As I read the three chapters, I tried to figure out how they all connected to one another and make my own theory on how the readings would be interconnected. Perhaps the wise and charismatic leaders of cults are able to attract various members because they are able to attract members that are either out casted or previously humiliated by a prior event by uniting them under one cause. Afterwards, the group would be conducted in a way that catered to the way that majority of the cult wanted in order for the leader to keep their members. The violence or extreme that the cult chose to take would then be decided by the leaders, as they are in charge with the degree of a cult’s potential for violence.

I chose this theory because cults should be judged upon its members rather than its leaders and that’s what the readings seemed to follow towards. The leader would have to be intelligent, since rhetoric that includes messages for control would be quite hard to pull off. Likewise, members who lack critical thinking skills are the best candidates for members of a cult. In a way, a cult is similar to a strong shepherd leading a weak flock of feeble-minded sheep. Yet in chapters six and seven, the members are not sheep, but rather a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This is because many members desire revenge and had similar humiliation experiences. Some have even experienced signs of paranoia and wish harm to their invisible tormentors. Yet most of them have a burning lust of vengeance for the individuals who have given humiliation and rejection. This is where a cultic charismatic leader comes in – they are able to use conversion to ease the member’s fragile outer state of mind and to give them a cause for them to use their inner violent tendencies on. I believe this is what will be explored upon in class when we watch the movie Jonestown.