Cults
“To me, death is not a fearful thing. It's living that's cursed.” This is a quote from the infamous Jim Jones. Jim Jones was the founder of the People’s Temple, which was a religious organization that turned into a mass suicide, killing 918 people. The People’s Temple, like many other organizations, is considered a cult. According to Wikipedia, a cult is defined as a gathering of people or a collection of practices acting in a “bizarre” manner. Merriam Webster’s dictionary describes it as a formal religious veneration. Some people are describing the recent Occupy Wall Street movement as a cult. These movements and cults and even the word cult are often considered to be negative. Many people believe that that’s what cults are: negative. When looking at the definitions of the word though, none of them state that it should be used negatively. A cult should be seen as a gathering of people with a certain set of beliefs or a social experiment. The way cults are negatively viewed today is limiting society’s creativity, potential growth and puts the democratic process in harm’s way. A more modern and precise definition of cult is this: a group or organization of people that’s behavior and communication practices are typically perceived as unusual or bizarre.
All cults begin with one person. That person usually becomes the leader of the group and will try many different techniques to gain more followers. Jim Jones got many of his followers by coercing them, while David Koresh used the less forceful technique of persuasion. To understand the difference between these two different techniques as well as cults, we need to look at Jonestown and the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas. I will then raise the issue of Occupy as a cult or not. Before doing so though, I will clearly mark the differences between coercion and persuasion.
All cults begin with one person. That person usually becomes the leader of the group and will try many different techniques to gain more followers. Jim Jones got many of his followers by coercing them, while David Koresh used the less forceful technique of persuasion. To understand the difference between these two different techniques as well as cults, we need to look at Jonestown and the Branch Davidians of Waco, Texas. I will then raise the issue of Occupy as a cult or not. Before doing so though, I will clearly mark the differences between coercion and persuasion.
The People’s Temple, originally a church, started in 1955 by a pastor named Jim Jones. It was a Methodist based church that accepted African Americans and preached communist ideas. To bring in more people and therefor income, Jones faked many healings with the people of the church. Jones would hold conventions that consisted of fake healings. He would also deceive people by having private investigators search for information about certain people so when meeting them he would appear to have a psychic/godlike power. This started to bring in so many new members; he started to travel around Ohio and Indiana bringing as many as 11,000 attendees to these conventions. After the 1960’s, Jim Jones started to preach an apostolic Socialism concept, opening up his communist ideas. He told his followers that he was the next Christ and that the United States (and its capitalism) is the anti-Christ. He then moved to Redvalley, California where he began to preach about Christianity. He said that the religion was corrupt and that the Bible’s only purpose was to explain how to enslave African Americans and treat women badly. He started to change his teaching from a religious angle to a political communist angle all the while continuing to recruit. For chances for more followers and to build more establishments and with about 3,000 followers already, he moved his church to San Francisco. The group had a lot of followers but not all wanted to be there and leaving Jim Jones wasn’t a simple task. Soon, a group of eight followers had escaped the temple. Jim Jones sent out search parties and even rented an airplane to look for them. Many family members of the followers of Jones were concerned that he was keeping people against their will. They had made an effort to try and get the government to intervene, but they ignored the peoples cry for help. With countless allegations on Jones, he moved to the jungles of Guyana where he established a new utopia for the temple. He called this utopia Jonestown. Leo Ryan, a congressman from California, went to this town to investigate. While there, he had members of the cult come up to him and express their concerns of needing to leave. Taking the members, he went to his airplane and was openly fired at, which killed him and three other reporters. The command to shoot these innocent people was given to the guards of the temple by Jones himself. In a time of paranoia and desperation, he ordered a mass suicide of all his members. He was to inject babies and children with cyanide and ordered the adults to drink the purple kool-aid containing cyanide or else be shot in the head. The victims of this mass suicide came out to a total of 918 people. This is often considered a cult because of the way that Jones recruited and brainwashed his members. When looking at the siege of the Branch Davidiansm which is also considered a cult, it is obvious that it is completely different than Jonestown.
