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

[Dragon Mommy]

1 hour 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...😬

This guy isn't at all the first to do this. In the IRL BDSM community Goreans have been active since the 90s or earlier. There's a sizable subculture of it, which I became aware of when a friend of mine entered into a Gorean household as a submissive.

After her experience there (she is out and ok now), I have nothing good to say about that group. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

45 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

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

Right guyyyyyyys?

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

[Ceka Cianci]

1 minute ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

I have no idea what training you are talking about.  I am simple housewife, living happily with a family, somewhere in southern part of Murica....... I mean AMERICA.!!

 

[Persephone Emerald]

I forgot to mention the "cultish" Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucracy. They lure us in by saying how fun and exclusive their group is. "Oh wouldn't it be fun to have a passport for collecting stamps?" -  Not only do you have to be a Premium member of Second Life, you have to either own a home in Bellisseria or be partnered to someone who does. Then you can apply for an official passport. Of course other people can apply for the non-Bellisserian passport, but we all know that's just a smoke screen for the real secret society. You have to give them all kinds of personal information, like your SL name and address, your SL gender, species, weight, height and eye color. If avatars had fingerprints, they'd probably want that too. Then after waiting 48 hours to get your passport, you instead get an invitation to a secret office, an exclusive group invitation that you have to accept, a very weird and creepy "body scan", and then you get sent to some random destination from which you have to find your way back home. It's not a mistake to call this process an initiation.

Their Driver's License application process is actually too easy by comparison. I've sent them suggestions to make it more bureaucratic, stressful and weird, and thus more realistic. 

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Persephone Emerald said:

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

I remember a "game" in SL with a "Russian Roulette" toy. That would be perfect for a cult. My SL friends tried it, I refused.

[Persephone Emerald]

12 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

 

[LittleMe Jewell]

59 minutes ago, Ceka Cianci said:

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

Right guyyyyyyys?

Bento allowed hand gestures to evolve quite a bit.  That's when the secret societies / cults really took off.

 

 

 

Edited June 11, 2022 by LittleMe Jewell

[Bree Giffen]

I think there is a cult that call themselves "moles". There's a bunch of them. They live underground...as moles do. 

[Love Zhaoying]

7 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

I forgot to mention the "cultish" Bellisseria Bureau of Bureaucracy. They lure us in by saying how fun and exclusive their group is. "Oh wouldn't it be fun to have a passport for collecting stamps?" -  Not only do you have to be a Premium member of Second Life, you have to either own a home in Bellisseria or be partnered to someone who does. Then you can apply for an official passport. Of course other people can apply for the non-Bellisserian passport, but we all know that's just a smoke screen for the real secret society. You have to give them all kinds of personal information, like your SL name and address, your SL gender, species, weight, height and eye color. If avatars had fingerprints, they'd probably want that too. Then after waiting 48 hours to get your passport, you instead get an invitation to a secret office, an exclusive group invitation that you have to accept, a very weird and creepy "body scan", and then you get sent to some random destination from which you have to find your way back home. It's not a mistake to call this process an initiation.

Their Driver's License application process is actually too easy by comparison. I've sent them suggestions to make it more bureaucratic, stressful and weird, and thus more realistic. 

Oh, the Real Housewives of Bellisseria?

[Love Zhaoying]

2 minutes ago, LittleMe Jewell said:

Bento allowed hand gestures to evolve quite a bit.  That's when the secret societies / cults really took off.

As I recall, the "white power" hand gesture means "arsehole" in ASL. Cult!

[Paulsian]

Do Religious Cults and "Secret Societies" Exist in SL? I don't think the moles are a religious cult or secret, they do have their secrets but they are not a secret cult, more like the masons.

[Paulsian]

15 hours ago, LottaSinclair said:

Hello everyone,

So, I was having a discussion with my friends and this subject among many others was brought up; while it didn't end up with a "conclusive" answer, it had me curious;

Do cults exist in SL? 

?

I'm not merely referring to social cliques, religious groups and communities and groups considered "cult-like" in the most informal senses. I've read through forum posts dealing with these matters without touching on this particular subject specifically, so I wanted to address it here. Obviously religious and spiritual groups and communities exist in SL and there can be disagreements and "incompatibilities" between them.

I mean groups and communities that seek to indoctrinate or "brainwash" its members in its own dogmatic teachings, to the point of fanaticism, extreme fervor and zealotry. Personality cults that may have its followers venerate and revere a leader and their teachings. Are there groups and communities in SL that claim to be offshoots or representatives of real-world cults?  How about conspiracy theory groups? Are all of these within the TOS? I've never looked. SL is an organic world if it has not already it will. 

