The term "cult" is used so loosely today and people will deem any group, system or ideology they disagree with as a cult, but in reality a cult has

to meet a set of very specific characteristics. How would you rightly and objectively define a cult and what main characteristics would you ascribe to it? I didn't know what group to put this under, so I just chose culture and race. In the word Culture is cult. CULTure is your operating system and when you go visit another culture, what do you feel? Culture shock, because it's different from the culture you're in. You see, that is using cult loosely and incorrectly.

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ElwoodBlues · M

For me, the key characteristic of a cult is that it convinces its members that all their other sources of info are wrong or lying, and that only the cult has the truth.

There are other characteristics of cults, but to me, an alleged monopoly on the truth is the crucial one.

trollslayer · 46-50, M

@ElwoodBlues Many religions would fall into that category, as would most fascist regimes. But I agree, this is an important characteristic - gathering outside information is discouraged or even prohibited.

GrinNude · 61-69, C

@ElwoodBlues Yes, in fact, when the leader of a well known cult calls global warming a hoax, the cult members accept it as truth in spite of their own sensory perceptions and observations... Ernie