Rise of Internet Cult

What is a Cult

Let's talk about what is a cult. A group where a leader is supreme and their words are set in stone, where followers are not allowed to question anything and just follow the instruction of the supreme leader, where in the majority of cases the group has no sense of right and wrong and they lack morality.

This trait of a group becomes dangerous, when they can commit heinous crimes and think they are doing the right thing.

Take the example of Jim Jones, a cult leader who formed a cult called the People's Temple in 1995 in Indianapolis in the US, where he started as a great helping hand for the poor and blacks by providing them basic necessities such as shelter, food, and medicine. He started gaining followers because of his noble deeds, and after some time he started brainwashing them, abusing them physically, and taking all of their earnings and properties, so that they could not escape. Finally, he convinced 913 people (most of them were children) to commit suicide by drinking poison and later he killed himself as well. 

There are several more such cases such as Heavens Gate, where followers killed themselves just because their leader said so.

Rise of Internet Cult

Cults have been a part of our society for a long time, they will be a part of society in years to come. But, with time as all things evolve, cults have also evolved, and internet cults are a great example of it.

Disclaimer - not all internet cults are dangerous, some are just obsessed with their leader, but they will not commit crimes for the sake of it.

But there are some examples of internet cults, where things turned ugly -

God of incels - Elliot Roger

Son of a Hollywood elite, Elliot Roger used to run a Subreddit page, where he and his followers used to degrade females and talk negatively about them, just because Elliot did not have a girlfriend, and he thought he was entitled to have a girlfriend and girls are wrong for not choosing him.

Later, the hatred became stronger and stronger and he and his followers started thinking that females are the cause of all of their problems, and they do not deserve to live. So, one day Elliot decided to go on a rampage and killed 6 innocent people before killing himself.

After this incident, instead of criticizing him, more and more people became fans and started idolizing him. To this day, there are some social media pages whop depicts Elliot Roger as a god of incels.

Conclusion 

A cult is a cult, sooner or later it will take a turn for worse. So, try to stay away from it as much as possible.