Why Prevention?

Most people interested in counter-cult activities seem to be, overwhelmingly, people who vent their own frustrations or aim to rescue current cultists.

While those are perfectly fine choices, they are not the goal for this site.

Taking a cue from prevention activities for other undesirable social problems is what we aim to do.  Why?  Because they work.  Evidence, experience, and observation all prove that.

Why prevention?  

• More "bang for your buck".  A prevention activity will usually affect a lot more people than any "rescue cultists" activity ever could.
• It prevents the harm of many rather than stopping harm of a few.
• It's enduring.  While helping one person, or one group of persons,  prevention strategies affect people in future generations.  Once in place, prevention strategies are cost effective and easily maintained.  Helping a small number of individuals is an event rather than a permanent change.

Why do people resist prevention?

• Misunderstood and misapplied concepts of "freedom of religion" and "freedom of speech".  Educating the public and enforcing laws does not impinge on any rights.  Yet many seem to think cults are nothing more than unusual religions or groups who are best left alone to violate rights and laws.
• It's not heroic.  There isn't the glory of rescuing a victim.
• It's not as cathartic.  There usually isn't the emotional release associated with venting anger or getting revenge.
• Myopia.  Some have difficulty conceptualizing an effort that doesn't have immediate results they can see in front of their own eyes.
• There's little opportunity to control or heavily influence individuals.  If you're familiar with counter-cult activists, you know it's true.  There are those who want to rescue a few victims and get them to join a new religion or group.
• They don't get it.  Plain and simple--it's human nature to be more interested in the cure than in the prevention.  How many reality TV shows are there about people who are thin, fit, and eat healthy?  Now, how many reality TV shows are there about people who are heavy and on diets?  Take any social issue you want and ask the same questions.  As short-sighted as this is, Western society spends a lot more time and effort on resolving issues rather than preventing them.

What is prevention?

Effective prevention strategies usually involve the following efforts.  Keep in mind the phrase "environmental strategies".  Remember, as a cult preventionist, you are trying to affect society as a whole to reduce the pool of potential victims and increase people's ability to recognize and resist cult influence.

1. Norms.  This strategy decreases the social acceptability of cults.  Ex-cultists tend to be really good at this if they vocalize concerns and hurts in a productive, sensible, credible manner.  Instead of focusing on the interpersonal conflicts they experienced, they should talk about what was controlling and inappropriate about the group.  This requires the ability to distinguish normal/acceptable from abnormal/unacceptable.  The effective 'norms changer' will need to be healthy enough to make this distinction and have his emotions in check enough to come across as credible vs. disgruntled.
2. Regulations.  This strategy has the potential to affect the most people positively.  It doesn't require individuals to read and agree with a book, to listen to a talk show, etc.  It affects everyone passively.  Regulations could include:
• Laws (i.e., calling the authorities when trespassing laws are violated, asking lawmakers to pass laws protecting healthcare decisions for minor patients)
• Organizational policies (i.e., getting a hospital to stop allowing cult recruitment materials to be placed in its waiting rooms)
• Lawsuits (i.e., financially penalizing cults for breaking laws or committing fraud, in the hopes it will curtail future recruitment activities)
3. Access.  This involves taking reasonable steps to reduce access to positive cult messages  (i.e., getting a private college to ban cult recruitment on campus).  In some cases, this may be accomplished by simply countering the positive message with an accurate one, thus diluting its poison.