Reality cracking

Well, this is only a first attempt, yet it touches a very interesting field, that badly needs a good reversing. Anyone else to follow on this with even more conrete reversing examples? For all those among you interested in ideological/religious reversing, I would advice reading <predator>'s comments on an essay by Curious George.
Enjoy now this essay by Joa, a master of compression algorhitms reversing (see the papers section of my site) that's now trying his hand at the fascinating reality cracking project.

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Hello, hello, this is Joa ([email protected]) again. This time i thought 
about an essay about one of the greatest menaces mankind encounters today: 

                     SECTS CRACKING, A FIRST ATTEMPT

What is it that makes people join sects? And are they really happy? What about 
ex-members? What about all the terrorizing? 
Are there sects which are practically good and could/should be joined?


Well, for all of you capable of reading german you should search Deja News 
for my comments on $cientology on the german newsgroup 
de.soc.weltanschauung.scientology. Especially the link to my 
Frequently Avoided Question section on one of my friends sites (charlie) is 
worth a visit.

I thought, $cientology would be something special, something so competent, it 
was worth a stalking session. But to my disappointment $cientology has much  
less own specials as a sect as expected. From then on i analyzed some other 
sects (Mormons, Jehova's Witnesses) and came up with some interesting 
similarities. Although you crackers+ and realitycrackers+ will be immune to  
the (sometimes  not so) subtle attacks of sects, i think knowledge of this  
kind has never harmed anyone.


What are sects? From my point of view (not necesserily a lexicon's view) a  
sect is a group of people united under an aristocratic hierarchy. Only one, 
sometimes a couple of, guru(s), proclaiming to be struck with the ultimate 
knowledge of life, death, the universe and the rest (namely 42 ;), collect 
people like fishermen collect fish. In a lot of cases those gurus are 
charismatic and of course this charisma comes from their ultimate knowledge. 
Sometimes the followers will have to live in the area around the guru,  
sometimes they have to wear certain clothes (Bagwahn). But in every case a 
person infected with a sect will or has to to something to show the rest of  
the world that (s)he is a proud member of ???. Sometimes these sects will get 
so public, that they become state-religions (like the christian religion). 
Here we have a case where a sect has become so powerful that it's title 
changes from sect to religion.


What do sects want? 
  More members and your money. End of story. 


What do sects give their members?
  At first - some love-bombing, some respect, some basic teachings of spiritual 
  techniques. 
  Then - after the first experiences, when the real knowledge of the guru is at 
  it's end - only empty promises. Nothing more.


What is it that makes people join sects? From some observations i drew the 
conclusion that there are only a few reasons why a person joins a sect:

    - one is born into a sect     
    - one's relationship-partner is in the sect 
    - one wants to do something good 
    - one is despaired due to some personal problems 
    - one feels alone 
    - others (e.g. curiosity)

  A good rule of thumb is: the easier it is to join a sect, the more 
    difficult it is to flee from it.

  The most told reason is still the personal problems. Not being attractrive 
  enough, not being rich enough, not being loved enough, not being public 
  enough, and so on are the most told reasons why people join sects. 
  Because one doesn't see a perspective and has no ideas on one's own, sooner 
  or later a visit to a library or an accidental visit from a body-router 
  will happen. When then the victim tries to read thru all these "Help 
  yourself within 21 days" books, the battle is already lost. 

    "Oh, let me help you. Once i was in a situation like you. 
      But i was lucky. One helped me out of this. And i think i can help you!"

  No matter how clichee-like this sounds, phrases like this are still in use. 
  When one reads thru all those consulting companies ads and re-reads what i 
  just wrote it's not difficult to assume a (correct) connection between 
  consulting companies and sects. Be careful when you start to work and some 
  manager is going to some "communication shop" and after return he doesn't 
  seem to be himself anymore. In your life you have exactly one freedom: Be a 
  stalker or be a victim. It's up to you. Being a cracker sharped your 
  analyzing skills. Now use them. For every personel problem there will be a 
  personel solution. No outstanding ready-made solution will solve exactly  
  your problems. 

  But, ah, what about when you want to do something good? Like in the movie 
  "The Devil's Advocate" with Keanu Reeves? Especially in the end, the devil 
  has won one round. The urge to be good has some traces of vanity on it. 
  Imagine you come to a person doing only good things to other people. 

