In his Preface to Cults in Our Midst, Robert Jay Lifton mentions that lure of cults during periods of “psychohistorical” dislocation and I have pointed out that, following 911, the United States has moved into such a period.  I also pointed out that both Singer and Lifton gained their insights into cults after dealing with refugees from the Thought Control experiments of Communist China.  In her introduction, Singer compares cult solicitations to presentations for miniature utopian societies which offer the lure of elements of a lifestyle designed to allure people interested in spirituality, helping the world, becoming part of an elite political or social organization, having real community, etc. She also talks about how cults, in fact, resemble the negative utopias of literature such as George Orwell’s 1984;,  Jack London’s Iron Heel, a forerunner of this genre, now called “dystopia,” Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World.

            The word, dystopia, has become somewhat commonplace in describing fictional novels or films connected with social orders gone wrong such as relatively new films like “The Hunger Games” and “Divergence,” and older films like “Mad Max” and “World Without End” (a time travel film depicting astronauts arriving in a highly controlled underground world).  The Internet provides this definition: “an imagined place or state in which everything is unpleasant or bad, typically a totalitarian or environmentally degraded one.”
            As Margaret Singer indicates- a cult pretends it is the portal to a kind of utopian community- but in reality, it is a disguised dystopia. She says, “In these real or imagined central governments, torture, drugs, and mysterious esoteric techniques were the feared methods by which people might be controlled.”
            She also says,

“Orwell’s genius was in sensing that combinations of social and psychological techniques are easier, more effective and cheaper than the gun-to-the-head type of coercion. Social and psychological persuasion is also less likely to attract attention and thus is less apt to mobilize opposition early and easily from those being manipulated.”

            There is no doubt that cults like countries mobilize both methodologies- hard and soft methods of coercive persuasion. But believe me, I know how hard those soft methods can be.
            Recently, a new science fiction series called “Believe” featured a group of psychics who were trained to “wipe out” the memories and personalities of enemies of the government-connected research facility that was covertly assigned to develop psychic operatives.  In a certain sense, that is what ‘soft’ methods of coercive persuasion are out to accomplish by creating an embryonic cult personality, compliant with the demands of cult leadership. This is kind of dystopian mind control used on Winston Smith, the protagonist of 1984, and the rest of his fellow citizens until Smith rebelled and began to question Big Brother’s regime.
            What use is there to gain a fictional fantasy utopia if you lose your own soul?

            Better to connect with reality before you do.
            At the end of his capture, interrogation and imprisonment, Winston Smith realized his captors’ objective: he loved Big Brother. God help you if you get to this point.