemies but also to strip its followers of their distinct individuality and render them more soluble in the collective medium. 2 As Hoffer asserts, a cultist personality is formed to be submissive to the inner-cultic relations that have priority to outwardly demonstrated ambitions and goals. The members undergoing overall identity change easily consent to any means of changing behaviour and conduct. Thus, cults can successfully accomplish their goal of binding new members to the group. Considering the stages people will go through as their attitudes are changed by the group environment and the thought reform processes, Singer points to psychologist Edgar Schein’s second stages of three: During this second stage, you sense that the solutions offered by the group provide a path to follow. You feel that anxiety, uncertainty, and self-doubt can be reduced by adopting the concepts put forth by the group or leader. Additionally, you observe the behavior of the longer, term members, and you begin to emulate their ways. As social psychology experiments and observations have found for decades, once a person makes an open commitment before others to an idea, his or her subsequent behavior generally supports and reinforces the stated commitment. That is, if you say in front of others that you are making a commitment to be "pure," then you will feel pressured to follow what others define as the path of purity. 3 There are also the eight psychological themes that psychiatrist Robert Lifton has identified as central to totalistic environments and cults invoke these themes for the purpose of promoting behavioral and attitudinal changes in the members. The third theme, demand for purity, depicts two opposite world of black and white; the cult being an absolutely white and clean world versus the black and evil world of outside. Of course, the members with a new personality have no other choice but to think and act according to cult’s ideology and drawn strategy: An us-versus-them orientation is promoted by the all-or-nothing belief system of the group: we are right; they (outsiders, nonmembers) are wrong, evil, unenlightened, and so forth. Each idea or act is good or bad, pure or evil. Recruits gradually take in, or internalize, the critical, shaming essence of the cult environment, which builds up lots of guilt and shame. Most groups put forth that there is only one way to think, respond, or act in any given situation. There is no in between, and members are expected to judge themselves and others by this all-or-nothing standard. 4 The process of producing identity within MKO follows the same mechanism in the cults and its orientation began with the start of the internal ideological revolution. All the members undergoing the revolution process admitted their identity change, that there does exist a long distance between their organizational and personal identities. It was instilled into them that their identity would be prompted based on the extent of adherence to the ideological system of the group and denial of any personal identity. In a text written by a member of MKO in self-denial we read: Personality, egocentrism, self-reliance and individualism are all souvenirs of the bourgeoisie’s worthless humanism that distanced me from the organization as far as its degree of its impact on me. It was like a chaff that barred me to drink the pure, life-giving instructions of the organization and was leaving me alone in a desolate waste-land with no way out. I was enslaved by dominant ambiguities within me. When I failed to overcome the ongoing struggle inside me, I was even more vulnerable to the outside misfortunes and could not even face them. 5 The member’s confession well depicts his identity destabilization and what psychologists call an identity crisis. He looks back at his own world and values to find out that he has been wrong in the past. This process makes him uncertain about what is right, what to do, and which choices to make and of course, as he admits, only the cult-like instructions of the organization can lead him to what is inspired to be the right path. Consequently, he takes on a new organizational identity which he considers a change for the better. In the process, he, as the member of a cult, detaches from his most dear ideas and attachments which he discovers to have been nothing beyond a barren waste-land for the identity reborn, a utopia in the horizon he fails to dismiss easily. Masoud Banisadr, another separated member of MKO, in his memoir relates of the time when sat tearing whatever attached him to the past under the commands of the organization: This time I attacked my old photographs from my own childhood till marriage and up to then, my parents photographs as I wanted to deny all of them, my father who was perhaps responsible for my bourgeois tendencies and my mother who was responsible of my own ‘mild’ and ‘gentle’ behaviour known as liberal ones. Anna seeing me taking all those photographs and albums, with anger, was quietly crying, then when I attacked our marriage Album she start crying louder, and asked me to stop it. She said those are not just yours . . . but I was not listening to her and took everything and put them in a rubbish bag. 6 Quoting Lifton’s forth theme, through a cult’s instructions, members are told whatever connects them to their former lives is wrong and has to be avoided, a fact well affirmed by MKO’s ex-members: Through the confession process and by instruction in the group’s teachings, members learn that everything about their former lives, including friends, family, and nonmembers, is wrong and to be avoided. Outsiders will put you at risk of not attaining the purported goal: they will lessen your psychological awareness, hinder the group’s political advancement, obstruct your path toward ultimate knowledge, or allow you to become stuck in your past life and incorrect thinking. 7 That is why MKO refer to members’ solubility in the organizational identity as a “reborn” or “identity salvation”. The organization, being transformed into a cult, pursues the same cult mechanism of altering the members’ personal identity to produce a new identity. References: 1. Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst, JOSSEY-BASS, 2003, p. 78. 2. Eric Hoffer; The true believer, Harper &. Row, Publishers, New York, 1966, p. 112. 3. Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst, JOSSEY-BASS, 2003, p. 76. 4. Ibid, 71. 5. Mojahed, no. 252; Abdol-ali Maasoumi’s letter to the ideological revolution. 6. Masoud Banisadr; Memoirs of an Iranian Rebel. 7. Margaret Thaler Singer; Cults in Our Midst, JOSSEY-BASS, 2003, p. 72.
