No one really chooses to join a cult; at least not knowingly…
I recently watched the documentary on Synanon, which can be viewed on HBO’s Max streaming service. Some readers may remember a chapter from the “textbook” in Dave Hasz’s Worldview class, the book being How Now Shall We Live? by Charles Colson. I do not really remember the book save for one chapter on Synanon. The story was harrowing and I became glued to this book. In fact, even after 8 years of a real college, I’m pretty sure that this is the only book I thoroughly read and the first of only a handful of textbooks I kept after class, including my books from university. It was a riveting story and boy, let me tell you, I was so relieved that Charles said that the story wasn’t true, suggesting to me that this whole organization was made up as some kind of thought experiment: what if we take groupthink to the extreme?
So imagine my surprise that there is a whole documentary on Synanon. (Actually, there are quite a few documentaries, books, and other media about this particular cult.) I had to do a double take a few times since, at least to me, the lady on the thumbnail looks a lot like Brittany Spears. To my knowledge, she was never a member, but I was still flabbergasted that this place actually existed, let alone, started acting out the narrative I read in the book!
Watching this documentary scared me some because there were aspects of Synanon that were very appealing to me. I hope that a place like Synanon would not work in this day and age, but suppose it could. I truly think that I could find myself bamboozled into joining another cult even after my experience with Teen Mania, but I am getting ahead of myself.
So what is Synanon?
There are better sources, but allow me to give you the SparksNotes version, Synanon started in the 60’s as a pseudo 12-step group for heroin addicts. The heroin epidemic was reaching full swing and there was no place for the addicted people to go and get better. So Charles Dederich set up a circle of couches in some building and gave the people space to kick the habit.
The most prominent feature of Synanon was their Game, which was effectively a no-holds-barred screaming match. The only rules were “No violence and no threats of violence.” Since Charles was an odd guy, there were a lot of recordings and videos of these games. Ultimately, everything would end up getting recorded somehow so you can see how the game was played, but suffice to say, it is an odd way to do group therapy.
The really odd thing though? The program seemed to actually work! I cannot say I am too surprised, as Chuck would describe it, there is some level of catharsis when you relentlessly shout at people. I can imagine that these marginalized addicts had a lot of pent-up emotions as they experienced their addiction, homelessness, and abject poverty feeding the monkey on their back. So it makes sense that it was enough to kick start their recovery. I’m not an addict myself, but I definitely was emotionally constipated, partially in thanks to Teen Mania and one of the first steps to my recovery was finally breaking down in my therapist’s room; the catharsis so palpable that I got a doctor’s note to skip work that day.
Fast forward some time, Chuck decided to turn this into a full-blown care center and actually made a good impact on this little community. The big drive was to see how else the Game could work in some grand series of social experiements, eventually even basing an elementary school on the Game. Yeah, I bet you are imagining that dumpster fire.
Like all good things, though, Synanon too had to come to an end. Synanon lasted decades and had about a dozen different centers but became a madhouse. Everyone shaved their heads, the men got vasectomies (thanks to some wild rant by Chuck) and women got abortions. The school turned into some ROTC from hell and Chuck eventually had enough sway to effectively have a squad of mercenaries to take out opponents of the cult. I definitely recommend the documentary to get the full story because I am leaving so much out.
Okay… This sounds crazy and all, but why is this here on this blog?
Great question! I would argue that it makes sense to examine other cults and see the parallels between Teen Mania and others. Besides, it makes sense to me to highlight recent developments and media surrounding cults, thus my shout-out to the Feet of Clay podcast. But more close to home, watching this documentary kicked up some emotions.
This four episode documentary definitely runs the gamut, almost on a Tiger King level and I glossed over a lot in the previous section. At one point, Synanon became one of many alternative lifestyle communes. This was early on, in the mid-60’s to early 70’s and looked a lot like the run of the mill hippie communes. Everyone gave what they had and they pooled it all together. That’s right, they’re damn, dirty commies!!
As the documentary described the living situation, how children were being raised, and the overall vibe, this place sounded amazing. Now, I will admit that I am a leftist, socialist/communist blah blah blah and this is a place that I would definitely consider to live in.To its credit, Synanon had a great community, at least in the beginning and at face value. They were successful, so much so that they were able to get a lot of donations from different corporations. They had a finger in quite a few pies, which was probably the only way that Synanon was able to function while offering free room and board (and cigarettes).
This got me thinking. Knowing how Synanon ends and how crazy it got, how long would I stick around? BTW Charles Colson actually said that the story was real and typical but he changed the identities of those in the story. Cults always offer something, usually some kind of emotional and/or physical stability. For Synanon, at least at first, it was a place for drug addicts to get better. For other places, it probably involves love bombing, hyping and gassing up new converts so they go all in. For Teen Mania, at least for me, I was sold a bill of goods and told that my relationship with Jesus/God will grow exponentially.
So I would come for the hippie life but what would make me leave? When would the craziness finally ring true? Am I at risk of joining another cult? Perhaps more accurately, could I recognize the red flags early on?
What made you interested in Teen Mania? I imagine that you are thinking about Acquire the Fire or Global Expeditions. Those trips are what put TM on my radar. I also imagine that you are thinking about the various interns you came across and how wonderful or passionate they were. That was the closer for me. I initially thought that the Honor Academy was ridiculous in 7th grade but the interns on my mission trips changed my mind.
So how do people join cults?
I think Bojack Horseman summarizes it succinctly. Acquire the Fire, Global Expeditions, the interns all gave us a pair of rose-colored glasses and it was not until we were already waist deep in the BS that we started seeing the red flags.
Ultimately, it is a process. I think of the metaphor about boiling a frog. If you drop a frog into a pot of boiling water, it will immediately try to escape. However, if you drop a frog in water then heat it up, the frog will remain since it acclimates to the heat. I think cults, abuse of any kind really, work the same way. In fact, I had a similar conversation with my mom when I was in high school about toxic church environments. I think this was in the midst of our second church kicking my family out.
For Synanon, it served a need: drug rehab, or it provided a dynamic living environment: its hippie commune/social experimentation. For Teen Mania, Acquire the Fire and Global Expeditions worked very effectively as make up to cover the ugly details in the Honor Academy. We were promised a lot but were delivered too little. And now, we have droves of former interns deconstructing their cult experience.
