Monthly Archive for May, 2010
Life is Like a Box of Chocolates
Through the course of modern human history, chocolate has been considered the most special of all confections. Chocolate inspires deep love and devotion from those who partake of it, and its ability to enhance one’s mood has been advertised by men, women and children -- and candy manufacturers -- everywhere. Now, new evidence may put all that positive information under wraps; a study in the Archives of Internal Medicine reports that individuals who eat more chocolate are at a greater risk of depression.
Cults and Terrorism, Part 6 – Leader-Follower Traits
Continued from part five. Leaders of destructive cult-like groups are very likely to have a very strong need for power and control. The adage “power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” is especially true of leaders of destructive groups. As power increases, so also privilege, reflected in a lavish lifestyle, sexual excess, and eventually mental disorder usually with paranoid features. Such was the case with the leaders in the groups described earlier. Power in such people is psychological poison, often slow acting but always a downward spiral.
Cults and Terrorism, Part 5 – Features of Destructive Cults
Continued from part four. Groups have a personality and destructive cult-like groups have certain behaviors in common. “Good” cult-like groups may or may not have the same traits. In “good” groups the traits serve to strengthen group identity and help members conform positively to the group’s ideals and mission. The acid test is in the results. There shouldn’t be any violence, to a member’s mental or physical health or to anyone outside the group.
Cults and Terrorism, Part 4 – Destructive Cult-Like Groups
Continued from part three. Heavens Gate was a California UFO/apocalyptic group founded by Marshall Applewhite, son of a Presbyterian minister who dropped out of seminary to study music. He taught music at the University of Alabama but was fired for alleged sex with a student. His wife left him taking their two sons. In 1972 he had vision that he was on a special mission but it so alarmed him he committed himself to mental hospital. There he met nurse Bonnie Nettles, herself married with three children. In 1973 they called themselves “the two” from the Book of Revelations, to save people from evil UFO aliens. Their followers were forbidden to have sex because, they claimed, heaven is asexual.
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Future Posts
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- From Nymphomania to Hypersexuality
Comments
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