The MKO terrorist cult threatened Iraqi newsmen who had released documents indicating that the Mujahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) had a hand in suppressing Iraqi Shiites’ Intifada [in 1991]. According to Albayyenah newspaper, the MKO terrorist group made death threats to Iraqi newsmen through the internet and their mobile phones as well. These newsmen had published documents on the MKO having a hand in suppressing the Intifada of Iraqi Shiites. Albayyenah also adds: As a result of these open threats, the Iraqi Newsmen’s Union will condemn the MKO’s recent measure through issuing a formal statement. The MKO terrorist cult has also already threatened Ali Dabbagh, an Iraqi government spokesman who is also responsible for Iraq’s Research Center, with death because of opposing the Monafeghin’s remaining in Iraq.
In a new humanitarian move taken by Anne Singleton and Massoud Khodabandeh, ex-members of MKO, they strive to help other members of the terrorist MKO held against their will within the walls of Camp Ashraf in Iraq detach from the group. Their move is appreciated by a number of other oppositions including Alireza Nourizadeh who has long been revealing facts on MKO and voicing urgency to help dissatisfied members whose destiny is unclear.
Nourizadeh’s remarks stated on humanitarian grounds rather than a political notion has filled MKO with indignation and the group showed a harsh and insulting backlash against him in its media as it is its typical. Regardless of any political stance, the move by Sahar Family Foundation (SFF) run by the Khodabandehs for the survival of the reminders of their comrades from the clutches of the terrorist cult of Mojahedin is a worthwhile activity.
Mojahedin.ws- March 5, 2008
The first outcomes of Iranian president’s visit to Iraq was al-Maliki’s reiteration that Iraq will not let terrorist groups like al-Qaeda, the Mujahedin Khalq 
Organization (MKO) or the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) terrorist groups turn Iraq into a base against friendly countries in the region. That is what Iraq needs to end a phase of anarchy following the fall of the dictator who acted as the god-father of terrorism and groups like MKO that is notoriously known to have acted as Saddam’s mercenaries and private army. Ahmadinejad’s landmark visit to Baghdad is referred to as a "hero’s welcome" and "extremely helpful" even by the critics of the Iranian regime and slogans on the walls of houses and public markets in Baghdad’s Sadr City are reported to be all welcoming Ahmadinejad and hailing him as a hero. Of course, none of the active insurgent and terrorist groups can tolerate any move taken to uproot terrorism in Iraq and smash their fortified safe-havens in a variety of provinces. In a widespread propaganda blitz, for instance, MKO is trying to overstress protests against Ahmadinejad’s presence in Iraq and it is not wrong to say that the organization is the main instigator of a trifle of public demonstration. Once one of Saddam’s chief internal accomplices in his crimes against Iraqi people, MKO now plays a key role in masterminding organized protests against the decisions adopted by Iraq’s legal government. Following a given report of protests in some parts of Iraq, MKO adds: Last November more than 300,000 Iraqis including hundreds of Shiite tribal leaders from Southern provinces signed a petition condemning Iranian regime’s meddling in Iraq and supported the presence of the main Iranian opposition group, the People’s Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI/MEK) in that country. The petition was viewed as a turning point in Iraq. For the first time there was a public and organized display of opposition toward Iranian regime’s meddling by tribal leaders in the predominantly Shiite south. National solidarity and a united front to uproot terrorism will put an end to Iraq’s chaotic social disorder. Unfortunately, terrorists and insurgents meddling has disheartened efforts toward the accomplishment of a comprehensive social peace.
