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In Reply to: Is The Family a cult? posted by Acheick on July 26, 2004 at 13:05:05:
This sociology professor is prone to some very sloppy thinking, imo. I guess I can call a spade a spade since I'm guilty of that myself from time to time, and it usually occurs when I don't take enough time to put my comments into an appropriate framework.
First of all, it makes a huge difference how you define the term "cult"--the operational definitions given in the books by Groenvald and Singer are a good starting point. Totalitarian, mind-controlling and psychologically abusive religious groups really do exist. So my first question to the professor would be, How do you define the term "cult"--?
Second, the comment about big business doing harm to people and no one questioning it is a lot of post-modernist claptrap. This kind of thinking is so de-constructed that it turns out you really CAN compare apples & pickles, because after all, both are edible fruits.
Exactly what kind of "harm" is she referring to? Environmental pollution? Engineering temporary energy shortages to raise prices? Defrauding stockholders? Calculated risk management--where the liability of a manufacturing process that harms a few workers is folded into cost accounting and managed on a case-by-case basis?
Big business may engage in some ethically questionable or even illegal practices, but I don't see a parallel to cult behavior beyond the concepts "ethically questionable" and "illegal."
I also think there are plenty of people in a free and open society (investigative journalists, trial lawyers, legislators & politicians, insider whistle-blowers, the ACLU, consumer protection and regulatory agencies) who make it their business to question big business. So I'd be pressing this professor for greater specificity: What do you mean by "no one questions?" It doesn't matter if the majority of the citizenry and the appointed watchdogs put their heads in the sand if a few determined people stand up and say, "Wait a minute..."
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." (Margaret Mead)