The Branch Davidians is a religious based organization that put their faith in the Seventh-day Adventist Church, just a sector of the Protestants. The founder of this group was Lois Roden. Lois’s son, as she thought, was not fit to be the next Jesus, so she molded David Krosher, known as Vernon Howell at that time to be the group’s prophet. Soon after Lois had died, her son, George, had taken control over the mountain that the church presided and kicked David Koresh and his followers out. George soon challenged David to a resurrection of a body. A resurrection is when a body that was once dead is brought back to life. George dug up a body of a previous member of the church and challenged David. Turning away the challenge, David took George to court for digging up that body which sent George to jail and gave David Koresh full advantage of the mountain, where the church was located. From there, David talked to God and learned about how the world was going to come to an end. Oddly enough, he learned that it would be a war between his group and evil. The siege began with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tabaco, and Firearms (ATF) searching for firearms. The Davidians had gotten a tip about the search and was ready for war. To David Koreshm this was the war between evil and the Branch Davidians that was supposed to end the world. When the ATF arrived at the compound, the Branch Davidians didn’t let them search. This started the siege between the Davidians and the ATF. Shots were fired but it is not certain who started the shots. The siege lasted for 51 days and ended with a fire started by the ATF killing the innocent people of the compound. This cult was known as the Waco Massacre.
There are major differences between the two groups previously mentioned and cults. When studying the people who were leading these cults, we find some interesting differences. David Koresh had a hard childhood; he was often made fun of. The things he was interested in were the bible and rock and roll. He wanted to be a rock star just like a lot of children; he had quite the normal life. Jim Jones, on the other hand, was quite crazy. His childhood friends say that he was obsessed with two things: religion and death. He would kill many small animals and then have funerals for them. One childhood friend said that he had even stabbed a cat to death just to have a funeral for it. This has a familiar ring to a murderer from Wisconsin, Jeffery Dahlmer. Dahlmer, murdered 17 young men and when he was younger, used to kill and dissect animals. Another difference between the two cults is the vocation of people. Members tried to leave Jonestown but when the compound was under fire the Davidians stayed and not against their will. The Davidians weren’t pressured to stay they had the option to leave. David Koresh also didn’t recruit people to join his religion like Jones did.
As you can see there is a big difference between the two groups but they are still considered cults. The recent Occupy Wall Street movement is even being described as a cult by some. The Wall Street movement is a group of people camping out in numerous places across the country protesting the corruption in the government. The slogan “We are the 99%” is saying that we should do things for the 99% of the people and not just the wealthiest 1%. People argue that it is a not a cult because it is not bizarre like Jonestown or Waco. According to definition though, the Wall Street movement is in fact a cult because they are a group of people expressing their beliefs in a bizarre way. Camping out in the streets is bizarre. According to the book Godless the Church of Liberalism by Anne Coulter, liberals have their own religion, and because most of the members of the Occupy movement have liberal based ideas, they are expressing their religion.
If we take this manifestation and try to stop it, like we did with Waco, we will be going against the constitution. We as American people have the legal right to express ourselves as long as we don’t affect the safety of others. The Branch Davidians had the legal right to gather at their compound. They weren’t hurting anyone, but because of the lack of government involvement in the Jonestown cult and the results, extras caution is given to any group that may seem like a cult now a days. What we should really do is pay attention to the cults that are affecting people’s wellbeing, for example, when Jones was brainwashing and recruiting people. A group of people practicing a religion at their own free will should not be categorized into a group that is often looked down upon. When we limit the rights of the American people, lives are lost, money is spent, a bad reputation is put on the government, and it is ruining the democratic process. The Occupy Wall Street movement is making a difference in the way we view our government. When a movement like this is stopped, the growth of our country and societies are limited. The positive possibilities coming from the Occupy cult could be ruined if we stop this gathering.
