why are americans so eager to join cults? or better yet, why do they have this morbid attraction towards idolatry? how can the most technologically advanced country in the world be filled with deranged cultists^
>>18431067that was black “people” and hippies
Unironically, circumcision trauma.Their first memory of life is searing agony, so the brain develops both to be hyper-vigilant but also desperately in need of group protection, far more so than others.Before you call me a retard ask yourself which groups in the world exhibit this tendency the most. South Korea is another hotspot.
>>18431067PROTESTANTISM.
>>18431067When you say "americans", you realize you are speaking for 340 million people, right? How about not painting so many people with a broad brush?
>>18431110when i was in america the family which hosted me almost caught the cops because i ate a liquor chocolate after dinner. now tell me if this isn't nevrotic behaviour.
>>18431119In fairness you were only 20 at the time.Who did they want arrested, you or the shop who sold you them?
>>18431119yea, people in this country can be real weird about alcohol. dont know what that has to specifically do with cults though
>>18431126so let me get this straight: you can drive a car at 16 but you can't drink until you're 21? well i guess that's what happens when you live in a country with zero wine culture where people refuse to walk.
>>18431078That doesn't hold up since cults are also prevalent in China, Japan, and SEA nations. It could be a population density threshold, but I'd have to actually compare data to say that confidently.
>>18431139>people in this country can be real weird about alcoholIn my experience, it's due to the legal repercussions. You may not personally care if someone has open beer in the car you're both in, but if you get pulled over both of you get charged. That kind of stuff fucks with people.>>18431141It happened due to moral busybodies using fear against the average person an attracting the attention of politicians. The strange disconnect between the 16, 18, and 21 thresholds are due to the limited scope of the events that created them. There wasn't a single crusade to raise or lower these together, they were specific goals approached separately at different times.
>>18431067Hyper-individualism is unnatural.
>>18431152>It happened due to moral busybodies using fear against the average person an attracting the attention of politicians.A lot of moral shunning from people who don't control the state but they try to withdraw community support from practices they don't like with the eventual aim being to get the authorities to ban whatever it is over time later on:https://youtu.be/X-DVhYQjzw8>There wasn't a single crusade to raise or lower these together, they were specific goals approached separately at different times.Very well put.
>>18431152The drinking age was raised because of drunk driving fatalities. Driving is much more common in America than it is Europe, which is why Europe is more handsoff. Calling this the work of moral busy bodies is strange because in the very next sentence you contradict yourself and say that it was no crusade but separate events all coming to their conclusions independently.
>>18431078Israel and basically every Muslim country is full of circumcised people and they don’t have this level of weirdness
>>18431067Jonestown was a Communist civil rights activist group, the "cult' aspect was overblown to cover for this fact.
>>18431623Israel and the Muslim world of course being well known for their low levels of religious extremism.
>>18431067In reality, most people join cults because they feel lonely, not because they believe in it (that comes later). We are social animals.In a society as individualistic as America, people feel alone, anxious for status, and disconnected. Cults provide a social fabric often missing in America.
>>18431067As participation in traditional civic groups (churches, unions, community clubs) has declined, a "belonging vacuum" has opened up. Cults are essentially high-demand startups filling that gap.What you call "morbid attraction toward idolatry" often manifests as binary thinking. In a complex, messy world, cults offer absolute certainty.>Love Bombing: This is the initial stage where a recruit is showered with intense affection and validation. It bypasses the rational brain and targets the emotional need for status.>The "Us vs. Them" Narrative: Americans are culturally conditioned toward "underdog" stories. Cults exploit this by framing their members as the "enlightened few" against a corrupt or "deranged" outside world.>The Sunk Cost Fallacy: Once someone invests their time, money, and reputation, admitting they were wrong is psychologically devastating. At that point, "believing" becomes a survival mechanism to protect their ego.While it feels uniquely American, this happens everywhere. However, the U.S. has a specific "flavor" of this due to its history of religious freedom and the commodification of spirituality. In America, you can "market" a belief system just like a brand of soda.It’s helpful to remember that most people in these groups don't think they're in a cult; they think they’ve finally found the "truth" or a family. The "derangement" is usually a result of sophisticated psychological manipulation (coercive control) rather than an inherent lack of sanity.
Boomcel Americans grew up in a period of high trust & high prosperity but coupled with societal alienation with the collapse of traditional extended families towards nuclear families which motivates them to join kults.It's the same reason why boomers become serial killers.
>>18431067because Americans trace their religious dogma to the puritans and other insane reformation-era cultsI would also blame Reagan and that era of cultish behaviour>>18431110they obviously mean the average evangelical lunatic, mormons, scientologists, etc>>18431289this is another good answer
>>18431067There is and will always be fanatics. Without a culture based on religion this comes out in various ways. Most of religion in US is secular, and fanatics cant exist in moderate/secular religions, they are extreme by definition. The only groups left that are extreme are called cults. This is present in the cults of media culture, people that engage deeply into whatever trend. There are "cults" in europe its called Islam.