‘Terrorists will not use Iraq soil’
Presstv, March 3, 2008
Iraqi ambassador: MKO presence not permanent
IRNA, February 27, 2008
Iraqi Ambassador to Tehran Mohammad Majeed Al-Sheikh said here on Tuesday that the presence of members of the terrorist Mujahideen Khalq Organization ”MKO” in Iraq is not permanent. "The MKO members have been staying in Iraq before the Saddam Hussein regime was toppled," he said, adding the necessary measures have been taken to expel them. Al-Sheikh noted that the Iraqi government is not satisfied with their presence and said they would stay in Iraq until they find another country to accept them. The envoy assured that the Iraqi government does not permit any action against the Islamic Republic. He put the volume of Tehran-Baghdad trade at dlrs 2.4 billion, calling for expansion of mutual cooperation in all fields. Referring to the exporting electricity to Iraq, he underlined that the Islamic Republic has launched some electricity projects in the cities of Shalamcheh and Basra which are in final stages. He also termed the Tehran-Baghdad cultural and medical cooperation as proper, adding the bilateral cooperation in this regard is very good and effective. With the aim of boosting the cultural and medical cooperation, al-Sheikh stated that a medical conference is going to held in Naseriyeh in near future. He also called for holding talks between Iran and US, adding the Iraq issue is a good opportunity for them to set aside their differences. "We want to prove to the world that negotiations is the only solution to any problem," he observed. The envoy also voiced his country readiness to release some of the Iranian prisoners, adding currently a few Iranian prisoners are behind bars in Badreh Prison and negotiations are underway to release them. Referring to boosting bilateral cultural cooperation, the ambassador concluded that currently the issuance of visas for Iranian pilgrims have increased.
Iraq Not a Place to Raid Neighbors
A member of Iraqi parliament criticizes the Turkish incursion against PKK rebels in northern Iraq, stressing that Iraq’s territories should not be used to attack neighboring countries. "Before attacking northern Iraq, Turkey was supposed to attempt resolving the crisis by exercising the bilateral cooperation and diplomatic measures to prevent PKK from threatening Turkey’s security, a crucial measure that has regrettably not adopted, " said Abdul Aziz Al- Enzi, an Iraqi MP on Sunday evening to Alalam TV. He said that Iran has also expressed concerns over ‘Mujahedin Khalgh’ an Iranian opposition terrorist group (MKO) to employ Iraq’s territories to target some ends in Iran. "Iraqi government should adopt swift measures to resolve this crisis," he said. Al- Enzi stressed that any delay in resolving the MKO terrorists and PKK rebels’ crisis would have negative affect on Iraq- Turkey and Iraq- Iran ties. "Iraq’s Foreign Ministry should try to find a way out of this crisis to avoid such accidents with the adjacent countries, "he added. Al- Enzi rejected any rumors, saying, "Iraqi President Jalal Talabani has demanded Turkish government to suppress the PKK in northern Iraq," stressing that the president strongly respects Iraq’s sovereignty. He pointed out that the US has double standard policy towards Iraqi armed insurgents and US troops protect some armed militants such as the PKK rebels and MKO terrorists.
Alalam, February 25, 2008
"Iraqi government is not able to resolve the crisis of the armed groups, because it has not power to control the whole country, "he concluded.
Mojahedin.ws, March 3, 2008
Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has said that Baghdad would not let terrorists use its soil to attack neighboring countries. Democratic Iraq has a constitution and will not let terrorist groups including al-Qaeda, the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (MKO) or the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) insurgents turn Iraq into a base against friendly countries in the region, al-Maliki told IRNA Sunday. He added that Iraq is the ‘safety valve’ of the region and gave assurances that Baghdad would destroy terrorist group bases in the country to restore regional stability and security. The premier pointed to the current historic visit by the Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to Iraq and invited Iran to carry out projects for the reconstruction of Iraq.
