The Wave – Background Info continued
CULTS
Cult (noun)
A group of people with a devoted attachment to a person, idea or activity.
JONESTOWN MASSACRE
 Jones was originally a church leader in the US, and unlike most cult leaders, was popular in the
community because of his integrationist ideas
 Developed a cult and moved to Guyana in South America
 Set up ‘Jonestown’, which they considered the “purest communist society in the world”
 Targeted those who were insecure and people with little direction
 People would work 12 hour days, six days a week, and would then be encouraged to watch short
propaganda films showing America to be a “capitalist villain” and singing the praises of communist
leaders such as Robert Mugabe, Kim Il Sung (Korea) and Joseph Stalin
 Jones convinced his followers that CIA pigs were coming to destroy Jonestown, and that their only
options were to (1) attempt to flee to the Soviet Union; (2) commit "revolutionary suicide" by
drinking poisoned Kool-Aid; (3) stay in Jonestown and fight the purported attackers or (4) flee into
the jungle.
 After increased suspicious deaths in and around Jonestown, Guyanan and US investigators began
closing in on the town over several months.
 Jones convinced his followers to commit “revolutionary suicide” on November 18, 1978, and the FBI
soon discovered 909 bodies after the mass suicide - the largest such event in modern history and
the largest single loss of American civilian life in a non-natural disaster until the events of
September 11, 2001.
HITLER & NAZI GERMANY
 Hitler was the leader of Nazi Germany
 Hitler started WW1 by invading Poland
 Hitler manipulated the German people during a depression (following WW1)
 Nazi ideals targeted post-WW1 German anger and frustration
 Nazi ideals initially seemed to bring together a sense of German identity
 Hitler began a ‘breeding programme’ in Norway to create a super-race (one of the results of this
breeding program later became a member of ABBA)
 Hitler committed suicide in his bunker once he knew he was defeated
STALIN & COMMUNIST RUSSIA
 The Soviet Union was a vast country
 Communist Russia was involved in the Cold War with capitalist nations including the US
 Stalin eliminated difference through force
 Stalin sent millions of Russians to Siberian work camps as punishment for speaking out against his
regime
MOONIES AND OTHER CULTS
 Moonies is a derogatory term for members of the Unification Church, based on the name of church
founder Sun Myung Moon, their charismatic leader.
 Moonies target lonely people, those without a sense of identity
 Moonies often approach people at airport arrival lounges, those who are not being met by anyone
 Moonies and other cults brainwash their members to all think and act the same way
 Cults provide a sense of identity and security to people who do not have these things in their lives
 Because they set about to convince other people that the way they think is right, cults are similar
in some ways to missionaries
MCDONALDS & OTHER MULTI-NATIONAL BRANDS MARKETING / STAFF TRAINING
 Use national figures (such as sportspeople) to advertise their product
 Advertising is misleading (claims to be healthy)
 Marketing is pitched at attaining a lifestyle through their product
 Staff are trained in systems to attain uniformity, not to think for themselves
LINDISFARNE COLLEGE…
Differences and similarities between Lindisfarne and a cult: