In The Lucifer Effect, we read about a man named Jim Jones who was able to influence more than 900 of his followers to either kill their friends and family or commit suicide in masses. What was interesting about this was the fact that this man was able to have power over so many people who had minds of their own, but still bent to his will. How was this man able to have such a huge influence on these peoples' lives?
What allows someone to have a wide range of control over a large amount of people at once? It is said that his methods of inducing obedience in his followers included warping reality, created lies, false analogies and ideas that appealed to the people whom he was talking to in his speeches. Additionally, there were reports of his followers referring to Jones as "Dad", which would mean that he had made a sense of family between him and his followers, contributing to their obedience factor to him. Jones' ability to influence people through twisting words and creating false senses of reality definitely ensured that his followers would abide to his will, similar to Adolf Hitler and the Nazi party. What really allows people to have full control over large masses of others?
I agree that he creating false senses of reality among these people, and manipulated them into worshiping him. That is very interesting that his followers called him "Dad". I agree that he did this to make their community feel like a family. I also believe that he had his followers call him Dad so they would view him as a parental or authoritative figure, which would make it easier for him to control them and tell them what to do.
ReplyDelete