The dictionary definition of a cult is technically correct but the way that Americans perceive the word is wrong. Cults aren’t necessarily always negative. It takes a lot more than just a word to a cult something negative. With the proper observations of any type of gathering whether it is “bizzare” or not, we can keep the rights of Americans safe as well as their lives.
David Koresh - Biography on Bio." Bio: Shows, Video, TV Schedule and More on Bio. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/david-koresh.html>.
"Waco Siege." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege
"Jeffery Dahmer." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Dahmer
"Branch Davidians." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_Davidians>.
"Occupy Wall Street as an Heretical, Medieval Cult." The Politics of the Cross Resurrected. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://politicsofthecrossresurrected.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-as-heretical.html>.
"Profile of a Cult Leader." Sword&Spirit Home. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.http://swordandspirit.com/library/writings/theology/writings_theology/cultleader.html
"The Branch Davidians." Christian Research Institute and the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaff. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www.equip.org/articles/the-branch-davidians>.
"Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godless:_The_Church_of_Liberalism>.
If we take this manifestation and try to stop it, like we did with Waco, we will be going against the constitution. We as American people have the legal right to express ourselves as long as we don’t affect the safety of others. The Branch Davidians had the legal right to gather at their compound. They weren’t hurting anyone, but because of the lack of government involvement in the Jonestown cult and the results, extras caution is given to any group that may seem like a cult now a days. What we should really do is pay attention to the cults that are affecting people’s wellbeing, for example, when Jones was brainwashing and recruiting people. A group of people practicing a religion at their own free will should not be categorized into a group that is often looked down upon. When we limit the rights of the American people, lives are lost, money is spent, a bad reputation is put on the government, and it is ruining the democratic process. The Occupy Wall Street movement is making a difference in the way we view our government. When a movement like this is stopped, the growth of our country and societies are limited. The positive possibilities coming from the Occupy cult could be ruined if we stop this gathering.
The dictionary definition of a cult is technically correct but the way that Americans perceive the word is wrong. Cults aren’t necessarily always negative. It takes a lot more than just a word to a cult something negative. With the proper observations of any type of gathering whether it is “bizzare” or not, we can keep the rights of Americans safe as well as their lives.
David Koresh - Biography on Bio." Bio: Shows, Video, TV Schedule and More on Bio. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www.thebiographychannel.co.uk/biographies/david-koresh.html>.
"Waco Siege." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waco_siege
"Jeffery Dahmer." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeffery_Dahmer
"Branch Davidians." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Branch_Davidians>.
"Occupy Wall Street as an Heretical, Medieval Cult." The Politics of the Cross Resurrected. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://politicsofthecrossresurrected.blogspot.com/2011/11/occupy-wall-street-as-heretical.html>.
"Profile of a Cult Leader." Sword&Spirit Home. Web. 10 Nov. 2011.http://swordandspirit.com/library/writings/theology/writings_theology/cultleader.html
"The Branch Davidians." Christian Research Institute and the Bible Answer Man, Hank Hanegraaff. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://www.equip.org/articles/the-branch-davidians>.
"Godless: The Church of Liberalism." Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Web. 10 Nov. 2011. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Godless:_The_Church_of_Liberalism>.
