Cultic Studies Journal, Vol. 15, No. 2, 1998, page 47
literature in the social sciences about controlling, tight organizations versus loose
organizations. There are criteria in political science for determining what is and is not a
totalitarian system. Moreover, research is now underway to validate the first measure of
group psychological abuse (Chambers, Langone, Dole, &Grice, 1994). Undoubtedly, future
research will result in improvements in our capacity to evaluate the destructiveness of
group environments.
Objection: Creating Victims
The Passantinos object to the mind-control model because, they say, it ―creates victims.‖
We would argue instead that it is mind-control, not the mind-control model, that creates
victims. We would also argue that cult survivors are revictimized by those, such as the
Passantinos, who lay all or most of the blame for their plight at their own feet.
The authors introduce this objection by writing:
Many people who join cults want to help the needy, forsake materialism, or
develop personal independence from their families-not necessarily bad goals,
although misguided by false cult teachings. The cult mind-control model,
however, attributes cult membership primarily to mind-control and thereby
denigrates or discounts such positive activities and goals, misaffiliated to cults
as they are (p. 38).
This passage again illustrates the Passantinos‘ failure to clearly understand what mind-
control model advocates actually say. Mind-control is not exercised in a vacuum --it needs
information to work with, whether it is cult-generated doctrine or the hopes, dreams, fears,
and hang-ups of the potential recruit. Thus, the goals listed by the Passantinos may be used
by the cult recruiter as ―hooks‖ to draw the target into the sphere of the group. We do not
denigrate such goals at all. We applaud any positive aims and activities. The problem is that
they can also be used as lures to attract new members, or as ploys to achieve legitimacy in
the community. Most of our clients at Wellspring say, ―This is why I joined the group. I
wanted to help the needy, forsake materialism, develop some personal independence from
my family, and grow up. I wanted to serve the Lord.‖ Jim Jones‘ Peoples Temple took over
nursing homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, significantly improving them to the benefit of
the residents. Peoples Temple members also helped drug addicts kick their habits and
obtain education. These and many other activities of the Peoples Temple were highly
commendable and worth doing, were it not for the fact that Jones exploited these
achievements ultimately to lead people to their deaths.
The Passantinos go on to say:
The mind-control model also fails to give proper weight to the role natural
suggestibility plays in making people vulnerable to the cults. Highly
suggestible people are especially susceptible to religious salesmanship as well
as many other ―sales pitches‖ (pp. 38-39).
On the contrary, this is exactly the point we have made. Suggestibility probably does make
people more susceptible to mind-control. 10 Some people are naturally more suggestible
than others, others go through periods in life in which they are more suggestible than at
other times (e.g., times of crisis, bereavement, or transition of some kind or another). In
such a condition people may be victimized, whether by a con artist, a Lothario, or a cult
recruiter. It is not ―adopting a victimization perspective‖ that ―strips the cult member of his
capacity for rational activity.‖ Rather, it is the victimization itself that does this --though we
acknowledge that it does so to varying degrees in different people.
The Passantinos assert that ―the cult mind-control model epitomizes a ‗victim‘ mentality‖ (p.
39). They quote Hassan‘s remarks about the cult member being caught in a trap as an
literature in the social sciences about controlling, tight organizations versus loose
organizations. There are criteria in political science for determining what is and is not a
totalitarian system. Moreover, research is now underway to validate the first measure of
group psychological abuse (Chambers, Langone, Dole, &Grice, 1994). Undoubtedly, future
research will result in improvements in our capacity to evaluate the destructiveness of
group environments.
Objection: Creating Victims
The Passantinos object to the mind-control model because, they say, it ―creates victims.‖
We would argue instead that it is mind-control, not the mind-control model, that creates
victims. We would also argue that cult survivors are revictimized by those, such as the
Passantinos, who lay all or most of the blame for their plight at their own feet.
The authors introduce this objection by writing:
Many people who join cults want to help the needy, forsake materialism, or
develop personal independence from their families-not necessarily bad goals,
although misguided by false cult teachings. The cult mind-control model,
however, attributes cult membership primarily to mind-control and thereby
denigrates or discounts such positive activities and goals, misaffiliated to cults
as they are (p. 38).
This passage again illustrates the Passantinos‘ failure to clearly understand what mind-
control model advocates actually say. Mind-control is not exercised in a vacuum --it needs
information to work with, whether it is cult-generated doctrine or the hopes, dreams, fears,
and hang-ups of the potential recruit. Thus, the goals listed by the Passantinos may be used
by the cult recruiter as ―hooks‖ to draw the target into the sphere of the group. We do not
denigrate such goals at all. We applaud any positive aims and activities. The problem is that
they can also be used as lures to attract new members, or as ploys to achieve legitimacy in
the community. Most of our clients at Wellspring say, ―This is why I joined the group. I
wanted to help the needy, forsake materialism, develop some personal independence from
my family, and grow up. I wanted to serve the Lord.‖ Jim Jones‘ Peoples Temple took over
nursing homes in the San Francisco Bay Area, significantly improving them to the benefit of
the residents. Peoples Temple members also helped drug addicts kick their habits and
obtain education. These and many other activities of the Peoples Temple were highly
commendable and worth doing, were it not for the fact that Jones exploited these
achievements ultimately to lead people to their deaths.
The Passantinos go on to say:
The mind-control model also fails to give proper weight to the role natural
suggestibility plays in making people vulnerable to the cults. Highly
suggestible people are especially susceptible to religious salesmanship as well
as many other ―sales pitches‖ (pp. 38-39).
On the contrary, this is exactly the point we have made. Suggestibility probably does make
people more susceptible to mind-control. 10 Some people are naturally more suggestible
than others, others go through periods in life in which they are more suggestible than at
other times (e.g., times of crisis, bereavement, or transition of some kind or another). In
such a condition people may be victimized, whether by a con artist, a Lothario, or a cult
recruiter. It is not ―adopting a victimization perspective‖ that ―strips the cult member of his
capacity for rational activity.‖ Rather, it is the victimization itself that does this --though we
acknowledge that it does so to varying degrees in different people.
The Passantinos assert that ―the cult mind-control model epitomizes a ‗victim‘ mentality‖ (p.
39). They quote Hassan‘s remarks about the cult member being caught in a trap as an
