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posted by janrinok on Tuesday October 22 2019, @12:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the are-we-a-cult-too? dept.

Submitted via IRC for Runaway1956

According to Netflix documentary by Vox: Reddit, 4chan, Gab and Bodybuilding.com are "cult-like"

A wide variety of accusations and criticisms coming from different political and ideological corners are being leveled at social media these days, but referring to them as giving rise to “cult-like” communities might be a first.

Netflix has posted a full new documentary on YouTube that deals with various well known and notorious real-world cults, gives survivors a chance to share their experiences and also provides commentary aimed at explaining what a cult is, how it functions, and what motivates its leaders and followers.

But those who make it to the last five or so minutes of the documentary might be in for a bit of a surprise: “Cults, Explained” refers to several large and small social media platforms and online message boards as creating and hosting “cult-like” communities, although, not by name.

Instead, the reference is illustrated by a graphic that shows the logos of some very diverse online places: 4chan, Reddit, Gab, Facebook, and Bodybuilding.com among others. Cults are known to grow around a charismatic leader, who keeps the whole operation together – something that the documentary acknowledges and explores.

However, its makers state that online places of gathering are also legitimately cult-like, even if they are, as the narrator explains, “without a need for a leader.” But the film doesn't at all delve any deeper into why or how this may be the case.

[...]The documentary finds fault with the nature of these communities that are said to provide a place of understanding and kinship to those who are alienated from society or otherwise disaffected. This may be sometimes true, but does it warrant the “cult-like” label?

The film goes on to say that these communities are bad for people simply because “they provide a home, they provide someone to listen to them.”


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  • (Score: 2) by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us on Tuesday October 22 2019, @06:07PM

    by All Your Lawn Are Belong To Us (6553) on Tuesday October 22 2019, @06:07PM (#910456) Journal

    ... well, ok, it is, but Merriam Webster may be helpful ....

    cult noun, often attributive
    \ ˈkəlt
    \
    Definition of cult

    1 : a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious (see spurious sense 2) also : its body of adherents - the voodoo cult; a satanic cult
    2a : great devotion to a person, idea, object, movement, or work (such as a film or book) - criticizing how the media promotes the cult of celebrity - especially such devotion regarded as a literary or intellectual fad
    b : the object of such devotion
    c : a usually small group of people characterized by such devotion the singer's cult of fans - The film has a cult following.
    3 : a system of religious beliefs and ritual also : its body of adherents - the cult of Apollo
    4 : formal religious veneration : worship
    5 : a system for the cure of disease based on dogma set forth by its promulgator - health cults

    ....

    Synonyms
    audience, followership, following

    The Overlap of Cults and Culture
    Cult, which shares an origin with culture and cultivate, comes from the Latin cultus, a noun with meanings ranging from "tilling, cultivation" to "training or education" to "adoration." In English, cult has evolved a number of meanings following a fairly logical path. The earliest known uses of the word, recorded in the 17th century, broadly denoted "worship." From here cult came to refer to a specific branch of a religion or the rites and practices of that branch, as in "the cult of Dionysus." By the early 18th century, cult could refer to a non-religious admiration or devotion, such as to a person, idea, or fad ("the cult of success"). Finally, by the 19th century, the word came to be used of "a religion regarded as unorthodox or spurious."

    Anything not completely orthodox with a smallish following can be labeled a cult. It need not have a leader. One can be in the "cult" of Doctor Who fans (well, until the BBC pushed it mainstream, anyway... :( ) Spending time devoted to something regarded outside of the mainstream, as part of a group, and bingo! you can be labeled as a cult.

    Oh, by the way, which one's Pink?

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