Apple Advertising
"The past was dead, the future was unimaginable."( George Orwell - Harcourt Brace Jovanovich - 1984 ) This quote is from 1984, the book that depicted how 1984 was going to be. Until January 24, 1984 it was, or at least that’s what the Apple Corporation thought. During Super Bowl XVIII, Apple aired a commercial to advertise its new product, the first Macintosh, which included the reference to 1984. The mac was different from the pc. Mac wasn't just a business computer, it was something completely different. The mac runs with different software than a pc. The commercial from Apple proved that their product was unimaginable compared to the past. We see this same idea in Apple commercials made in 1984 as in the ones made now. All of the commercials use the same ethos, pathos, and logos as they did back in 1984. Even though Apple markets the iPad, iPod, mac, and the iPhone, all of the commercials are the same in two ways; being different and youthful. With the use of Ethos in how society will look at you when you have an iPhone, pathos with how they advertise women and business men, and logos with how the products can do anything, Apple advertises their products very effectively. Apple has always kept the idea that they are different and when you buy their products you will be youthful. Although they have the idea of their products being useful, they don't just target the young audience, they target all ages. We see this in the 1984 commercial when the young woman is running down the aisle she is destroying the screen controlling the bald white older men. This shows that apple will be better than the IBM and HP with the fact that it’s different, new, hip, and young. This was different compared to the business IBM commercial in 1984 of the business men in the office. Apple was diverse; they showed people that they weren't the stereotypical business man. That is still the same now-a-days when compared to the commercial from Verizon wireless android. The Verizon commercial is about a little girl who is running a lemonade stand which becomes a huge corporation just because she used an android. This isn't the approach apple makes. Apple, when advertising the iPhone 4, had a commercial entirely of games which diverges from the business scene.
This apple commercial of 1984 aired during the super bowl. The super bowl is the number one most watched event on television, so the idea was that they wanted everyone to know that on January 24th, 1984, Apple was releasing the Macintosh. This idea is logical. If you want to sell your product you should make sure that whatever you are selling is known. This commercial has logic in the advertisement itself. For example, the idea that the mac is different than any other computer on the planet is portrayed very well when the woman is running down the aisle in colorful clothes compared to all of the gray suits the men are wearing. This is logical in saying that Macs are different. The commercial also affects the emotions of people. The book 1984 is very scary and to think that we are in that state affects people. Another emotional aspect of this ad is the feminism. In the world of gray bald men a young beautiful woman comes down to break the mind control. This was a big deal for apple advertising because none of the IBM commercials prior to 1984 had women in them, they were all business men. If you are in a man’s world and see this strong woman destroy evil it has a lot more emotional value then just two business men in suites talking about computers. All of the examples previously mentioned demonstrates ethos as well. The idea that computers are just for business men was society’s main idea and then apple says this computer is going to be different and shows someone who is not a business man who goes against this ideology of computers being only for business.
Let’s take these ideas and look how apple kept them going through out their corporation today with the new Apple commercials for their products including the iPad, iPhone, and the Mac. The new mac commercials include an older and a younger man. The older man is a pc and the younger man is a Mac. The older man is dressed in a suit while the younger man is in hip clothing which shows that once again Mac is not like a PC. This commercial is still labeling pc as being all for business and the mac all for fun. This is logical when you want to say Macs are different than an HP, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, and every other piece of technology not made by Apple. The commercials being made today show ethos in the same way as the older ones did. They have the idea that the Mac is younger and hip. When you’re in school and looking to get a laptop, you want to get one that is cool. That means that if cool costs the $1,000 your Aunt Jane gave you for your graduation, you bet it will be used to buy a Mac. This is just society’s way of making you cool. I personally need to have an iPhone even though Wayne State doesn't get Verizon or AT&T service anywhere. But none of that matters as long as I can play Angry Birds in my English class. That idea is placed into the heads of society with the use of Justin Long as the Mac guy as well as the way the iPhone commercials show all of the cool things that you can do like email. Many of the iPhone commercials do not have actors or famous people in them so conveying the ethos of being young and cool and done through the phone itself. The iPhone commercials show the audience what they can do with the iPhone and all of the amazing activities they show you probably aren’t what you would see your parents doing on their phones. Playing music, checking emails, watching movies are all things younger people would do, therefore using ethos. The iPad commercials show the exact same thing with the simplest words coming from the commercial, “If you don’t have an iPad…”.What will you be missing out on without an iPad? If you don’t have an iPad are you really that cool? These are the ethos that affects a lot of people.
