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

[Love Zhaoying]

4 hours ago, LottaSinclair said:

Do people do this purely for fun?

If it's not "for fun", good luck getting people involved. With the understanding that some people's "fun" would make you sad and nauseous.

[Love Zhaoying]

1 minute ago, Scylla Rhiadra said:

The SL group had links to RL Proud Boys material online -- all gone now.

Something something Jan 6 something maybe.

[Akane Nacht]

4 hours ago, LottaSinclair said:

are there flat earth groups in SL that regularly come together?

SL is flat. Don't get me started on those round metaversers..

[Love Zhaoying]

5 hours ago, LottaSinclair said:

are there flat earth groups in SL that regularly come together?

You can easily search in Second Life itself. Google is also your friend.

 

[Amanda Crisp]

Yes, depending on what you consider a “cult” 🙂

My definition is pretty broad and would include any belief system (including political ideology) that requires one to “suspend disbelief” and accept an ideaology. Its all about how you “feel” as opposed to what you can prove.

I know of one such SL “cult” that believes that Chiropactic can cure almost anything (including cancer) and another that espouses the notion that our RL existence is just another immersive virtual world.

 

Edited June 12, 2022 by Amanda Crisp

[Garnet Psaltery]

3 minutes ago, Amanda Crisp said:

Yes, depending on what you consider a “cult” 🙂

My definition is pretty broad and would include any belief system (including political ideology) that requires one to “suspend disbelief” and accept an ideaology. Its all about how you “feel” as opposed to what you can prove.

"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure.  Who can understand it?".

[Nalates Urriah]

10 hours ago, LottaSinclair said:

So LL actually turns a blind eye to some groups and their activities if they are in "alignment" with their own values? That also reminds me of how loose LL seemed to have been in terms of Neo-Nazi groups and their symbols, white supremacist groups, confederate flags and being able to use slurs as search terms on the marketplace, until some people naturally raised an issue and complained over it, and only then do they actually take action, and they crack down hard, as you might know. On the other hand, they allowed not only "black supremacist" groups in the past, but all manner of sexual fetishes and expression including Gor, snuff play and torture, perhaps that's the political correctness in action. I'm not sure where conspiracy theories sit with this; are there flat earth groups in SL that regularly come together?

How far does the political correctness go with LL and the cultures within SL? Can we get an idea of the extent of it? Have there been examples of "political correctness" gone too far on part of LL that the wider community has reacted with backlash?

So LL actually turns a blind eye - Well yes and no. For a time the 'moderators' or governance team, as they are known in SL, had in-world meetings. During that time several of us were able to get a sense of who they were and how they were thinking. They have rules and coordinate team members. Complex situations may trigger discussion among the team as to how to handle an issue or person.

It is hard to know exactly how well they know residents. Like RL police they get to know the troublemakers. Also, like RL police they hear so many BS excuses they get pretty good at detecting it. Also, since they get to see how things escalate they are pretty good at knowing where something is going, especially when they know the players, before it gets there.

From our side much of what we can see makes some of the decisions they make, or don't, look random. Many residents base their thinking about the team only on their personal opinion and promptly vent their dissatisfaction based on what they think with never a thought about their lacking all the facts or knowing what the response by the Lab was.

When I first came into SL it was common for residents to say the Governance Team was very biased and only responded to certain people's ARs. There were a few discussions about that from time to time in the design groups with Linden engineers. The engineers and governance teams are different groups. But the engineers consistently said the gov team read EVERY AR and took some action, as best they could tell.

The Gov Team is made up of humans. They have good and bad days. They are busy and won't bother to debate an issue. They make mistakes. They are influenced by society and culture and personal ethics.

You'll never know EXACTLY why they make some decision and even if they warn you about some transgression you are likely to be confused about what it is they are on your case about.

Political Correctness - In this day and age that is a messy subject. Many people WANT to be PC and WOKE for good reasons. But few actually think through what the ideology produces. its more a "this sounds good, I'll do that" type thing for them. The Lindens are people and subject to the PC/WOKE ideology being pushed. Everyone seems to have absorbed or rejected various parts and levels of the ideological wave sweeping over the world.

The Lindens are individuals and each one is unique. Like the rest of us some of them are awesome, sane, fair people and some are total fruit cakes. They each have biases and prejudices.

So.... how PC is the Gov Team? At best we can only guess. I observe a lean into the Woke culture. But that may be distorted by my resistance to Woke/Regressive Culture. You'll have to observe and decide how you see it.

[Marianne McCann]

17 hours ago, Love Zhaoying said:

I posted earlier about FIC, thought it was "feted inner circle", which one forumite calls "fetid" I think.

Feted Inner Core, not Circle.

[Marianne McCann]

16 hours ago, Lindal Kidd said:

FIC has spawned a number of "meanings" for its acronym over the years.

• Feted Inner Circle
• Feted Inner Child (thank you, @Marianne McCann!)
• Fetid Inner Cheese
• ...and so on.

They're all there simply to engender controversy and arguments over the "true" meaning, deflecting discussion about the actual existence/nature/membership of the alleged "group".

muwahahaha!

I'll neither confirm nor deny... >.>

(I've also seen Feline Inner Core and Furry Inner Core, both of which are great variants)

[Love Zhaoying]

1 hour ago, Marianne McCann said:

Feted Inner Core, not Circle.

Is not Ouroboros, definitely, maybe is just big poop?

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ouroboros

[Love Zhaoying]

3 hours ago, Nalates Urriah said:

Woke/Regressive

Wait, is opposites?

[Sammy Huntsman]

19 hours ago, Rat Luv said:

Close!  Trusted members will be given the location of the church in game.

http://world.secondlife.com/group/76e7b698-0f81-a78d-9738-f45d30d3ec65

That cult should be banned. I am sorry the stuff they have done to members behind closed doors, even going as far as trying to ruin their careers if they speak out. That is wrong. 

[Kalegthepsionicist]

On 6/11/2022 at 11:33 AM, 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?

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)

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? 

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

I dont think so ...

hookup society or avi sex hunter community I believe exist.

you are not really anonymous in sL

lol.

you connect to their server. you use 3rd party viewer.

comeone... you xan be tracked

Edited June 13, 2022 by Kalegthepsionicist

[Prokofy Neva]

On 6/10/2022 at 11:33 PM, 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?

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)

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? 

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

I find there are some groups that have very strong, authoritarian types as their leaders, and sometimes, like the Inca chiefs facing the Spanish invaders, they collapse when that one leader is removed. Usually this strong persona has a Friday by his side that does a lot of the organizational work. 

But the reason these types of groups don't feel authoritarian is because you can TP away from them or log off from them. To be sure, some people become very engrossed in their Gorean masters and RP and such, but there is still a sense that if they want, they can just log off or make a new account and escape any unhappy situation.

Recently I came across an elf and fairy group which has a marketplace and various activities and was surprised they still existed, as one large elf group left SL and others grew disenchanted and moved on. This group had a program of events that included Druids who have a Druid cult in RL, unabashedly described as such. So that sounded interesting.

Perhaps it's a sign of the coming recession that in RL, I see more Hare Krishna groups out on the street signing and dancing, such as on Union Square, where they had disappeared, even before COVID. But I have never seen them in SL.

 

[Love Zhaoying]

18 minutes ago, Prokofy Neva said:

one large elf group left SL and others grew disenchanted

That's a double-whammy. First, to be cursed as Large Elves, surely must be a challenge in the generally Small Elves society. Secondly, for an Elf to become disenchanted is surely devastating - as the nature of most Elves is magic and enchantment. 
 

22 minutes ago, Prokofy Neva said:

Perhaps it's a sign of the coming recession that in RL, I see more Hare Krishna groups out on the street signing and dancing, such as on Union Square, where they had disappeared, even before COVID. But I have never seen them in SL.

Ironically, as a Western Hindu, I don't consider Hare Krishna to be a cult. Yes, if A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada hadn't started the movement, it wouldn't exist in the West. But generally, it was founded on traditional Hindu ideologies. 
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/A._C._Bhaktivedanta_Swami_Prabhupada

[Kalegthepsionicist]

1. misandry cult

2. .misogyny cult

3. heterophobia cult

4. homophobia cult

5. SL - RL separated cult, and

6. miX SL/RL cult.

7 sl is a game cult

8 sl not game cult.

i think there are many knky cult like gor  pop culture worshipper, bdsm

they all cult, because they try to pull you in in their mindset.

 

 

😅

 

 

 

[Love Zhaoying]

55 minutes ago, Kalegthepsionicist said:

1. misandry cult

2. .misogyny cult

3. heterophobia cult

4. homophobia cult

5. SL - RL separated cult, and

6. miX SL/RL cult.

7 sl is a game cult

8 sl not game cult.

i think there are many knky cult like gor  pop culture worshipper, bdsm

they all cult, because they try to pull you in in their mindset.

 

 

😅

 

 

 

Well, then:

9 Furry cult

10 Anti-furry cult

11 Mesh cult

12 Anti-mesh cult

13 Land owner cult

14 Land renter cult

15 Shopping cult

16 Anti-shopping cult

17 Griefer cult

18 Anti-griefer cult

 

[Kalegthepsionicist]

1 minute ago, Love Zhaoying said:

Well, then:

9 Furry cult

10 Anti-furry cult

11 Mesh cult

12 Anti-mesh cult

13 Land owner cult

14 Land renter cult

15 Shopping cult

16 Anti-shopping cult

17 Griefer cult

18 Anti-griefer cult

 

shopper cilt doctrinee

"I must spend at wekend"

[Ice Luv]

Join us.

We have cookies.

[Mollymews]

On 6/11/2022 at 11:18 PM, LottaSinclair said:

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.

 

with this definition then there used to be heaps of them in SL back in the day circa 2007-2010

Groups of hiveminded people running together, with their own agendas on the SL platform. Dishing on the SL resident body, unwanted attention, extreme zealotry, questionable practices and negative characteristics. Linden banhammered them all out of SL.

Edited June 13, 2022 by Mollymews
typs

[Coffee Pancake]

2 hours ago, Kalegthepsionicist said:

 

3. heterophobia cult

4. homophobia cult

 

Care to elaborate a bit more ... 

[Silent Mistwalker]

2 hours ago, Coffee Pancake said:

Care to elaborate a bit more ... 

Please don't encourage him and then quote him. 🙏

[Luna Bliss]

Entering into a relationship with a group is like entering into a relationship with any individual -- the result can be one of the most interesting, mind-blowing and positive experiences of your life, or it can be one of the most horrific. Enter at your own risk.

[Drake1 Nightfire]

On 6/11/2022 at 2:07 PM, Silent Mistwalker said:

I have no idea what you are talking about.

 

On 6/11/2022 at 2:24 PM, Love Zhaoying said:

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

yup.

On 6/11/2022 at 4:45 PM, Rowan Amore said:

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

Good book, decent movie.. Gotta love Clive Barker. 

[Silent Mistwalker]

12 minutes ago, Drake1 Nightfire said:

 

SyFy Channel's versions are still the best. I just couldn't find what I was looking for. There used to be tons of gifs from them, now they seem to be mostly gone. 😞