I’ll be discussing what I mean by the word “cult” in a future post, but today, on the 22nd anniversary of the attack on 9-11-2022, I wanted to address the power of indoctrination and extremism and it’s ability to influence people to do things that they otherwise might never have considered.

If there is one thing that most all extremist groups have in common, it is the use of fear in uniting members. Fear motivates and it bonds people. In extremist groups it can be used to control, it can be used to exaggerate real threats, and it can be used to fabricate non-existent threats out of whole cloth.

The United States has not walked blameless on the World stage. In our dealings, we have often backed those who have committed atrocities. And no matter who one backs in a conflict, the other side will consider themselves wronged; there is no way to please all when there are competing interests and insufficient resources. When the United States, or any nation, enters a conflict seeking first to bolster their own interests, it makes it much easier for detractors to build a case against their “enemy”. This isn’t to blame any nation who is attacked; I firmly believe that differences should be resolved through non-violent means. But when extremism is involved, anything that resembles a slight can be used as ammunition, but an actual, legitimate reason, with real-world consequences is solid gold to a leader.

When a leader can point to people dying and connect it to someone else – a person, an organization, a nation, when they can portray am attack against that entity as a just and holy cause, they can surely find somebody to carry out their wishes against that entity.

Apart from 9-11, we have seen it carried out in the name of anti abortion activism, in the form of cult murders and suicides – Jonestown, Waco, Heaven’s Gate. It has been happening for centuries, large scale and small.

The problem is that by and large, our governments don’t wish to consider undue influence. Here in the United States, we value “freedom of religion” so highly that we permit virtual (or actual) enslavement of people in the name of religion. It is appalling to me that in this country children, especially girls, are being forced into arranged marriages – notably in groups like the FLDS, Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints. If we can’t protect our own children or our own children because we are too afraid of confronting criminals posing as religions, then we are also doing legitimate religious organizations a disservice.

I’m going to go out on a really big limb here and make a proposal. I like the work that the Freedom From Religion Foundation does. I am certainly not an athiest, but I think that when religious groups overstep, their feet should be held to the fire. But I would also like to see a Freedom to Hear the Truth Foundation. People who are in extremist groups need to have access to the truth. Europe is making strides in identifying and curbing undue influence. Some countries are managing to shut down harmful groups that manage to continue in the United States under the guise of actually being a religion. And we can’t help, for the most part, people who are so trapped, at least here in the US – unless the group is named a terrorist organization. We need to help those who are in these groups hear the truth. Perhaps it could be proposed thst prohibiting members from accessing knowledge, threats of Shunning, forced marriage – especially of minors, and other acts, disqualify organizations from claims of protection as a religious group. I don’t know, but we need to do better.

We need to help members of cults and extremist groups find their way out. We need to be able to shut down groups that are exploiting and brainwashing countless people in the United States and elsewhere. We need to stop giving cover to hate groups and to groups calling for death to lgbtqia, or those who work at Planned Parenthood. We need, at the International level, to work as hard for peace and social justice as we do in preparing for war. We need to give young men, who are most likely to be caught up in militant groups or gangs, important things to do at the community level. We need to spend as much time, energy, and money community building as we do in policing.

International problems begin in neighborhoods. When a nation is struggling, it’s neighbors will feel it. Those struggles ripple. How we address them matters. If we permit extremist groups and cults to continue, there will be another Jonestown, another Waco, and, heaven forbid, another 9-11. It’s it about technology, it’s about extremism.