  "Oh, let me help you. I can do this for you".

  "Don't you want to be like this? Being good is soooooo great..."

  "Do you want to be as good as me? I can give you an address where people 
  like me have regular meetings. Oh, no, nothing monetary. Just a couple of 
  friends meeting and talking. Do you want to visit us sometime?.You can be 
  like me (a brainless zombi)..."

  It's incredible, isn't it? And the cloaking with the good deeds has some   
  advantages for a sect: One can't be accused of terrorizing persons, because 
  all publicity actions are pushed to the limit of ridiculness. Everybody has 
  to know that one is sooooo good that it hurts.

    Feeling alone is also one reason for many people in our cold emotionless   
  society to join a sect. Feeling alone makes one depressive and watching 
  people being happy in a community wakes the urge to join them. 


What happens when you join a sect? 
The fatal trap snaps when it's (nearly) too late: In the beginning all rookies 
are bombed with love and happiness. This makes the sect symapthic to the 
victim. After a while the sect starts to ask the victim for a little share ("We 
have our costs, you know") and the victim spends happily money for his 
happy-maker. Then the indoctrination starts. 

    With some basic psychic manipulation tricks the victim's conscious state  
    is changed a few times. Afterwards the victim is convinced to have found 
    the only way to happiness. This leads to more thankfulness. SNAP.

    With love and community one is convinced that the outside world is evil  
    and that there are many persons trying to disrupt the community. 
    The victim is asked what it wants to do to maintain the community. 
    Maybe some unpaid standing in some shopping miles with a community-own 
    press crap? SNAP.

    The victim is depraved of all personal things ("you don't need this here")
    and some heavy brainwashing happens. Doing only one thing for weeks, 
    sleep-deprevation, drugs, a lot of sex, not much too eat - breaking all 
    routines of life is the main goal. Afterwards the victim will feel 
    strange. 
    And with all strange feelings they are at first rated positively. 
    "See, my child? Now you have successfully evaded all worldly stress. 
    Now go into the world and spread my word. (And give me your money for 
    my 20th rolls royce)." SNAP.

    The victim can - finally - do what he/she wanted to do for his/her whole 
    life: Fuck around the clock. Who wouldn't want to join a sect where you 
    could have sex with whoever you want? However, you want it, whenever you 
    want it? ("Thank you, master, thank you! How may i, unworthy one, repay  
    you my just-won freedom?") SNAP.

    There are of course a lot other mechanisms to make a victim addicted to  
    the sect. In most cases something is done to the victim, the victim 
    feels good and wants some more... SNAP.

  Beware. Real spiritual knowledge is freely available in every older 
  non-religion (like wicca, some pagan stuff, in the celtic/druid corner, the 
  indian stuff, etc.) 
  When you have to pay for something or have to visit some courses - you are 
  definitively on the wrong track!


Are sect-members really happy?
  Well, from what i learned from ex-members of some sects - no. The human being 
  is a hell of trickster when it comes to pretend things. In the first time 
  they could be happy because of the change of routine in their life. But after 
  some months there is no step ahead. No visions anymore. Nothing. The new 
  lifestyle becomes routine. But what a costly one. Time and money leave the 
  victim faster than it can say "Thanks, master". But because only very few 
  people will be able to admit to themself that they betrayed themself or 
  have been betrayed they stay in the sect - in the hope of a further   
  enlightment in the future; an enlightment, that will never happen.
  


How do i recognize a sect-(wo)man?

  Some points:

  They smile. They smile all along. And all the time. No matter what you 
  tell them, they smile. This is based on the premise that smiling at you 
  will make you also smile after some time. And how could you be angry or 
  critical with a person YOU suddenly smile at, hm? You can check this out 
  with a good friend. 
  Just tell him to smile at you. When you finished laughing analyze his face. 
  Observe the muscles. Do you see it? Yes, some nerves don't obey the will. 
  This leads to a more mask-like face-expression.
  Something is not quite right with the smile. BTW, you will see this kind of 
  smile all the time in the ads. Sometimes it's called "plastic-smile". Now 
  you know why...

