There are certain characteristics such as dogmatism and close-mindedness in the sociological dimension of a cult. Cults believe that they alone have the truth and they are the only ones to interpret the religion or politics 
correctly.
When the Mujahedin Khalq Organization (the MKO/the cult of Rajavi) became committed to armed struggle and eventually fell into the trap of dogmatism, replacing tolerance with violence, the violence against enemies was gradually extended to the entire existence of the group, even its own members. Dogmatism of Massoud Rajavi was elevated to absolute truth. His dogma was accompanied with deeply embedded emotions that compelled his followers to unquestionably adopt him as the absolute power. As a demonstration of their loyalty, followers of Rajavi devoted their whole life including their family, personal properties and even their minds to him.
Massoud Rajavi’s deceptive political actions led to ideological dogmatism. This pushed his followers down to a path that has had disastrous results in terms of lost lives, lost personalities, suffering families and a lot more examples of violations of human rights.
Deprived of thinking capacity, MKO members form a bunch of beliefs in their minds; they protect their beliefs, preach them and never question them. From the point of view of a MKO member –a dogmatic thinker– anyone who does not share the same strong convictions is irrational and so an enemy, in other words, an agent of the Islamic Republic. Therefore, anyone in any side of the world with any kind of political view is labeled as the Iranian Intelligence agent if and only if he questions the MKO’s beliefs or acts.
Dogmatism is usually founded on fallacy. The arguments of a dogmatic character are very narrow-minded and fanatic. He usually refuses to engage in arguments or to participate in talks. That’s why, none of the leaders of the Cult of Rajavi have been seen in TV talk shows or analytic media programs. Even if there are allegations about the group in reports of mainstream media you usually come across with this phrase by the journalist: “our calls to the group were not responded”!
The claims of a dogmatic person usually lacks evidence. For example, the so-called revelations of the MKO’s propaganda about the Iranian nuclear program almost always failed to present enough evidence. Although the MKO made efforts to repeat its fabrications on the so-called secret Iranian nuclear weapon sites, the world ignored it because it failed to support its claims with reliable evidences and often the group’s claims turned to be fake.
In March 2015, Jeffrey Lewis of the Foreign Policy denounced the MKO’s last alleged revelations on the Iranian Nuke as an evident effort to derail the then ongoing negotiations between Iran and the West. “Almost immediately, there were reasons to doubt NCRI’s claim”, Lewis writes. “A review of commercial satellite images reveals no evidence of large-scale excavation or tunneling during the 2004-2008 period identified by NCRI.” The author also quotes the State Department spokesman stating, “Well, we don’t have any information at this time to support the conclusion of the report.”
It definitely is a different world now from three decades ago that people’s access to the sources of information and knowledge was very limited. Today a quick google search and a lot more technical tools link people to a large source of information. However, nothing is absolute. Intellectuals know the truth and they are not naïve to accept dogmatic ideas. Cult of Rajavi is not able to deceive educated people any more. That is why so many members have disassociated themselves from the Cult.
The Rajavis should know that as far as they do not get engaged in true arguments, they will not produce thoughts and without thinking, they are inevitably in decline.
By Mazda Parsi
