In the MEK’s black and white world, departure means expulsion

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The “all-or-nothing” way of thinking is one of the very destructive thinking patterns that a person can have. This thinking pattern is also called “black and white thinking”. Thinking in black and white arranges the world into extremes: good and bad, yes and no.
It’s like seeing only in black and white and ignoring the shades of gray in between. This thinking pattern leads the person to absolutism. Absolutism refers to ideas, phrases and words that denote totality, either in magnitude or probability. Absolutist thoughts are unqualified by nuance and overlook the complexity of a given subject.
Those who are not with us are against us!
For absolutists, there is nothing more than two possible positions. They do not admit that a person or group can have a neutral stance or could disagree in part with their position without entirely opposing them. In the cults of personality such as the Mujahedin Khalq (MEK, MKO, PMOI, Cult of Rajavi), the absolute leader is the main person to coerce members into such a thinking pattern.
In the MEK, any voice of dissent is forbidden and eventually will be silenced by any means. Based on interviews that he made with former members of the MEK, Aron Merat wrote in the Guardian that “MEK commanders systematically abused members to silence dissent and prevent defections – using torture, solitary confinement, the confiscation of assets and the segregation of families to maintain control over members”.
Members of the MEK often undergo sever punishment as soon as they express their willingness to leave the group. As the former high ranking member of the group Saeed Shahsavandi told the BBC inside the MEK’s ruling system “people do not leave the group, but they are expelled from the group”. According to Shahsavandi, the organization do not tolerate any criticism. “Criticism and polyphonic ideas are not tolerated, so the dissident member is considered as traitor,” he says. “In such organizations, relationships are based on zero or one hundred, black or white, you are either a servant or a traitor.”
Absolutism of the MEK leaders explains why families of the MEK members are called mercenaries of the Iranian government just because they ask the international human rights bodies to aid them contact their children who are kept like hostages in the MEK.
As absolute powers of their ruling system, dictators suffer such personal disorder. Lack of balanced thinking make the MEK leaders fail to bring together the dichotomy of both positive and negative qualities of a phenomenon. Like other totalitarian leaders such as Stalin or Hitler, Massoud Rajavi is considered as a narcissistic personality. Narcissism is one of the popular causes of the all or nothing way of thinking.
A Narcissist devalues people, considers them worthless and thinks highly of them. Therefore his mind gradually adopts the all or nothing thinking. The narcissist thinks that things are either perfect or imperfect. Massoud Rajavi calls members as “unique gems” or “freedom fighters” as far as they obey his absolute power. As soon as a member decides to leave the group, he is labeled a “traitor” or “agent of the Iranian Intelligence”.
The duality of black and white thinking prevent the MEK leaders from realizing the truth because in reality most things can be approached from multiple perspectives. The fictional black and white world that the Rajavis have built inside their cult has a very destructive effect on the members’ lives. They are hardly ever capable of leaving the group in a normal process. There is an urgent need of human rights bodies to aid the release of the group members from the bars of the Cult of Rajavi.
Mazda Parsi