Researchers and the scientists of humanities have identified similar features in all contemporary cults one of which is application of mental and psychological control techniques mainly aimed at persuading cult members, and making them more and more obedient and passive. Considering the significance of the matter, finding out the nature and extent of members’ obedience in cults is one
of the major issues in internal cultist relations. The reasons why a person submits to be subjected to mental, physical , psychological, and financial misuse to the extent that he/she gives up job, family, and the individual freedom are very important issues for those interested in investigating cultist mechanisms and levers. In simple words, those outside cults, out of curiosity, strive for public awareness and preventing people’s deviation as well as discovering how in an age of scientific development and communication there people who easily fall in the cults’ trap and are are hoodwinked by their tricks. In order to understand such an issue we must look at the social and psychological techniques used by cults and cultic groups. This process of planned, convert coordinated influence-popularly called brainwashing or mind control or, more technically, thought reform-is the means by which the cult leader subjugates the followers.
The fact is that at first such mechanisms are raw materials based on psychological theories and assumptions and are to be put into action. Our discussion is around the brief study of such mechanisms by which people undergo full obedience and control and also comparing the programs exercised in cults like that of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) initially blacklisted as a terrorist organization. Mojahedin stand opposed to the allegations of being a cultist group abusing sophisticated scientific procedures to expand its hegemonic domination over the members. However, such a position taken by them does not affect theoretical and academic challenges put against them. What is of importance is the extent to which their relations and techniques are adaptable to that of other cults. First we’d better develop an understanding of through what mechanisms cults manage to survive.
Cults aim at creating drastic mental and psychological changes in all aspects of members’ life. They insist on saying that cultist values are significantly above those admired in the society and the first step to enter a cult is cutting all those values repelled by the cult. That is the prerequisite to prepare members to easily consent to cultist teachings that implant a completely different life-style. As Margaret Singer explains:
Cults tend to require members to undergo a major disruption or change in lifestyle. Many cults put great pressure on new members to leave their families, mends, and jobs to become immersed in the group’s major purpose. This isolation tactic is one of the cults’ most common mechanisms of control and enforced dependency. (1)
For the techniques to be accomplished in internal relation of Mojahedin, three stages has to be met; cleansing the mind of any non-organizational mental drifts, taking the individual mental, behavioral, and psychological functions under the control, and finally impose it on the individuals to be in a constant conflict of facing permanent contradiction between his/her personal values and the organization’s ideal world. The finally process results in full metamorphosis of members and molded as desired by the cult. They are under a never-ceasing watch to be found with the flaws they had hardly noticed in themselves for which they will be reproached in the presence of other members whom will have no escape from the strict criticism. They all try to adapt themselves to the new conditions to find a new identity and gain organizational legitimacy. Such procedures opted for as the mechanism of overcoming non-revolutionary features result in a total dependence of the individuals to cult. The main theme of all cults is mind control and gradual self-alteration, a factor that is explicitly observable in internal relations of Mojahedin under different pretexts as organizational discipline. Cults are known to dictate what members have to wear and eat and when and where they work, sleep, and bathe as well as what they should believe in, think, and say and even dream. Although such factors comprise the primary cultist instructions, they may set the ground for further destructive direction.
Most former MKO members as well as Mojahedin themselves acknowledge the implementation of these mind-control techniques. The main difference between Mojahedin and other cults is that the techniques are phased that are vehemently glorified and celebrated as unmatched turning points. Mojahedin’s internal ideological revolution is the best example. It is most likely that Mojahedin, because of feeling close strategic and ideological affinities, have been influenced by Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China. However, according to Singer, Mao resorted to thought-reform programs under the influence of cultist relations:
Then in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the world witnessed personnel at Chinese revolutionary universities implement a thought-reform program that changed the beliefs and behaviors of the citizens of the largest nation in the world. This program, which Mao Tse-tung wrote about as early as the 1920s, was put into place when the Communist regime took power in China on October 1, 1949. Chairman Mao had long planned how to change people’s political selves-to achieve "ideological remolding," as he called it-through the use of a coordinated program of psychological, social, and political coercion. As a result, millions of Chinese citizens were induced to espouse new philosophies and exhibit new conduct (2).
