Cultic Studies Review, Vol. 8, No. 2, 2009, Page 35
Gradually they were becoming ‗stupefied‘, ‗narcotised‘, and eventually rotten and corrupt.‖
In the same book, MEK separated us from ordinary people by defining a MEK member as
―Those who have rejected the education which was given to them by the system they
reject fake heroes like Bruce Lee and instead find the real heroes of the people they read
and memorize stories of revolutionaries and Mojahedin, and also they start memorizing and
singing revolutionary songs and poems. They learn about the characteristics of Mojahedin
and try to duplicate them in their own daily life. Then they face new questions. ‗How can
one be?‘, ‗How can one live?‘, and the most important of all, ‗How can one die‘‖
This was the start of a path toward the world of black and white toward ―either with us or
against us,‖ toward hate of outsiders, including one‘s own family and friends, looking at
them as animals surrendered to their animal instincts.29
When something disgusts you, you get rid of it or avoid it without thinking you do it
instinctively. This is what happens when terrorists kill ordinary people. They see them as
―sub-human,‖ and so they are disgusted to touch or communicate with them. These
ordinary people are those who have either helped the enemy or at least have surrendered
themselves to the evil of the time they are as low as animals or insects, surrendered to
their animal instincts. Therefore, their murder is as easy as the killing of an insect and, at
most, ―a price‖ (as we used to call it) for freedom, evolution, the happiness of the rest of
the people, the glory of your idea, or whatever else you would like to call it. What is
important is that you kill them as you kill an insect, without thinking, instinctively.
Isolation and Phobia: Key to Changing Organizations into Cults
In the Al-Qaeda recruit manual, explained by Timothy Noah, we read:
Isolate, Isolate, Isolate! Although recruiters are advised to take care at first
not to separate a recruit from his ―family, society, and reality,‖ eventually it
becomes necessary to ―create a favorable environment.‖ This is achieved by
―removing him from the bad environment in which he lives‖ and putting him
into ―a good environment designed to improve his faith.‖ Until that happens,
keep the recruit busy listening to lectures and reading religious pamphlets,
especially ―those that discuss Heaven and Hell, eternal paradise or eternal
damnation,‖ etc. The manual contains a long list of recommended texts (―The
jihadist library is large and full of books that were written with martyrs‘
blood‖), audiotapes, and video clips downloadable from the Web.‖30
In isolation, you can change your members‘ principles and beliefs, or, as Schein‘s three
steps31 suggest, you can unfreeze their beliefs, change them to what you want, and freeze
them again. In isolation, they will not face problematic moral questions and don‘t need to
question their new morals and code of practice.
Unfortunately, isolation of members and even supporters of a terrorist organization
progresses or increases, day by day, from both sides. First, from the organization side:
Even if the leader of the organization doesn‘t intend to create a milieu situation for mind
control within the organization, just because of the violent nature of the group and its acts
of terrorism, it has no alternative but to enforce strong secrecy principles within the group,
and control members‘ communications and their relationship with the outside world. At the
same time, wider society pushes the members and even supporters of a terrorist
organization inward. It does this through the passage of laws, such as the Patriot Act in the
United States and the UK's act making ―glorification‖ of terrorism a crime. There has been
so much obsessing over terrorism that the media creates an atmosphere of hate, disgust,
and fear toward not only terrorists, but even against the minority groups that the terrorists
might belong to.
Gradually they were becoming ‗stupefied‘, ‗narcotised‘, and eventually rotten and corrupt.‖
In the same book, MEK separated us from ordinary people by defining a MEK member as
―Those who have rejected the education which was given to them by the system they
reject fake heroes like Bruce Lee and instead find the real heroes of the people they read
and memorize stories of revolutionaries and Mojahedin, and also they start memorizing and
singing revolutionary songs and poems. They learn about the characteristics of Mojahedin
and try to duplicate them in their own daily life. Then they face new questions. ‗How can
one be?‘, ‗How can one live?‘, and the most important of all, ‗How can one die‘‖
This was the start of a path toward the world of black and white toward ―either with us or
against us,‖ toward hate of outsiders, including one‘s own family and friends, looking at
them as animals surrendered to their animal instincts.29
When something disgusts you, you get rid of it or avoid it without thinking you do it
instinctively. This is what happens when terrorists kill ordinary people. They see them as
―sub-human,‖ and so they are disgusted to touch or communicate with them. These
ordinary people are those who have either helped the enemy or at least have surrendered
themselves to the evil of the time they are as low as animals or insects, surrendered to
their animal instincts. Therefore, their murder is as easy as the killing of an insect and, at
most, ―a price‖ (as we used to call it) for freedom, evolution, the happiness of the rest of
the people, the glory of your idea, or whatever else you would like to call it. What is
important is that you kill them as you kill an insect, without thinking, instinctively.
Isolation and Phobia: Key to Changing Organizations into Cults
In the Al-Qaeda recruit manual, explained by Timothy Noah, we read:
Isolate, Isolate, Isolate! Although recruiters are advised to take care at first
not to separate a recruit from his ―family, society, and reality,‖ eventually it
becomes necessary to ―create a favorable environment.‖ This is achieved by
―removing him from the bad environment in which he lives‖ and putting him
into ―a good environment designed to improve his faith.‖ Until that happens,
keep the recruit busy listening to lectures and reading religious pamphlets,
especially ―those that discuss Heaven and Hell, eternal paradise or eternal
damnation,‖ etc. The manual contains a long list of recommended texts (―The
jihadist library is large and full of books that were written with martyrs‘
blood‖), audiotapes, and video clips downloadable from the Web.‖30
In isolation, you can change your members‘ principles and beliefs, or, as Schein‘s three
steps31 suggest, you can unfreeze their beliefs, change them to what you want, and freeze
them again. In isolation, they will not face problematic moral questions and don‘t need to
question their new morals and code of practice.
Unfortunately, isolation of members and even supporters of a terrorist organization
progresses or increases, day by day, from both sides. First, from the organization side:
Even if the leader of the organization doesn‘t intend to create a milieu situation for mind
control within the organization, just because of the violent nature of the group and its acts
of terrorism, it has no alternative but to enforce strong secrecy principles within the group,
and control members‘ communications and their relationship with the outside world. At the
same time, wider society pushes the members and even supporters of a terrorist
organization inward. It does this through the passage of laws, such as the Patriot Act in the
United States and the UK's act making ―glorification‖ of terrorism a crime. There has been
so much obsessing over terrorism that the media creates an atmosphere of hate, disgust,
and fear toward not only terrorists, but even against the minority groups that the terrorists
might belong to.
