Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 23
The room explodes in loud applause. Cries of ―Hail Victory!” Cries of “White
Power!”‟
Such gatherings display all the colors of a cult in full bloom. The group dynamics are
calculated to induce maximum conformity. Thus, the Congress observed by Ezekiel was held
at a compound in Hayden Lake, away from any outside scrutiny or the possibility of
corrective influence from anyone unimpressed by supremacist theology. A sign near the
entrance read ―Aryans Only,‖ setting a tone of exclusivity from the beginning. All new
arrivals had their credentials checked by guards posted at the entrance. The message was:
this is a gathering only for the initiated, the trusted, the select few. Nazi music played
throughout the weekend, broadcast from loudspeakers located in a convenient watchtower.
Participants were afforded no escape from an incessant message of hate. Nazi flags were
prominently displayed, while all arrivals found themselves quickly habituated to the frequent
exchange of Nazi salutes. Research has generally found that people adopt the norms, dress
codes, linguistic forms, and behaviors of groups to which they commit with astonishing ease
(Brown, 2000). Meanwhile, an endless succession of speakers pounded away at the same
message: the Jewish threat is moving towards conclusion blacks are gaining power
everywhere the US Government is in the pay of the conspiracy. The refrain is relentless:
―White Power! White Power! White Power!‖ For those present, the return trip to reality
must be traumatic.
Self-righteousness is deepened by yet another paradox. On the one hand, the sufferings of
the stigmatised out-groups are described as non-existent. On the other hand, the members
of such groups are themselves blamed for any problems that are reluctantly acknowledged
to exist.
Again, this problem extends beyond those who belong to hate groups. It is a fundamental
component of a prejudiced mindset. For example, two researchers investigated white
stereotypes of African Americans, Hispanic Americans, and Asian Americans (Bobo &
Kluegel, 1991). They found that whites needed to ―explain‖ the disadvantaged condition of
the minority being observedmore precisely, to find explanations which justified it. Many
alternative explanations for black disadvantage are available (for example, that the
disadvantage is primarily the product of white prejudice and discrimination). However, to
accept this would require self-criticism, and criticism might in turn be extended to social
institutions with which many whites identify more closely than do members of minority
groups. It was found that whites tended to assume a casual connection between the
stereotypical traits ascribed to the minority groups and their social situation: that is, it was
their own fault. In short, it was much more convenient to assume that their position of
social disadvantage reflected their naturally inferior position than discrimination practised by
the white society. We would describe this as a perspective of ―illusory causality.‖ Clearly,
the tendency to blame those at the receiving end of bias for its effects is particularly
pronounced among members of extreme hate groups. The effect is to promote in-group
favoritism (i.e., a belief in the innate superiority of the group to which one belongs),
combined with out-group stigmatisation (i.e., a belief in the innate inferiority of the
designated out-groups). It would appear that such psychological dynamics are a necessary
ingredient for the development of cultic organizations, driven as they are by an exclusive
sense of mission that separates their followers from all other groups in society. Such
separation is most easily accomplished if the members can be convinced that they are both
different from and superior to other groups with whom they come in contact.
The apocalyptic ideas that go with this mindset were greatly strengthened in the post-war
period by the existence of the Soviet Union. One Identity writer, Bertrand Comparet,
described the imminent Final Days (and they are always depicted as imminentdecade
after decade) in the following terms:

Cultic Studies Journal, Volume 17, 2000, Page 24
The Russian Gog will form a coalition of its own satellites, including Ethiopia,
Afghanistan and Libya.‖ He argued that these would also be aided by ―the
mixed breeds of Asia and Africa and India, who ...will ally themselves with
anything which promises them that they can pillage and rape in the lands of
the White man. (Cited by Barkun, 1994, p.110)
The Russian hordes were then expected to seize the eastern Mediterranean and the Suez
Canal, to disrupt the flow of oil to the west, and attack the US across the Bering Straits
while also deploying missiles, submarines, and aircraft.
Typically, the only evidence offered for such predictions consists of Biblical quotations,
selected precisely because their vagueness means that they can be press-ganged into the
service of any and every theological construction. The collapse of the Soviet Union hasn‘t
noticeably dented anyone‘s sense of certainty. In a seamless transition that passes
unnoticed by most True Believers, the focus of the conspiracy theory is simply shifted onto
new enemies, principally, ZOG. The underlying apocalyptic perspective is encased in
titanium and located in bombproof shelters, where it withstands all refutation from the
outside world. Yesterday‘s failed predictions are rationalized into insignificance. For long-
term cultists, amnesia is an occupational disease, whatever their ideological point of
departure. The fact that the prediction has surfaced countless times before is concealed
from new members, and consigned to the dusty vaults of memory by the old. Members are
in turn too occupied by frantic activity to seriously think through the contradictions of their
position. The conspiracy is too close to victory for debate, doubt, or questions. Immediate
action alone can save those fortunate enough to belong to the designated in-group.
Again, the inadequate empirical base for the belief system upheld by rightist cults is also
common across the spectrum of cultic organizations. In order to maintain their sense of
certainty, and consequent commitment to absolutist forms of organization, it is imperative
that they resist exposing their beliefs to empirical testing and the possibility of falsification
(Shermer, 1997). When faced with refutation the solution is simply to crank up the volume
of their rhetoric, and reinforce its impact by repetition, thereby silencing the voices of
dissent.
The Power of Expectancy Effects
A key ingredient sustaining the psychology of such a belief system is the dynamic of
expectancy effects. Researchers have consistently found that our expectations of events
strongly influence how we perceive them. One study, particularly pertinent in this context,
required subjects to observe a videotape of a heated argument that climaxed with one
person pushing the other (Duncan, 1976). When the ―shover‖ was black, his behavior
tended to be perceived by white observers as ―violent.‖ On the other hand, if the shover
was white his behavior was generally regarded as ―playing around.‖ In short, we see people
and events not as they really are, but as our theories about them suggest they ought to be.
It is also unlikely that many of these people would have regarded themselves as racist: if
asked, they would have insisted that the adjective ―violent‖ was an objectively accurate
descriptor of the behavior they had witnessed. Thus, when cults provide us with a theory of
everything it is little wonder that conflicting evidence from the real world is so readily set
aside. Identity believers believe that their theory possesses such an all-embracing
explanatory power.
Guided by their belief system, they thus perceive every political event as further evidence
that their conspiratorial and apocalyptic interpretation of the world has been confirmed.
Furthermore, in many cases, their expectation becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. A believer
in Christian Identity will view blacks, Jews and gays as mortal enemies who threaten the
survival of the white race and who should therefore be relocated to small reservations or
exterminated outright. They will engage in public protests and demand retribution against