Spike wrote:
>The cult thing. Why not just *be* a cult? What is sooo baaad
>about just being a cult? Own it! If someone accuses us of being
>a cult, why dont we just say, OK, you caught us, we are a cult,
>we admit it. Why not? spike
Well, not to burst your bubble (or lightbulb), but the problem is with the
connotations of the word itself. Most folks (myself included)automatically
construe cults as being "bad things"...legions of mindless followers
carrying candles, chanting senseless hymns and wearing velvet shrouds. The
actual Webster's definition is 1) "...system of religious worship...rites
and ceremonies;" and 2) "A group that devotes itself to or venerates a
person, ideal, fad etc." The second description is somewhat apt (though it
could be applied to anything from perverse sects to little league baseball
teams) but it is the first description that enters one's mind.
As Corwyn Alambar said in his "Raping the Planets" post last week, we need
to avoid associations with terms that are commonly viewed as negative in
the public eye, lest we become refugees. In effect, calling Extropianism a
cult would be both untrue as well as cause very serious repercussions to
our future credibility.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
E. Shaun Russell Extropian, Musician, ExI Member,
e_shaun@uniserve.com Owner of NWExtropians list
==================== http://www.egroups.com/group/NWExtropians
Hear my music at: http://www.mp3.com/eshaunrussell
Read my poetry at: http://www.therecord.net/e_shaun
--------------------------------------------------------------------
<K I N E T I C I Z E Y O U R P O T E N T I A L>
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Mon Oct 02 2000 - 17:33:46 MDT