  Everything is so great. It's just wonderful. Just like Christmas, Eastern,   
  Birthday and Armaggeddon together ;) 
  
  Their gurus have superhuman healing powers ("Oh, no. What the press writes 
  about us, is totally wrong. Our healer has alreay healed 10 million people 
  from AIDS. Yes, you can check this in the newspapers What? Oh, no. Not in a 
  normal newspaper. But in our actual newspress...").

  Everyone except them lies. Ex-Members are in the same lineup as Hitler, 
  Saddam Hussein and Caligula. Deadly terrorists, envying the "community" the 
  success. Only the "community" has the one and only truth. 
  Someday i will give it a try and invite some hard-core sect-members for a 
  teaparty and record the following discussion. But maybe i'd have to call 
  the police afterwards because of a sudden mass murdering in my garden ;-)

  The speech patterns and phrases change also. 
  A lot of sect-members on mission are trained in a kind of sell-a-thing 
  process. You'll notice some patterns like: 
  - Not letting you completely speak out your sentence 
  - Answering your question with a sentence that doesn't belong to the topic 
  - Answering your questions with a counter-question
  - Confirming all your statements till the point of ridiculness 
  - Being mostly unable to transport or understand irony, sarcasm, cynism 
  - (bible-specialized) Being able to recitate nearly the whole bible thus 
    enabling them to read something contextless from the bible to nearly 
    every topic possible. 
    My defence: The Apocryphes. 
    Especially the books about the nephilim (Jubilee and Enioch). 
    Here are some stories not known to most bible-freaks. Beat them at their 
    own game. 
  - Being unable to accept other attitudes
  - Being unable to prove something from a neutral point of view 
  - Expressions and phrases are formulated in an axiom-way:
    "Our community IS the most friendly of the world"
    "We ARE the fastest growing church on this planet"
    "There CAN'T be any doubt about that"
    "The world IS just 5000 Years old!"
    Questioning these phrases leaves them as what they are: just hot air.
  - "You don't have full control of all your powers because you have problems 
    that hinder you from experiencing all your powers."
    What a crap. Problems let you grow stronger and are the obstacles to be 
    jumped over to reach higher levels of inner strength. If man has no 
    problems he will create some for himself.
  - "Oh, god wants us to live our lifes here and he will judge our deeds later 
    in heaven. Then we will finally be happy!"
    Oh yeah. The old Suffer-Now-Be-Happy-Later-Story. Give all you have to the 
    sect, coz it doesn't matter coz your life is crap per se and your only hope 
    is to stay in our "community" coz than you will live happily and forever 
    coz i say so coz i'm right coz QWER%�"R��A from the planet &E&"��P�#D gave 
    me enlightment and that's why i'm so full of energy - i need another Rolls 
    Royce or i burst ;). Beware of those circular reasonings. They are not 
    connected to reality and are only logical within themselfs.
  - and well, yes, some others


Are there sects which are practically good and could/should be joined?
  Not that i knew of any. Practically all religions and sects have one 
  Commandment in common: 
    Though shalt not ask questions!!!
  If you do, you will be punished for your blasphemic behaviour. No whys or 
  whens or ifs. Just do as i say (and not as i do). Sad story, this.

  Real spiritual knowledge is kind of anti-religious as there is no guru, no 
  i-know-it-all-master. You'll recognize immediately the difference, once you 
  investigated in this.


Can one have fun with sects? 
Despite the evil and destructing power of sects, yes. Humor and ridiculness is 
a weakpoint in all sects. In bible-specialized sects the theory that god is a 
communist is always good fun (you know, when the final time has come and 
everybody will have his own land and will have everything you need to live and 
a big community and bla bla bla. Sounds like communism to me). Especially 
Jehova's Witnesses are acting allergic to this theory. Just let them tell you 
what will happen after the final time and then confront them with this theory. 
Ah, that face... 

Every sect takes itself to serious. Analyze this mechanism, localize the 
weakspot and reverse the arguments. Every (i really mean every) sect has 
logical faults. And a lot of them. That's why most sects want you not to buy 
newspapers anymore. ("All you need to know is taught to you by our holy 
allknowing master..."). Most logical faults are connected with their DOs and 
DON'Ts. 



If someone is interested how ALL sects and religions work, read Frank Herbert's 
"Dune" series. It's worth it. Especially the third book.

This was not written to hurt someone's religious feelings, just to plant the 
seed of doubt ]:->

All right ,

Bye


Joa

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