When advertising Apple products they also use pathos. We see pathos in both the iPhone and the iPad commercials with the same affect. This product affects the emotional value of people who travel and who don’t get to see their kids very often and instead of talking to them on the phone they actually get to see their face with Facetime. In the commercial they advertise this feature and it really affects people’s emotions because this was an unheard of idea. In episode Bart of the Future, episode 17, season 11 of the Simpsons, the episode takes place in 2030 and the phones have Facetime. The future was supposed to have phone conversations where you could see the person you were talking to, but that has already happened. That’s very emotional to think that Apple has accomplished the future.
We see that the advertisement affects people but now we need to see why it is logical to choose this product and apple does it in all their commercials. The logos in the commercials were always the same idea and that idea is “think different”. The logos in the iPhone commercials are that Apple is better than any phone for the fact of they can search a sea food restaurant closest to your location. They can surf the web while you talk on your phone. This is logical because no one else offers this. So it is logical to buy the iPhone instead of the Blackberry. The same can be used for the iPad with Facetime, like I said before it was unheard of to see someone’s face while you talk on the phone so why not advertise that. It is logical to show that side of the product so people are interested in Apple being different and leaders in the future.
There were other Apple commercials that didn’t show some of the ideas that Apple had in other commercials, one being the Newton. Apples pre-iPad the newton came out in 1993 and was not successful on the market. When we look at the way they advertised the Newton we see a huge difference. In all the commercials of Apple they never include that they can do business but the Newton did. The commercial did include a little youth and fun at the beginning of the commercial but when it came down to the end, it explained that the Newton can talk to fax machines, phones, computers, and is great for the business types that want to look cool. So all though the commercial did advertise its coolness it was mainly about business. To say that is why the product failed is vague but it was one of the few products that Apple had that failed marketing wise.
When looking at all these commercials we see the underlining ideas in many ways. These ideas that show Apple is different. They are for people that aren’t just business people, that you can do so much more than a droid or even before a droid, and when you use these products you will be hip, young, and cool. With the use of Ethos in how society will look at you when you have an iPhone, pathos with how they advertise women and business men, and logos with how they can do anything be thinner, smaller, and faster so you should buy Apple. We see these ideas throughout the Apple timeline from the first mac all the way to the iPad two. Does this advertising strategy work? Do the apple commercials effect how people view the products? Well compared to the sales of Windows, Hp, and Dell, Apple stands out. Smart advertising with a product that thinks different but staying the same with advertising.
This apple commercial of 1984 aired during the super bowl. The super bowl is the number one most watched event on television, so the idea was that they wanted everyone to know that on January 24th, 1984, Apple was releasing the Macintosh. This idea is logical. If you want to sell your product you should make sure that whatever you are selling is known. This commercial has logic in the advertisement itself. For example, the idea that the mac is different than any other computer on the planet is portrayed very well when the woman is running down the aisle in colorful clothes compared to all of the gray suits the men are wearing. This is logical in saying that Macs are different. The commercial also affects the emotions of people. The book 1984 is very scary and to think that we are in that state affects people. Another emotional aspect of this ad is the feminism. In the world of gray bald men a young beautiful woman comes down to break the mind control. This was a big deal for apple advertising because none of the IBM commercials prior to 1984 had women in them, they were all business men. If you are in a man’s world and see this strong woman destroy evil it has a lot more emotional value then just two business men in suites talking about computers. All of the examples previously mentioned demonstrates ethos as well. The idea that computers are just for business men was society’s main idea and then apple says this computer is going to be different and shows someone who is not a business man who goes against this ideology of computers being only for business.
