Do Religious Cults and "Secret Societies" Exist in SL?

[SarahKB7 Koskinen]

 

[Ayashe Ninetails]

3 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

1. Manson
2. Jones
3. David Koresh

Odd how I think of those in chorological order.

The scary part is I find the whole entire phenomenon super fascinating and always want to research into it, but then once I start, I get too creeped out to really dig in. I just don't have the stomach for it, despite being interested in the psychology behind it all. I know there are numerous documentaries about all of them but...I just can't sit through them. I'm the same way with true crime stories, I suppose. Always want to know why, until I hear why...

 

1 minute ago, Rowan Amore said:

You read my mind.  Stop that!  🤣

LOL. NOOOOT touching it!

 

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Where do we draw the line?

Can I add David Duke?

How about D.T.?

Let's not open any of that up.

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Where do we draw the line?

Can I add David Duke?

How about D.T.?

David Duke isn't a religious leader and who is D.T.?  If you mean that orange baboon, I'm walking away from this right now.

[Bree Giffen]

There are people who say that every religion is a cult. 🤔

[Love Zhaoying]

Just now, Silent Mistwalker said:

David Duke isn't a religious leader and who is D.T.?  If you mean that orange baboon, I'm walking away from this right now.

Cultism isn't just religion. But regarding David Duke: You don't find the KKK a cult? They wear funny white hoods and carry burning crosses and stuff. 

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

There are people who say that every religion is a cult. 🤔

Kind of where I was going with my earliest replies on this thread. The definition of a cult is pretty interesting, depending on the POV.

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 minutes ago, Bree Giffen said:

There are people who say that every religion is a cult. 🤔

Btw, I've been meaning to tell you, you mispeled Be. And there is no ion in Champ! 

 

🤭

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 minutes ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Cultism isn't just religion. But regarding David Duke: You don't find the KKK a cult? They wear funny white hoods and carry burning crosses and stuff. 

I have met the man in person. It was decades ago when I was in my early 20s and I never wanted to meet him ever again. His charisma reeked of something evil. He is worse than a religious cult leader.

I grew up in the south and while I can, at times, pass, I am not white. Let's leave it at that.

[Sprout Evergarden]

there is a Second life Precursor called Worlds.com that was rumored to have a Cult in it that was rumored and speculated about for years on Reddit and the Paranormal boards on a basket weaving website. What made it ripe for speculation is this dead relic of the late 90's is still being maintained inspire of it being almost devoid of users. there was even some pretty cultish looking pictures that would be thrown about 

However its been figure out they are people goofing around and the website is being kept on all these years for patent troll reasons.

 

Goood video about it 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Vanessa Amethyst

[Silent Mistwalker]

3 minutes ago, Vanessa Amethyst said:

there is a Second life Precursor called Worlds.com that was rumored to have a Cult in it that was rumored and speculated about for years on Reddit and the Paranormal boards on a basket weaving website. What made it ripe for speculation is this dead relic of the late 90's is still being maintained inspire of it being almost devoid of users. there was even some pretty cultish looking pictures that would be thrown about 

However its been figure out they are people goofing around and the website is being kept on all these years for patent troll reasons.

Cult of the Red Jackass?🤔

Yeah... I got nothing.

Edited June 11, 2022 by Silent Mistwalker

[LittleMe Jewell]

Isn't it the wrong time of the year for writing a term paper or Master's Thesis?

[Ayashe Ninetails]

Just now, LittleMe Jewell said:

Isn't it the wrong time of the year for writing a term paper or Master's Thesis?

Lol, I have to admit, I was wondering about the motivation for asking!

[Rat Luv]

Does anyone remember the UK documentary about the SL Gorean who starts his own RL sex cult? 😵 TOTALLY nuts...there's a bit where the interviewer asks "So when are you going to introduce me to the top secret Gor UK Council? Do they really exist?" and the man goes mental and throws him out! 

Wonder if he's still on SL...😬

[Love Zhaoying]

7 minutes ago, Ayashe Ninetails said:

Lol, I have to admit, I was wondering about the motivation for asking!

Possibilities besides a research paper:

Stirring the pot

Looking for dirt on SL

Looking for a cult to join

Looking for reasons why a friend / family member should not be on SL

General societal curiousity

Distrust of cults, gotta make sure there's no cults 

Distrust of metaverse, gotta be cults involved

etc.

[LittleMe Jewell]

13 minutes ago, Rat Luv said:

Does anyone remember the UK documentary about the SL Gorean who starts his own RL sex cult? 😵 TOTALLY nuts...there's a bit where the interviewer asks "So when are you going to introduce me to the top secret Gor UK Council? Do they really exist?" and the man goes mental and throws him out! 

Wonder if he's still on SL...😬

 

You are probably remembering the same guy that Pixie mentioned (at least I don't think there were 2 of them):

10 hours ago, Pixie Kobichenko said:

I posted years ago about this guy in the UK who had made up this entire misogynistic society based on Gor called the Kaotians  & had managed to entice a few women & one young man to be with him in the real world.  There was a documentary about this guy.  It was pretty big, this pretend secret organization of sex slavers that were “always watching” etc.  Reminded me an awful lot of a true crime case or two where women had been kidnapped & brainwashed into staying out of fear of threat to their family by “the company.”  

 

[Rat Luv]

3 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

 

You are probably remembering the same guy that Pixie mentioned (at least I don't think there were 2 of them):

 

Oh, maybe it was the same one then? I didn't put the two together earlier...I remember he had tattoos all over his face...it was a bit grim, really 😬

[Magnek Fang]

When I first saw that Nexpo documentary, my final thought was 'Is that gonna be SL in 20 years?' It was quite a sobering thought.

