Heavens Gate, The Manson Family, The Peoples Temple, and many more… Cults have been confounding the minds of the mainstream media for decades. But why?
To start, we first have to define what a cult is. A cult is a group of people bound by a shared belief system that deviates significantly from the societal norm. What separates cults from other groups is their totalitarian nature, where the leader holds absolute power, followers display unwavering loyalty, and critical thinking is often discouraged. These groups typically isolate members from the outside world, leading to extreme control over their beliefs and practices.
From the suicides in Heaven’s Gate to the mass murder orchestrated by Charles Manson, cults have captured public attention in ways that few other phenomena can. These stories aren’t just about mind control or the end of the world, they’re about understanding how ordinary people can fall under the spell of such extreme ideologies. This question is at the heart of the cultural obsession, why do we find these stories so compelling, and what does this say about society?
Documentaries like Wild Wild Country, The Vow, and Keep Sweet Pray and Obey have taken audiences deep into the workings of infamous groups, giving an unsettling look at manipulation, control, and violence. These stories captivate society because they allow a look into lives that seem utterly foreign to our own, making people grapple with the psychology of both leaders and followers. As people watch, they search for answers to why someone would willingly surrender their autonomy, morality, or even their life to a belief system so far outside the mainstream. But the obsession goes beyond academic curiosity, it’s about the emotional draw of witnessing human behavior pushed to its absolute extremes.
In today’s cultural battleground, this fascination has been increased by social media. Cults are now part of pop culture in a way they’ve never been before. TikTok, particularly, has given rise to a new breed of true crime creators who break down cult cases in quick, digestible formats that appeal to younger audiences. The viral nature of the platform amplifies stories, allowing people to binge-watch cult-related content in a way that mirrors our appetite for drama, conflict, and moral dilemmas. We share, tweet, and retweet videos of “cult breakdowns” or clips from popular documentaries, creating a digital feedback space that further intensifies the collective obsession. It’s not just passive consumption, it’s active participation in a growing cultural dialogue. People often share their theories on cult dynamics, speculate about the mental states of followers, and try to make sense of the relationships that exist within these groups.
In this age of rapid information-sharing, social media has blurred the line between entertainment and education, giving rise to a new type of voyeurism. It’s not enough to just watch the documentary anymore; people want to engage with it. There’s something deeply human about this impulse. In a world where we often feel disconnected from one another and increasingly alienated by the overload of information and narratives, cults represent a stark contrast. They are a perfect example of extreme social cohesion, where the bonds between members are so strong that they are willing to follow their leader into the most dangerous of situations.
But this growing cultural and social media obsession isn’t without its downsides. There’s always a risk that we may overlook the real human suffering that lies beneath these stories. Social media can often reduce these complex, painful realities into mere entertainment, stripping away personal tragedies and reducing entire lives to viral moments.
In many ways, the rise of social media cult fascination mirrors the very dynamics that make cults so compelling. Just as a cult leader uses a strong, charismatic presence to captivate followers, social media platforms use algorithms to create the addiction of engagement, making it difficult for us to look away from the next scandal, the next true crime story, the next cult leader to be deconstructed. Our attention is constantly being drawn to the extreme, feeding into the very cycle that keeps the obsession alive.
Ultimately, the obsession with cults reveals as much about the need for understanding, connection, and entertainment as it does about the power of manipulation and control. People may be drawn to them out of curiosity or a desire for entertainment, but we must be careful not to lose sight of the real lives affected by these situations, especially as social media continues to fuel and amplify this obsession.
