When many of us imagine ofcults , we think of the more than 900 followers of Jim Jones , who willingly committed mass self-annihilation by drinking nitril - laced Kool - Aid simply because he instructed them to do so . Or perchance even the members ofHeaven ’s Gatewho go in another mass suicide trying to catch an extraterrestrial spacecraft they believed was following the Hale - Bopp comet .
But a new kind of cultus might be issue — one that uses technology to gain believer . Stuff They Do n’t Want You To Know hosts Ben Bowlin , Noel Brown and Matt Frederick discuss the specifics of one of these emerging techno - cults and its leader in one of their latest podcasts , A Digital Cult ? The Strange Case of Bentinho Massaro .
First , allow ’s get down with what make a cult . They are n’t all that different fromorganized faith , in many ways , but there are key conflict . In a destructivecultenvironment , the loss leader oftenuses psychological tricksto gain pure controller over his following ' behaviors and action . Often , cult leaders use verbal and physical contumely , or sexual coercion , to gain sinful levels of ascendency .
In a cult , it ’s important for the leader to strip away a follower ’s signified of self and exchange that with a individual who worships ( and obeys ) them — above all else . So connections with crime syndicate or friends outside of the cult circuit are discourage and many times outright forbidden . Failure to follow the dominion means followers are ostracized from the cult — and all its promise for a better life — forever .
Today , a cult might seem harder to draw out off ; after all , people are so connected to information and each other through the internet and social mass medium . It make it much more hard to isolate someone enough to thoroughly brainwash them . But savvy , would - be gurusare finding ways to apply that technology to their advantage .
TakeBentinho Massaro , for example . This " Tech Bro Guru , " as he ’s been dubbed in the spiritualist , has four website dedicated to his teachings , active YouTube , Facebook and Instagram score , and apply WhatsApp and Facebook Live to touch base to his viewers and stream content free online . And he does n’t stop there . Massaro says he wants to build an entire city for his crystallise people — a metropolis that will havevirtual realitytechnology and anastral projectionstimulator .
It ’s exciting stuff and nonsense — the kind of promises that make people think he really does have a imagination for the future tense . That he is perhapsof the future . Or timeless . And that ’s what he wants hoi polloi to recollect ; that he ’s a timeless entity , only taking on human form for a poor period of time of time so he can save humanity and aid us develop .
It did n’t vocalise bad — at first . Massaro basically preach that everyone should think positively , apply theLaw of Attractionto get what they want and manifest their dreams . Pretty run - of - the - mill , inspirational - poster type material . Until he start out to make more and more follower . He has around 300,000 now , and his beliefs have started to sound a trivial crazy . Now he claims to havesupernatural powers . He professes to have the mogul of psychokinesis and says he can moderate the conditions with his psyche .
He also claims he has the ability to be physically in two places at once — bilocation — and the ability to teleport . Massaro aver that humanity has already established slave colonies on Mars , that we will meet aliens ( and they ’ll look just like they do in the movies ) , and that we have n’t needed fogy fuels for 80 geezerhood because the Nazis won World War II . Um , OK .
He also claims his highly enlightened body politic absolves him of all responsibility for his natural process . ( He screams insults at anyone he wants , saying it ’s " out of love , " and truly enlighten people would recognise that . )
But speculative of all , Massaro ’s begun forcing his follower to " dry out tight , " direct them not to run through or fuddle anything other than grape juice — for months at a meter . Many believers have complained about chronic wellness problem from these fasts , yet they continue to subject .
These are the kinds of behavior that begin to make Massaro’sTrinfinity Academylook to outsiders like a furor , but on its face , it look a lot like a startup . That ’s because many of the same principle hold . Does Massaro and Trinfinity Academy mark the arrival of cultus 2.0?Listen to the entire podcastto hear Matt , Ben and Noel explain how Massaro has used all the strategy of a inauguration technical school business to plunge his platform and his academy , and to levy an ground forces of believer . He certainly is the first — but definitely wo n’t be the last .