[Silent Mistwalker]

44 minutes ago, Rat Luv said:

Does anyone remember the UK documentary about the SL Gorean who starts his own RL sex cult? 😵 TOTALLY nuts...there's a bit where the interviewer asks "So when are you going to introduce me to the top secret Gor UK Council? Do they really exist?" and the man goes mental and throws him out! 

Wonder if he's still on SL...😬

Before SL Gor there was AW Gor. AW=Active Worlds

https://www.awportals.com/aw/archives/newsgroups/thread_8384/

[Paul Hexem]

My cult is so secret, nobody's joined it yet.

[Lindal Kidd]

@LottaSinclair,

You could have simply used Search to answer your own question.

 

[Persephone Emerald]

5 hours ago, LottaSinclair said:

Yes, precisely.

Yes, that's why I'm asking if there are any groups or communities here in SL which are considered or widely perceived (to any relative degree) to be cults by the wider community. Yes, cults have certain characteristics and hallmarks of what makes them largely considered, as close to unequivocally, cults. I'm not just talking about merely passionate individuals and the communities they belong to, nor merely religious traditions or practices that some people in the wider "mainstream" community may not be too familiar with, such as certain forms of paganism, witchcraft or satanism.

With the last point there, I'm referring mostly to the Terms of Service and the Community Standards and what is permissible in that regard. Naturally, offensive groups such as Nazi groups and white supremacist groups (which could be considered "cultic") have been cracked down on and have virtually gone the way of the dodo here in SL. I was wondering if there are any "cults" here in SL as discussed above which have drawn that same unwanted attention, due to extreme zealotry and questionable practices and all the negative characteristics we ascribe to cults, while not necessarily being overtly discriminatory or prejudiced.

 

I don't think the TOS says much to discourage cults. It says to not reveal information about people's real lives without their permission. It says virtual kiddie-porn is against the rules and will get you banned. It says trying to crash regions or defraud people are against the rules and can get you banned. It says we don't really own anything we think we own in SL. It says to keep sex and graphic violence in Adult regions or in private in Moderate regions. It says the bosses of SL are the bosses of SL and the bosses of a sim are the bosses of that sim. It says to be respectful of linden employees and moderators. If Linden Lab decides to ban a symbol as a hate symbol, they can do that, but they don't have to take suggestions from the users about what to ban or not. You're free to give as much money as your want to anyone. You're free to give up your virtual rights, and though it's technically against the rules to give someone else your SL password, nobody is actually going to stop you from doing so.

The vampire roleplay pyramid-scheme games are cultish. Various roleplay groups have rules, uniforms, ceremonies or rituals, though I doubt they can actually be secret since nobody could stop users from telling about them. For instance, in a Firefly Companions RP group I was in, participants are required to attend a certain number of classes and perform a tea ceremony for a guest before advancing to a higher level and getting a different colored robe and a new group title. 

If there are actual cults in SL though, I haven't encountered them.

 

[Ceka Cianci]

No there aren't any.. I mean that would take a secret hand gesture and everything........

Right guyyyyyyys?

[Persephone Emerald]

2 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:

...The TOS only limits you on hate, social violence, harassment, and abuse. So a JW door-to-door ministry group is likely to be considered harassment and shut down. While Antifa and BLM were often RL violent they have support in SL and I am not aware of any action by the Lab to exude them from SL....[snip]

I think it would be funny if someone decided to go door to door in Bellisseria as a Jehovah's Witness or LDS Mormon proselytizer. I'd probably treat them the same way I would in RL, to laugh and tell them I'm not interested. Also, while there can be rallies and events held in SL to support Black Lives Matter or any other RL political reform movement, I doubt they'd march through a residential or business region. For one thing, there could never be property damage or obstruction of a business, because the owners of the region could easily eject and ban them. 

I agree that there's a liberal bias in Linden Lab, but since I identify as liberal myself, I don't think that's a bad thing. Businesses are free for the most part to have their own social biases. Chick-fil-A is free to show prejudice against gay people, and I'm free to go elsewhere for a chicken sandwich. Jo-Ann's is free to exclude birth control as a health benefit for their employees, and I'm free to shop elsewhere for sewing supplies. 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Persephone Emerald

[Pixie Kobichenko]

1 hour ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

 

You are probably remembering the same guy that Pixie mentioned (at least I don't think there were 2 of them):

 

Yea that’s him. 
 

1 hour ago, Rat Luv said:

Oh, maybe it was the same one then? I didn't put the two together earlier...I remember he had tattoos all over his face...it was a bit grim, really 😬

I googled last night to make sure I wasn’t misremembering before posting.  He did jail time for one of the “incidents”.  Then I remember he had a bizarre YouTube I had found 10+ years ago after watching that documentary.  But there’s nothing posted about him or attributed to him in at least 10 years.  So I’m guessing he’s moved on to another plane of existence.  🤷‍♀️ 

Edited June 11, 2022 by Pixie Kobichenko

[Ayashe Ninetails]

8 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I'm free to shop elsewhere for sewing supplies. 

Oh dang what. Welp. I need to pay more attention, I suppose. Then again, my sewing machine has been awaiting my presence for a few years now, sooooo. The last time I tried to design a skirt kinda broke me!

Okay, back to your regularly scheduled cult shenanigans. 😂