How to Become a Cult Leader

 

Narrated by Peter Dinklage, produced by Citizen Jones/Estuary Films. Netflix release July 28, 2023.

 

Reviewed by Joseph Szimhart

I binge-watched the new, six-part Netflix series, “How to Become a Cult Leader,” deftly narrated by actor Peter Dinklage, after someone at ICSA Reviews asked if I was interested. Until that request, I’d avoided seeing it despite many social media notices from peers and participants in the series. Yes, I scanned some reviews, a couple indicating that the approach may have been too cheeky for such a dire topic. But if you know me, you will understand why I am not inclined to digest another cult exposé: Too much of anything can make one sick of it. Well, I gulped this one down easily enough which speaks to how well it was prepared and paced—despite the liberal spicing with cartoon commentary and old media footage mocking the content.

 

In my opinion it is cheeky, and it is a freakishly dire documentary that ends with the ominous warning that we are all either predators or prey in the ongoing cult game. I mean, the six episodes featured mostly dead cult leaders, all males, and all notoriously bad social actors who have had their stories told too often already: Charles Manson, Jim Jones, Jaimie¹ (sic) Gomez of Buddhafield who still operates in Hawaii, Marshall Applewhite, Shoko Asahara, and Sun Myung Moon. Other cult leaders were named, perhaps a dozen, to fill in salient points about manipulation techniques and characterological disorders, but I will not mention them here. With a title like that, the series had to be cheeky in the sense of signaling potential cult leaders to think again: Only your deluded followers and kindred grifters will not be laughing at your transparently self-serving and ultimately disgusting behaviors.

 

Cult experts and ex-members filled in the narrative with personal comments stemming from extensive research and intimate knowledge of the cult leaders after years of cult participation. The ex-member testimonies provide the best insights for viewers who should note that cult members are no different than people viewing the documentary—yes, it can happen to you too. If the viewer does not get that message, they miss the point of the entire documentary: Cults tend to see from an us/them world view. By not seeing yourself in a former cult member, you are doing the same exclusive dance as someone in a cult. That old saying, ‘There but for the grace of God go I,’ applies here, too. That is better than thinking how stupid that person was to spend 20years of their life believing in that nonsense.

 

The series does not mention it, but a 1991 book, Age of Propaganda: The Everyday Use and Abuse of Persuasion² by Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson includes a chapter (35) with the same title: “How to Become a Cult Leader.” The themes discussed in Age of Propaganda can be understood as the steps to becoming a cult leader in the Netflix series. They include:

 

1. Create your own social reality.
2. Create a granfalloon³ technique that splits a follower from reality.
3. Create commitment through dissonance reduction.
4. Establish the leader’s credibility and attractiveness.
5. Send members out to proselytize the unredeemed.
6. Distract members from thinking “undesirable” thoughts.
7. Fixate member’s vision on a phantom like heaven, a promised land, enlightenment, utter success, or salvation.

Age of Propaganda reminds us that cults use common propaganda tactics but with a more thorough and complete agenda: total control over your life. Age of Propaganda also cautions about something that the Netflix series misses: To be forewarned is not to be forearmed. Watching this series will likely do little or nothing to prevent the viewer from falling prey to a cult or becoming a cult leader. And why is that?

 

Think about it. As with most life events, vicarious experience has some value, but it is no substitute for actual experience to thoroughly grasp the event. Nevertheless, actual experience could be harmful. It is better to learn vicariously that the cults named in the series can harm you, but there is no guarantee that you will see what is coming after encountering an interesting teacher or leader. Cult leaders are not all consciously lying. Many believe in their fantastic ideas and techniques—so much so that they sound very convincing. That utter confidence in the message, whether connived or authentic, can fool most anyone not already informed about the history of the leader.

 

You might be a struggling actor in Los Angeles or New York with street smarts who attends a free workshop on how to improve your audition skills. I have done workshops for former members of two acting school cults in which the teachers managed to gain control over every aspect of more than a dozen young people through instructions like having sex with the teacher to improve their “openness” to new roles and techniques. Their first free sessions were a lot of fun, they said, and they felt they learned something. The sex, of course, came much later because a clever leader will observe how committed a student is to each new step. The inner core that is already initiated to secret teachings will keep the deeper teachings secret until the leader indicates that a newer student is ready.

 

The series is worth a look. I learned a few things about familiar cults that I was not aware of.  With so much crammed in, the series left a lot out about all the groups and leaders. So expect to be entertained more than informed, though knowing something about how cult leaders operate is still a plus. There is a slim chance it will help some viewers to stop, think, and do more research after they have had fun at a free, self-improvement workshop. It might also inspire someone to do an exposé on a new manipulative cult that has not yet had media fame.

 

Notes

[1] FYI: Both Netflix and IMDB have misspelled Jaime Gomez’s name as Jaimie online and in their Series notes.

[2] A granfalloon, in the fictional religion of Bokonism (created by Kurt Vonnegut in his 1963 novel Cat’s Cradle), is defined as a “false karass.” That is, it is a group of people who affect a shared identity or purpose, but whose mutual association is meaningless. This definition is attributed to a footnote referencing a review, by Alison Carpenter, of the Pratkansis & Aronson book, Age of Propaganda in the Wikipedia entry on granfalloon.

[3] Age of Propaganda, originally published in 1991, was updated and reissued in paperback by a different publisher in 2001. Please see below for detailed references.

 

References

Granfalloon. (2022, December 26). In Wikipedia.

Dinklage, P., Pasht, J. B., Bekhor, J., Ginsberg, D., & Laufer, J. (Executive Producers). (2023-present). How to become a cult leader [TV series]. Citizen Jones/Estuary Films. Streaming on Netflix. Released July 28, 2023.

IMDB Episode Guide for “How to become a cult leader” 

Pratkanis, A. & Aronson, E., (1991). Age of propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion. W. H. Freeman & Co.

Pratkanis, A. & Aronson, E., (2001). Age of propaganda: The everyday use and abuse of persuasion. Updated paperback edition. Henry Holt & Company, Inc.

 

 

About the Reviewer:

 

Joseph Szimhart, ICSA Today’s Book Review Consultant, began research into cultic influence in 1980, after ending his two-year devotion to a New Age sect. He worked professionally as an intervention specialist from 1986 through 1988. He continues to assist people with cult-related problems including consultations via phone and Internet. In 2016 he received an ICSA Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual conference in Dallas, Texas. From 1998 to 2023 he worked for an emergency psychiatric hospital as a crisis caseworker, retiring in May of this year. He maintains an art studio and exhibits professionally. His novel, Mushroom Satori: The cult diary, was published in 2013, and his memoir, Santa Fe, Bill Tate, and me: How an artist became a cult interventionist, was published in 2020.

 

 

Reviews published online by ICSA Reviews may also appear in our publications ICSA Today and the International Journal of Coercion, Abuse, and Manipulation.

 

The views expressed in ICSA Reviews are solely those of the reviewers and do not necessarily reflect the views of ICSA’s directors, advisers, or staff. Groups analyzed or mentioned in this column are not necessarily cults, nor are they necessarily harmful.

 

Founded in 1979, ICSA’s mission is to provide information, education, and help to those adversely affected by or interested in cultic and other high-control groups and relationships. More Info.