Over the course of the last few weeks, we have been learning about the major events that occurred over the decades in the 20th century. Starting with the 60’s, we learned about the hippie movement, impact of drugs, and the new form of rock and roll. All of those were extremely interesting and were enjoyable to learn more about. The following Friday, a few students were tasked with the job of diving deeper into one of the topics and giving a brief presentation on it. This was followed with some discussion questions where the rest of the class contributed their thoughts, opinions, other questions, and connections.
When it was my turn to present, the general topic was the 70’s. One of the important events we learned about was cults and crime. This topic was thrilling for me, which may be why I chose to study criminology next year at SFU. Unfortunately, someone else had already taken the topic, but I managed to get them to split the topic with me, since it was a pretty large one. This left me with researching more about the significance and rise of cults in the 1970’s. Also, the impact they had, by being vocalized through media, on the world we know today. 
Cults have been around many years, although, they were not brought to the attention of the overall public and media until the 1970’s. A rise of crime had begun after the deterioration of the hippie movement in the 60’s. Many young people were lost and unable to find a place in society after rebelling for so long. This allowed for many criminal minded people to arise and lure people in to a new, “better”, society.
Below I have linked my keynote presentation and script I used where I better explained what it means to be a cult, and a dangerous cult, the effect these had on the people at the time, and na example of one of the most well known cults, Peoples Temple.
What is a cult?
The definition of a cult is a group that devoutly follows a person, place, or thing. Usually they are seen as unorthodox by society. It’s leaders generally use unethical and manipulative methods of persuasion and control to further the goals of the group. 
Not all cults can be dangerous, however we portray the name cult as deadly to society. The three primary characteristics of a destructive cult are a charismatic, living leader who increasingly becomes an object of worship, a process of brainwashing and persuasion, and economic, sexual, and other exploration of group members by the leader.
Why did the 70’s have so many cults?
A cult must appeal to some certain sense of euphoria. Someone must have the desire to “transcend” their day-to-day lives to something more meaningful. These kinds of people will invariably be people who are having trouble “making it” under normal circumstances. People who are lonely, people who feel alienated spiritually or socially, people who are less financially well-off. These were the people who were apart of the hippie movement in the 60’s.
The social upheavals in the 60s had a lot to do with people subsequently searching for some kind of Utopian belief system. It was the demise of the hippy subcultures of the 60s. People getting older and having different priorities, needs, etc… made some more susceptible to these kinds of “alternative” faiths or what have you.
We also see other areas over the decade that point to a rejection of traditional institutions, like open marriages/swinging. The flower children were growing up and bringing their desire to try new things with them.
Example:
The Peoples Temple origins were tied to Haight-Ashbury and the Summer of Love — the Peoples Temple attracted many idealists who were looking for alternatives to the constraints and shortcomings of contemporary American society.
In 1955, a 24-year-old reverend rented a small building in a racially-mixed section of Indianapolis. With a group of 20 followers, he founded a religious group called Wings of Deliverance, after leaving his position as reverend of the Laurel Street Tabernacle because of the congregation’s resistance to a racially-mixed church. A year after its founding, Wings of Deliverance was renamed Peoples Temple. The Temple was known in Indianapolis for its social activism and for the services it provided for society’s disadvantaged. Rev. Jim Jones himself served as a model for the Temple’s commitment to societal equality. They eventually relocated to Guyana to separate themselves from the rest of society. 
The events at the agricultural project Jonestown on November 18, 1978 have been described in two different terms: as the “Jonestown suicides” and as the “Jonestown massacre.” Nonetheless, the mass suicides were decidedly a mass murder, enacted through the use of psychological exploitation instead of physical force. As the leader of the religious group Peoples Temple, Reverend Jim Jones was responsible for the psychological massacre of his followers because of the manipulative means he used to demoralize and control them.
During my presentation I asked three discussion questions. The first being, “Do you think the rise of cults would have been as vocalized without the hippie movement from the 60s?”
Most people when asked this agreed and said that cults wouldn’t have been as vocalized. It was a fairly simple question as I had previously given a point earlier in the presentation stating that a lot of the cult members were those who were lost, outcasted from society after being apart of the hippie movement.
Once my next question was asked, “Do you think cults should be banned/made illegal?”, many hands shot up in the air. They debated that yes they think they should be illegal, as long as they are a threat to society. In the past, some religions have started off as cults, and in fact, some religions today can be categorized as cult like. Especially if you devoutly follow them. For the most part, people agreed they should be illegal, although it would almost impossible to do so as many can and would continue underground.
My final question was “Are cults any worse than the brainwashing that happens from our parents and society?” Unfortunately, we were cut short on time with this one so not everyone got to share their opinion. However, many people had very different opinions on this. Most agreed that of course cults are much worse, although I don’t necessarily think that. Yes I agree that cults can be very dangerous, but the brainwashing is not much different then what we are told. We only know what we do is right because we are told so. This is the same for those in the cults. They are told something is one way, so they believe that to be true. The only difference is the majority of our parents are not teaching us potentially harmful or dangerous things.
Overall, I believe my presentation went very well. People seemed interested in the topic and were willing and ready to share their thoughts. I am also proud of myself for responding back to some people’s points with my own thoughts.