Let’s take these ideas and look how apple kept them going through out their corporation today with the new Apple commercials for their products including the iPad, iPhone, and the Mac. The new mac commercials include an older and a younger man. The older man is a pc and the younger man is a Mac. The older man is dressed in a suit while the younger man is in hip clothing which shows that once again Mac is not like a PC. This commercial is still labeling pc as being all for business and the mac all for fun. This is logical when you want to say Macs are different than an HP, Dell, Toshiba, Samsung, and every other piece of technology not made by Apple. The commercials being made today show ethos in the same way as the older ones did. They have the idea that the Mac is younger and hip. When you’re in school and looking to get a laptop, you want to get one that is cool. That means that if cool costs the $1,000 your Aunt Jane gave you for your graduation, you bet it will be used to buy a Mac. This is just society’s way of making you cool. I personally need to have an iPhone even though Wayne State doesn't get Verizon or AT&T service anywhere. But none of that matters as long as I can play Angry Birds in my English class. That idea is placed into the heads of society with the use of Justin Long as the Mac guy as well as the way the iPhone commercials show all of the cool things that you can do like email. Many of the iPhone commercials do not have actors or famous people in them so conveying the ethos of being young and cool and done through the phone itself. The iPhone commercials show the audience what they can do with the iPhone and all of the amazing activities they show you probably aren’t what you would see your parents doing on their phones. Playing music, checking emails, watching movies are all things younger people would do, therefore using ethos. The iPad commercials show the exact same thing with the simplest words coming from the commercial, “If you don’t have an iPad…”.What will you be missing out on without an iPad? If you don’t have an iPad are you really that cool? These are the ethos that affects a lot of people.
When advertising Apple products they also use pathos. We see pathos in both the iPhone and the iPad commercials with the same affect. This product affects the emotional value of people who travel and who don’t get to see their kids very often and instead of talking to them on the phone they actually get to see their face with Facetime. In the commercial they advertise this feature and it really affects people’s emotions because this was an unheard of idea. In episode Bart of the Future, episode 17, season 11 of the Simpsons, the episode takes place in 2030 and the phones have Facetime. The future was supposed to have phone conversations where you could see the person you were talking to, but that has already happened. That’s very emotional to think that Apple has accomplished the future.
We see that the advertisement affects people but now we need to see why it is logical to choose this product and apple does it in all their commercials. The logos in the commercials were always the same idea and that idea is “think different”. The logos in the iPhone commercials are that Apple is better than any phone for the fact of they can search a sea food restaurant closest to your location. They can surf the web while you talk on your phone. This is logical because no one else offers this. So it is logical to buy the iPhone instead of the Blackberry. The same can be used for the iPad with Facetime, like I said before it was unheard of to see someone’s face while you talk on the phone so why not advertise that. It is logical to show that side of the product so people are interested in Apple being different and leaders in the future.
There were other Apple commercials that didn’t show some of the ideas that Apple had in other commercials, one being the Newton. Apples pre-iPad the newton came out in 1993 and was not successful on the market. When we look at the way they advertised the Newton we see a huge difference. In all the commercials of Apple they never include that they can do business but the Newton did. The commercial did include a little youth and fun at the beginning of the commercial but when it came down to the end, it explained that the Newton can talk to fax machines, phones, computers, and is great for the business types that want to look cool. So all though the commercial did advertise its coolness it was mainly about business. To say that is why the product failed is vague but it was one of the few products that Apple had that failed marketing wise.
When looking at all these commercials we see the underlining ideas in many ways. These ideas that show Apple is different. They are for people that aren’t just business people, that you can do so much more than a droid or even before a droid, and when you use these products you will be hip, young, and cool. With the use of Ethos in how society will look at you when you have an iPhone, pathos with how they advertise women and business men, and logos with how they can do anything be thinner, smaller, and faster so you should buy Apple. We see these ideas throughout the Apple timeline from the first mac all the way to the iPad two. Does this advertising strategy work? Do the apple commercials effect how people view the products? Well compared to the sales of Windows, Hp, and Dell, Apple stands out. Smart advertising with a product that thinks different but staying the same with advertising.