Demystifying the cult leader

Cult Leaders are very much the same kind of people with the same agenda. They want something and they will use people to get what they want. They believe it s a power they were "given" by God. I knew about cults but I never knew what made a cult leader and I never knew why they did what they did. The article gives examples of why cult leaders are the way they are. The article says that some common traits that underpin their [cult leaders] aura are narcissism, charm and charisma, lack of guilt and remorse, spiritual abuse, twisting facts for personal gain, pathological liars, authoritarian leadership, undue advantage of their followers, lack of boundaries, use of media and sycophancy, dissenters as enemies, and they use people as assets and objects. The first trait, narcissism, is defined as "selfishness, involving a sense of entitlement, a lack of empathy, and a need for admiration, as characterizing a personality type." They believe they are born to be better than others. Often " ...cult leaders are arrogant and driven and motivated by a spirit of illusionary pride. Eventually, they claim to have power, position and authority that is exclusively God-like." Each trait is very important to understand but I believe being narcissistic is the big 'red flag' for cult leaders. They always think things revolve around them and as stated in the article, they believe they are born better than others. People like Hitler, Mussolini, and Jim Jones were the biggest cult leaders who were also the biggest narcissists. 

While writing this blog post I thought about why people even joined cults in the first place and I started to think if there was a way I would've joined a cult. At the moment I can easily say never in a million years especially seeing the outcomes of so many cults and their followers. I put myself in one of Jim Jones' follower's shoes and I feel like I would've joined his cult. Hear me out, Jim Jones was a cult leader who preached the inclusion of other races and how they should all be united and not divided. He welcomed so many people of color and made it seem like a safe place for people of color especially since he started his cult when segregation was still around. I say I would've joined his cult because it would've been safe for people like me, people like the majority of my peers. There's a little more thought process that goes into why I would've joined his cult but it's so sad to see how people have died because of these horrible leaders.