As the two previous parts of these articles read, the definition of a modern cult lays in the techniques the cults use to control the members
psychologically and sometimes physically. The terrorist cult of MKO has been so successful to function the process of manipulative mind control on its members that the members are purely devoted to the cult leaders and prepared to commit any crime ( Ex. Self- immolations) along with the leaders’ objectives.
Mind Control is a suite of psychological techniques that cult leaders attempt to control their members with.
Cultwatch does not consider Mind Control to be some magical device which can take away peoples’ free will. In other words it does not turn people into some sort of remote control robot. Rather we see Mind Control as a dishonest influence placed covertly on cult members by the cult. So instead of Mind Control being some sort of irresistible force like the aliens in the movies that take over peoples minds, rather it is more like a gun. The cult leader points the Mind Control "gun" at a member and says, "if you leave us then you will lose all of your friends and family", "if you don’t conform then you will go to Hell", "if you don’t give us money then you will fail in business".
According to the testimonies of former members of MKO cult, the ” Mind Control Gun” that is commonly used by MKO leaders is the fear of “ being executed by Iranian regime”,” being disliked by the leaders”, “ being labeled as a problematic member who has sexual or mental problems”
As Ann Singleton mentions in her interviews the “Peer Pressure” is a useful gun MKO uses against the members who are willing to leave the cult. They are insulted by their colleagues in case of any disobey.
We have broken Mind Control up into a series of techniques that the cults use. Together these techniques make up Mind Control.
Deception
A cult needs to recruit and operate using deception. Why?
Because if people knew their true practices and beliefs beforehand then they would not join. A cult needs to hide the truth from you until they think you are ready to accept it.
NO LEGITIMATE GROUP NEEDS TO LIE OR MISLEAD YOU ABOUT WHAT THEY PRACTICE OR BELIEVE
Deception is a phenomenon, dominating the whole activities of Rajavi’s destructive cult: they deceive people to recruit them, they deceive the recruited members to keep them in the cult, they deceive the politicmen to have their political support, and they deceive the society to have their financial support.
" For example, imagine if the leader of Heavens Gate cult was open and honest about the group and had said to new recruits, "Join us, wear strange clothes, get castrated and then drink poison!" he would not have had many takers.
A cult will have a slick well-rehearsed Public Relations front which hides what the group is really like. You will hear how they help the poor, or support research, or peace, or the environment. They will tell you how happy you will be in their group (and everyone in the cult will always seem very happy and enthusiastic, mainly because they have been told to act happy and will get in trouble if they don’t). But you will not be told what life is really like in the group, nor what they really believe. These things will be introduced to you slowly, one at a time, so you will not notice the gradual change, until eventually you are practicing and believing things which at the start would have caused you to run a mile. "
There are many evidences for any of the ways the cults deceive people to run their goals. The seven MKO members who were arrested by FBI at LA airport” were soliciting the public at the airport to give money for the so-called orphans they showed in their pictures. Thousands of dollars were collected by the MKO members and laundered to reach a bank in UAE.” In their TV shows of Camp Ashraf they always show scenic pictures of the camp, showing members chanting ,singing, playing music, marching, but this is the outside view, the reality is something completely different, members who are living in absolute isolation, without a free access to mass media, working long hours a day, are mentally and physically captured. They have to obey all the deceitful orders of the cult leaders.
By Mazdak Parsi
Reference: HowCultsWork.com
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