The first cult is the deepest

"Yeah, cults are really fun, but I have a sixth-sense about when the fun is over. You know, when there's gonna be a FBI raid or mass soo-ey, or blend up beavers and put it in the town's water supply." ~Francine Smith

"I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a leader."
~ Creed Bratton
lol

I once went to a Buddhist meditation center and it felt weird in a way. I researched them: totally a cult. Now I am in a different Buddhist meditation group that's totally not a cult

NKT? I rented a room from them once. Photos of the leader everywhere in the public areas.
- That's the second one, the one I'm in now.
  Just kidding. Yes, the photo was a big red flag. Also their dharma just didn't make sense and they were like "it may take a lifetime to understand this one thing". Later I realized that most Buddhists teach kind of the opposite of that.
  Now I'm in a direct democratic zen group that explicitly has no master. The founder has some natural authority because he learned it in Japan but no one cares about his strict rules. Which is the best of both worlds: you have rules for those who seek guidance but you can just ignore them with no consequences.
- Could easily be SGI too, they have some very culty elements to their practices. And they are all over with many convenient locations, like all the best cults.
Since Lemmy should promote fun dialogue I am gonna reply one more time with something fun I learned. My prof from an undergraduate course on religion said we should have a more unbiased definition of cult. An unorthodox group that claims to have a novel, truer interpretation of an already existing tradition with a charismatic central leader. I find it interesting because many religions can fall under this category such as Christianity. Cult is also used to describe certain groups within a religion like the Buddhist cult of Guanyin. This use also has no negative correlation, instead pointing towards the groups focus on Guanyin. Wonder how one would add onto this term to specifically mean negative groups that try to control their members and draw others in? Simply having new teachings doesn't do it for me. There are many Buddhist dharma doors that have very different teachings but what marks NKT as cult? Is it just what I added or something else as well? They certainly fit both definitions.
- Well...yeah. The only difference between a religion and a cult is member count and how long it's been around.
  Big and several generations? Religion.
  Small or only been around for a few generations? Cult.
  The only reason Christianity isn't a cult is because we were told it's a religion.
  Just like Herbalife isn't a pyramid scheme, it's an MLM.
- I totally see where this is coming from but I still want a word for this toxic kind of group with a lot of centralized control of the members.
  I heard of the BITE model (behavior control, information control, emotional control and I don't remember what the T stands for). I need a word for this kind of organization and if you offer me a better one, I'll take it.

Is this a picture of a Trumper find out she was fucked by Trump or his lackeys somehow?

She found out her Mexican neighbor is a US citizen
- Or maybe her family's fields were flooded in a pointless performative dam release by the Army Corps of Engineers and won't have any irrigation water this summer. At least then it won't matter there will be nobody to do the actual farming.
Or a totally random party goer who happens to be wearing a red hat?
Edit: thanks @elliot_crane@lemmy.world , now I see the MAGA lanyard
- Give her lanyard a read.
Leopards-eating-faces party voter finding out the name was not a metaphor

Who is that?

I don't get it...

You will.
Well it's a shitpost. Did you take it at face value or expect intelligent comedy? Have you tried turning it off and on again?
- I don't get it either, to answer your questions, I normally take shitposts at face value, but I do expect some context.
  Usually that is provided by the post but not in this case.

Well, unless it's the Peoples Temple.

or templeos