There have been some things in SL before that some may consider "extreme"; white supremacist groups and fetish communities involving death and torture. (not to equate the two in magnitude) I would say in public spaces it's more like a john waters movie, users will try to out do each other for most extreme, minus any inhabitation when among common people. 

Have people started their own unique "religions" in SL, with hierarchies, doctrines and followers? Even if it's just for roleplay, or a "joke religion". What happens to religious groups and communities that start to no longer fit the open and accepting paradigm that you tend to see in SL's diverse spiritual community? If they become too "extreme" is there a crackdown? 

From what I've seen yes. The non desired non productive non useful in any way user is x communicated, isolated, and virtually tortured, likely for monetary gain or sport. 

Are there "secret societies" in SL? Dogmatic, closed communities with membership requirements, initiation rituals, symbols, uniforms and "esoteric" practices? 

Likely; check the market place

 

[Coffee Pancake]

1 hour ago, Dragon Mommy said:

This guy isn't at all the first to do this. In the IRL BDSM community Goreans have been active since the 90s or earlier. There's a sizable subculture of it, which I became aware of when a friend of mine entered into a Gorean household as a submissive.

After her experience there (she is out and ok now), I have nothing good to say about that group. 

There is a lot of fun to had with Gor .. but never trust anyone who takes it at its literal face value.

[Silent Mistwalker]

54 minutes ago, Persephone Emerald said:

 

 

Still need closure. Dammit.

[Orwar]

   Misanthropes Anonymous is pretty secretive .. I've been a member for years now, only identified a handful of others, and I have no idea who's in charge or whether we get any benefits. Do we qualify as a cult, @Silent Mistwalker?

[bigmoe Whitfield]

6 hours ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

Oh. So, none of them ever log in because they're all chatting on Discord. 

You sure it was FLDS and not Gor?  🤔

It's the flds,  seen it first hand during breaks at work when they would sit with their laptops around the table.  (not all flds are technology hating)

[CaithLynnSayes]

The fact that religions and cults (still exists) disqualifies humanity to call themselves an "intelligent" species. I find it interesting and worrying that in this information age we're currently in, still way to many people default to "an old book says a thing". I could go deeper on this and explain the brilliancy in (for example) the bible that says "i'm the only correct one, so believe what is written in me" and people fall for that. But... I got shut down once for starting a similar topic once on religion. Not that i'm advocating for shutting this one down, but i do find it interesting that it didn't happen yet since that seems to be one of the forum's rules; don't talk about politics/religion. But by all means, carry on.

I do think that humanity has a tendency to be in need of a leader. You can see this all over in society. Be it at your work, or daily life (yes, politicians). So this could be a reason why humans are pretty susceptible to being taken in by religions and/or cults. It's an interesting topic i love to talk about, but i think it would start to become a heated debate. So maybe i'll just silently watch and not say too much. 

[Rowan Amore]

59 minutes ago, Orwar said:

   Misanthropes Anonymous is pretty secretive .. I've been a member for years now, only identified a handful of others, and I have no idea who's in charge or whether we get any benefits. Do we qualify as a cult, @Silent Mistwalker?

We're a cabal but don't tell anyone.

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 hour ago, Orwar said:

   Misanthropes Anonymous is pretty secretive .. I've been a member for years now, only identified a handful of others, and I have no idea who's in charge or whether we get any benefits. Do we qualify as a cult, @Silent Mistwalker?

Remember the First Rule. There is no Misanthropes Anonymous.

[Silent Mistwalker]

1 hour ago, bigmoe Whitfield said:

It's the flds,  seen it first hand during breaks at work when they would sit with their laptops around the table.  (not all flds are technology hating)

You must have missed the connection(s).

[bigmoe Whitfield]

5 minutes ago, Silent Mistwalker said:

You must have missed the connection(s).

Brain goes derp mhm.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Orwar said:

    .. I've been a member for years now, 

Is it like the "Hair Club for Men" commercial, "I'm not the the President, I'm a member"? 

[Love Zhaoying]

2 hours ago, Persephone Emerald said:

 

Is scary!

[Gilgamesh Alpha]

3 hours ago, Paulsian said:

Do Religious Cults and "Secret Societies" Exist in SL? I don't think the moles are a religious cult or secret, they do have their secrets but they are not a secret cult, more like the masons.

There's a conspiracy theory called "Feted Inner Core" about an alleged group of users that have a relationship with LL that they use to their advantage to gain in-world benefits.

[Scylla Rhiadra]

14 minutes ago, Gilgamesh Alpha said:

There's a conspiracy theory called "Feted Inner Core" about an alleged group of users that have a relationship with LL that they use to their advantage to gain in-world benefits.

Oh dear.

I do wish you hadn't posted this.

Now we have to kill you.

/me sighs and reaches into her purse