Mao’s "Red Book" refers openly to the significance of such procedures for achieving what he calls revolution. Mehdi Abrishamchi defines it as adaptation and mental and conceptual balance. the mechanisms aim at reforming the basic values of a person distancing him from individual identity, persuasion and also absolute submission to organizational commands. In this regard, Eric Hofer writes:
To ripen a person for self-sacrifice he must be stripped of his individual identity and distinctness. He must cease to be George, Hans, van, or Tadao- a human atom with an existence bounded by birth and death. The most drastic way to achieve this end is by the complete assimilation of the individual into a collective body. The fully assimilated individual does not see himself and others as human beings. When asked who he is, his automatic response is that he is a German, a Russian, a Japanese, a Christian, a Moslem, a member of a certain tribe or family, He has no purpose, worth and destiny apart from his collective body; and as long as that body lives he cannot really die. (3)
Mojahedin identify the individual identity to sealed boxes and believe that the main theme of the ideological revolution is to unlock these boxes:
To unlock the boxes (minds of members) is the main theme and the first stage of ideological revolution. (4)
By opening these boxes the first step is taken to change members’ attitudes and standpoints to adapt them to organizationally adopted values and principles that are in contradiction with the outside world.
References:
1. Singer, M. Cults in our midst. Coordinated programs of persuasion.
2. ibid.
3. Hofer, E. The True believer.
4. Niyabati, B; A different look at the internal ideological revolution within MKO, p.36
Research Bureau-Mojahedin.ws-February 22, 2008
Researchers and the scientists of humanities have identified similar features in all contemporary cults one of which is application of mental and psychological control techniques mainly aimed at persuading cult members, and making them
more and more obedient and passive. Considering the significance of the matter, finding out the nature and extent of members’ obedience in cults is one of the major issues in internal cultist relations. The reasons why a person submits to be subjected to mental, physical , psychological, and financial misuse to the extent that he/she gives up job, family, and the individual freedom are very important issues for those interested in investigating cultist mechanisms and levers. In simple words, those outside cults, out of curiosity, strive for public awareness and preventing people’s deviation as well as discovering how in an age of scientific development and communication there people who easily fall in the cults’ trap and are are hoodwinked by their tricks. In order to understand such an issue we must look at the social and psychological techniques used by cults and cultic groups. This process of planned, convert coordinated influence-popularly called brainwashing or mind control or, more technically, thought reform-is the means by which the cult leader subjugates the followers.
The fact is that at first such mechanisms are raw materials based on psychological theories and assumptions and are to be put into action. Our discussion is around the brief study of such mechanisms by which people undergo full obedience and control and also comparing the programs exercised in cults like that of Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO) initially blacklisted as a terrorist organization. Mojahedin stand opposed to the allegations of being a cultist group abusing sophisticated scientific procedures to expand its hegemonic domination over the members. However, such a position taken by them does not affect theoretical and academic challenges put against them. What is of importance is the extent to which their relations and techniques are adaptable to that of other cults. First we’d better develop an understanding of through what mechanisms cults manage to survive.
Cults aim at creating drastic mental and psychological changes in all aspects of members’ life. They insist on saying that cultist values are significantly above those admired in the society and the first step to enter a cult is cutting all those values repelled by the cult. That is the prerequisite to prepare members to easily consent to cultist teachings that implant a completely different life-style. As Margaret Singer explains:
Cults tend to require members to undergo a major disruption or change in lifestyle. Many cults put great pressure on new members to leave their families, mends, and jobs to become immersed in the group’s major purpose. This isolation tactic is one of the cults’ most common mechanisms of control and enforced dependency. (1)
For the techniques to be accomplished in internal relation of Mojahedin, three stages has to be met; cleansing the mind of any non-organizational mental drifts, taking the individual mental, behavioral, and psychological functions under the control, and finally impose it on the individuals to be in a constant conflict of facing permanent contradiction between his/her personal values and the organization’s ideal world. The finally process results in full metamorphosis of members and molded as desired by the cult. They are under a never-ceasing watch to be found with the flaws they had hardly noticed in themselves for which they will be reproached in the presence of other members whom will have no escape from the strict criticism. They all try to adapt themselves to the new conditions to find a new identity and gain organizational legitimacy. Such procedures opted for as the mechanism of overcoming non-revolutionary features result in a total dependence of the individuals to cult. The main theme of all cults is mind control and gradual self-alteration, a factor that is explicitly observable in internal relations of Mojahedin under different pretexts as organizational discipline. Cults are known to dictate what members have to wear and eat and when and where they work, sleep, and bathe as well as what they should believe in, think, and say and even dream. Although such factors comprise the primary cultist instructions, they may set the ground for further destructive direction.
