How Cults Seduce and What Marketing Can Learn From Them [pdf]
scribd.com
scribd.com
The idea that gold-rimmed glasses are banned is just bizarre. You may see a different pair of Witnesses come by at different times because that was who was out that day, not because there is any tactic. There are no "immediate superiors." You are not disfellowshipped for "questioning an order," the idea that you even get "orders" is foolish. I suppose that idleness is a sin in some vague way, but it's not highlighted, and is no more so than for other Christians (ie., the Protestant work ethic). You can't lie or cheat, but you can drink. Maybe he's thinking Baptists? Also, you are not allowed to "lie for the cause." Witnesses don't refuse medical treatments in general, but do refuse blood transfusions.
Getting every single point wrong takes some special talent. So I assume everything else in the article about similar (or more cultish groups) is also wrong, though I am not an expert.
On the other hand, someone should definitely write an article about why the Apostle Paul was a great startup founder.
I did a bit of reading. First, if you search the web, you can find articles about wire-rimmed glasses being banned for some period of time in some Jehovah's Witness congregations. I didn't find anything about gold-rimmed glasses specifically:
http://yucatan2012.com/Yucatan2012/MysticChristianity/E46336...
There is also some information on "Theocratic War Strategy," for example, in this Wikipedia article:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jehovah's_Witnesses_practices
From the article cited above, there is this quote attributed to the Watchtower Society:
"It is proper to cover over our arrangements for the work that God commands us to do. ...."
1) I wasn't allowed to have non-Jehovah's Witness friends or participate in after-school activities
2) Higher education was discouraged (I understood that it had been prohibited in earlier years, but they liberalized with the times). The idea is that you should spend your life serving the lord and not seeking material gain.
3) Reading non-Jehovah's Witness books on religious topics is prohibited. Some of the Church Services ("meetings") consist of reading verbatim word-for-word material handed down from the central organization ("the society"). Sermons ("talks") are written by cobbling together recent material put out by the society.
4) They practice shunning of ex-members (JWs will not talk to an ex-JW. I have no friends from childhood that will speak to me)
5) They do require a huge time commitment - door-to-door ("field service") at least once a week and three meetings per week.
6) They believe all other religions are products of the devil, sent to deceive mankind. Theirs is the only correct one.
[1] http://www.amazon.com/CRISIS-OF-CONSCIENCE-Raymond-Edition/d...
"...talk about... New Light and the Ark of Salvation".
New light is the term used in Watchtower publications whenever doctrine is changed. It's not something that would be discussed with potential converts (householders to use their parlance). Ark of Salvation I'd never heard used in the over 16 years while attending (it could of course be a new or older term).
"...lead Witness would bring along a different assistant. ...according to accounts from people who have left the sect - it’s quite deliberate and it’s designed to get you hooked."
This wasn't a tactic I'd seen used or was told to use for return visits (returning to an interested person's house) or bible studies (reading and answering questions with them from a Watchtower publication). It wasn't stipulated in the publications used to direct the ministry: Our Kingdom Ministry or Organised to Accomplish Our Ministry.
"It is forbidden to wear gold rimmed glasses in the Jehovah’s Witnesses"
Completely wrong. I knew several Elders (local leaders of the congregation) who did.
"Anyone who questions an order is kicked out for ‘disfellowship’"
I did question fundamental Witness doctrine (no blood transfusions, smoking, no birthdays) and I wasn't disciplined in any way. Just like questioning your bosses decisions at work it's at their whim how they take it: if you're disciplined or not. Disfellowshipping (shunning of congregation members) isn't rare and it does happen for questioning doctrine ('apostasy') but the extreme statement made is not correct.
"every member has many basic duties... sell crafts"
No. Jehovah's Witnesses don't do these typical church coffee morning/bingo type fundraising activities. They only accept donations from the public for publications and personally donate money as they wish.
"cannot... drink"
Wrong. Alcohol in the congregations I attended was treated in the same way the general public treat it.
http://books.google.com/books/about/Great_Boss_Dead_Boss.htm...
The book, written in a Socratic style, is about tribes and tribal behavior in businesses.
(Please leave scribd as an option, not as the source).
To back my assertion, let's take Harley as an example. HOGs (which really are members of Harley's paid Harley Owners Group club, not Hells Angels members) were scaring off the well-to-do customers? The outlaw biker image is what kept HD in business. You may be an orthodontist during the week, but you can play dress-up and be a bad ass biker on the weekend. I don't when the lawyers were scars to buy a HD, but it hasn't been in the last 35 years that I've been riding.
It seems like the author started out with a premise, and then either pulled facts to suit their point, distorted the facts, or just plain made shit up.
From the cult member's perspective, this is really a manifestation of the problem of induction. Everything is going great (the article's "love bombing" phase) until one day you want to leave or break a rule or both, and then in an instant everything is upside down and you lose everything.
I guess the business equivalent would be switching costs: leaving the Apple ecosystem is rough for your iTunes collection. For most people this really pales in comparison to the losing-all-your-friends pain of leaving a cult, but maybe not for a hipster.
You may consider those religious streams cults at your own discretion :)
Poorly researched. 60% garbage. Don't waste your time reading it.
Their bewilderment over the Apple's cult-like success shows they don't really understand what's going on. The one concrete piece of advice is:
> If you're business is failing, try to build a community of loyal fans who buy into your "David & Goliath" story.
Which is just another way of saying:
> If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.
1. I don't like the term "cult" and the baggage associated with it. "Cult" seems to mean "religion with fewer than 10 million adherents". The more politically correct (but also more useful term) is NRM: New Religious Movement. They don't all end up here: http://walkthrough.starmen.net/earthbound/image/maps/happyha... . Forming communities is one of the major reasons why people subscribe to religions of all sizes (anxiety about death isn't it, contrary to modern claims; although few are sure exactly what ancient people believed, belief in gods seems to pre-date belief in a desirable afterlife by millennia) and the power law dynamic of community formation applies. Small doesn't mean "bad".
2. Corporations themselves are like cults in accord with this depiction, between the largely unnecessary administrative hierarchies, the drudge work, the unquestionable assertions from authority, and the us-versus-them mentality. Many gods are fictional psychopaths invented by ambitious people for material gain, and many corporations are... well, the same. Quite literally, corporations are treated as persons despite their psychopathic lack of balance and humanity, much like that of an ancient god.
3. VC-istan is a cult for avowed non-cultists or, to continue the company-as-cult metaphor, an atheist religion. Instead of executives, it's VCs at the top. Instead of PMs, the middling ranks are full of EIRs and "founders" who aren't taking real risks because the VCs have already decided who's in the in-crowd (if they don't like an idea but you're in their world, they "mentor" you till you converge on something they'll fund). Instead of "middle managers", there are "tech leads". Startup equity (disbursed, to rank and file, at insulting low levels) is designed to make worker bees feel like owners (and put in long hours) and bullshit perks are used to create a "halfway house" college feel for people forced into prolonged adolescence by high housing prices and social sacrifice. Instead of managers meeting behind closed doors to decide your year end "performance" bonus based on political factors, investors and large-company purchasers meet behind closed doors to discuss the acqui-hire that will determine your financial future... but it's the same thing.
4. Man, I think I'd be good at starting a cult. Maybe I should Kickstart that shit.