The last couple episodes of \u201cCults\u201d was on the Blackburn cult. This cult was a mother daughter operation with multiple factors contributing to the beginning of this cult, financials being the most prominent of them. The podcast begins with the death of one of May Blackburn\u2019s daughters. This was the first demonstration of the extreme spirituality and mental illness in the Blackburn family. The mother daughter pair then sacrificed 7 puppies and placed them with the corpse waiting over a year for her revival. This extremely creepy beginning serves as a hook to interest the listeners in the episode. Creepy background string music contributes to the dreary mood of this eerie intro. This is a common strategic approach of many different podcasts. The podcast then continues to demonstrate the financial struggles of the pair growing up. Financial obsession along with mental illness combined to serve as the basis for the cult. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Growing up, the Blackburn\u2019s suffered from schizophrenia like symptoms including visual and auditory delusions. The daughter also suffered lots of grief following a series of abusive and unstable relationships involving her mother. These intense relationship hopping led to an extreme craving for wealth and power. The purpose of mentioning the upbringing of most cult leaders is to try and demonstrate a possible reasoning for their actions that can then be compared between many different leaders. It is up to the listeners whether they choose to feel sympathy for them or not.\u00a0 Otis Blackburn, the mother, now had the goal of creating a gold palace for her and her followers along with becoming a self ordained queen. This now became her life goal and her daughter supported her throughout the whole process. After promising divine wealth and immortality, many people became intrigued by her spiritual methods and connection with God. These goals were going to be achieved through the use of the bible. Throughout this religiously motivated cult, children were sexually abused and many were poisoned and killed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Some common themes I have noticed throughout these episodes include a mentally ill \u201cleader\u201d who had an emotionally tough upbringing with a divine\/religious vision for their future with the support of others. This actually aligns fairly accurately with the definition of a cult, \u201ca system of religious veneration and devotion directed toward a particular figure or object.\u201d (Oxford dictionary) Along with these commonalities is the skill of manipulation. Most of these cult leaders are exceptional at manipulating otherwise normal humans into their beliefs and tactics. It is interesting to hear that highly educated people such as doctors commonly get manipulated by these folks.\u00a0 I would like to think that I would never be convinced into something that terrible. The podcasters continue to use intense mood fitting music in the background along with extremely scripted fake humor to keep the listeners intrigued throughout the episode. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Overall, This podcast sparked my interest and succeeded in telling an extremely informational narrative of many different cults throughout history. Although, I thought that the speakers are extremely scripted especially in their communication with each other. It is almost humorous. I would highly recommend this podcast to anybody curious about cult dynamics, the odd recruitment methods, or the psychological background of the leaders.\u00a0 <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Word Count : 539<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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