Most former MKO members as well as Mojahedin themselves acknowledge the implementation of these mind-control techniques. The main difference between Mojahedin and other cults is that the techniques are phased that are vehemently glorified and celebrated as unmatched turning points. Mojahedin’s internal ideological revolution is the best example. It is most likely that Mojahedin, because of feeling close strategic and ideological affinities, have been influenced by Mao’s Cultural Revolution in China. However, according to Singer, Mao resorted to thought-reform programs under the influence of cultist relations:
Then in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the world witnessed personnel at Chinese revolutionary universities implement a thought-reform program that changed the beliefs and behaviors of the citizens of the largest nation in the world. This program, which Mao Tse-tung wrote about as early as the 1920s, was put into place when the Communist regime took power in China on October 1, 1949. Chairman Mao had long planned how to change people’s political selves-to achieve”ideological remolding,”as he called it-through the use of a coordinated program of psychological, social, and political coercion. As a result, millions of Chinese citizens were induced to espouse new philosophies and exhibit new conduct (2).
Mao’s”Red Book”refers openly to the significance of such procedures for achieving what he calls revolution. Mehdi Abrishamchi defines it as adaptation and mental and conceptual balance. the mechanisms aim at reforming the basic values of a person distancing him from individual identity, persuasion and also absolute submission to organizational commands. In this regard, Eric Hofer writes:
To ripen a person for self-sacrifice he must be stripped of his individual identity and distinctness. He must cease to be George, Hans, van, or Tadao- a human atom with an existence bounded by birth and death. The most drastic way to achieve this end is by the complete assimilation of the individual into a collective body. The fully assimilated individual does not see himself and others as human beings. When asked who he is, his automatic response is that he is a German, a Russian, a Japanese, a Christian, a Moslem, a member of a certain tribe or family, He has no purpose, worth and destiny apart from his collective body; and as long as that body lives he cannot really die. (3)
Mojahedin identify the individual identity to sealed boxes and believe that the main theme of the ideological revolution is to unlock these boxes:
To unlock the boxes (minds of members) is the main theme and the first stage of ideological revolution. (4)
By opening these boxes the first step is taken to change members’ attitudes and standpoints to adapt them to organizationally adopted values and principles that are in contradiction with the outside world. References: 1. Singer, M. Cults in our midst. Coordinated programs of persuasion. 2. ibid. 3. Hofer, E. The True believer. 4. Niyabati, B; A different look at the internal ideological revolution within MKO, p.36
Research Bureau-Mojahedin.ws-February 22, 2008
Reported by The Guardian the UK government is to appeal against a court ruling, won by 35 MPs and peers, that it should remove Mojahedin-e Khalq Organization (MKO), from the list of banned terrorist organizations. The Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission (POAC) ruled last November that the government’s decision to keep MKO on the list was "perverse", flawed and must be set aside.
According to the report, three senior judges headed by the lord chief justice, Lord Phillips, will hear the home secretary’s appeal. The government argues that the proscribed group has only temporarily ceased terrorism for "pragmatic reasons". A Home Office spokesman said: "The PMOI was engaged in terrorism until 2001, and until 2003 kept an extensive arsenal at its base in Ashraf, Iraq. It is now seeking to establish itself as a non-violent democratic movement.
"However, our assessment is that the PMOI may not have genuinely renounced terrorism and that there may have been only a temporary cessation of terrorist acts for pragmatic reasons. We believe there is a risk of the PMOI returning to terrorism in the future that warrants its continuing proscription in this country."
Mojahedin.ws -February 18 2008