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Heaven's Gate Suicides and American Culture


Claire.

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What the Heaven's Gate Suicides Say About American Culture

Heaven's Gate — also known as the "UFO cult" — burst into American consciousness 20 years ago this month, when, on March 26, 1997, law enforcement discovered 39 decomposing bodies in a San Diego, California mansion.

Each detail that emerged from the scene stunned a rapt public: Adherents had committed suicide in waves on March 22 and 23, ingesting a lethal mix of barbiturates and alcohol; they lay under purple shrouds, with five-dollar bills and rolls of quarters in their pockets; all wore simple dark uniforms and Nike tennis shoes.

Bizarre as these details may seem, if you actually look at the group's beliefs and history, Heaven's Gate has far more in common with American culture than you might expect.

Read more: Live Science

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It tells me that people are,and always have been, willing to mindlessly do anything because of their beliefs and even the thought of killing themselves and their families apparently poses no obstacle either. In the case of the "Heavens Gate incident,there were very few who balked at this idea of mass suicide and even fewer were able to escape the madness.

From what I gathered, based on a few other articles relating to Heavens Gate, that those who did balk were apparently forced to consume the deadly drink and because they had no means to defend themselves and few to defend them, they felt they had to do what they were ordered.

In short, people have long since been trained to blindly follow orders no matter how repulsive they are. They/we have been trained to be fearful of saying "No!" because we are trained by means of force and threats. This is how we treat our kids, this is how we treat others as well. This mindset is especially apparent in the workplace, if you dare say "No." then you are threatened with the loss of your job and the possibility of being slandered when you attend a interview.

Following orders has always been elevated to some noble status even when those orders are to do the obvious immoral and unethical. The idea being that no one will blame them as they were "just following orders" and that they can magically abdicate any responsibility using that platitude.

It is about fear, largely. Fear of being punished, fear of being the outsider, fear of thinking, fear of doing what you know is right even when everyone tries to tell you that you are wrong simply because it goes against the crowd.

 

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Such a shock that those smart people could ever fall for that U.F.O. cult nonsense! Americans are Christians and we (along with a lot of other foreign religions) know that you go to heaven to be with God and the angels when you die. Or you go to hell. Everybody knows you don't go exploring around the universe in alien (demonic) spaceships! The science just doesn't support that.

(That's sarcasm, of course.) If anything, those brave and sincere souls were trying to escape American culture.

And as an aside: why would an article in "Live Science" need to add a not-so-subtle dig at Trump? I don't care for the man's personality myself but I hardly fear that he will applewhite us all into a mass self-phenobarbitaling.

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I remember this when it was (or just happened) and it was all over the news. And fresh from all of the other things (like Waco, and such), I remember the less of concern for the cultist to a point, because of the victims of Waco and such. (not as violent and there were no children, and pretty much all the cultist left their families instead of bringing them in.) Though, I and what I remember of the feeling of sadness of the cultists and their deaths. :( 

As for it's taken on the attitudes or ideals of American and such at the time, I'm not so sure of that myself. I always have felt that it's just a cult that just rejected what they themselves couldn't handle on a day to day basis, and that is able to live with the times and needed their own religion to keep them 'safe'. 

12 hours ago, Ryu said:

It tells me that people are,and always have been, willing to mindlessly do anything because of their beliefs and even the thought of killing themselves and their families apparently poses no obstacle either. In the case of the "Heavens Gate incident,there were very few who balked at this idea of mass suicide and even fewer were able to escape the madness.

From what I gathered, based on a few other articles relating to Heavens Gate, that those who did balk were apparently forced to consume the deadly drink and because they had no means to defend themselves and few to defend them, they felt they had to do what they were ordered.

Yes, I remembered that. I also remember interviews of those who were able to get out, or escape, or forced out, and told their stories. It seemed to be a different story from their perspective from what I gathered the the collective ideal of those who stayed and perished. It seemed like the same thing, that yes, emotional and mental manipulation. I guess that I felt such sadness and anger at the deaths and violence that the family and the children who died at Waco, that I felt more of that it's not as shocking to me. I think in the end, I was probably numb of it all. 

12 hours ago, Ryu said:

In short, people have long since been trained to blindly follow orders no matter how repulsive they are. They/we have been trained to be fearful of saying "No!" because we are trained by means of force and threats. This is how we treat our kids, this is how we treat others as well. This mindset is especially apparent in the workplace, if you dare say "No." then you are threatened with the loss of your job and the possibility of being slandered when you attend a interview.

Following orders has always been elevated to some noble status even when those orders are to do the obvious immoral and unethical. The idea being that no one will blame them as they were "just following orders" and that they can magically abdicate any responsibility using that platitude.

It is about fear, largely. Fear of being punished, fear of being the outsider, fear of thinking, fear of doing what you know is right even when everyone tries to tell you that you are wrong simply because it goes against the crowd.

You know, I often feel that is some form of thinking and behavior that have always gone on. (In a sense, gets me :angry: ) So, I often feel needs to be addressed, or was minimally addressed at the time when these cult tragedies occurred. ( Of course, didn't do much, I feel.) 

2 hours ago, Perdurabo said:

Such a shock that those smart people could ever fall for that U.F.O. cult nonsense! Americans are Christians and we (along with a lot of other foreign religions) know that you go to heaven to be with God and the angels when you die. Or you go to hell. Everybody knows you don't go exploring around the universe in alien (demonic) spaceships! The science just doesn't support that.

(That's sarcasm, of course.) If anything, those brave and sincere souls were trying to escape American culture.

At first, I thought you were serious at the idea that everyone are all Christian in America. I know that it's a great number of Christians in America, but there are many groups of other beliefs and Atheists. Being legally a secular society, it's pretty much feeling that they have their comforting outlook of what their religions are for them, at the same time, going on about the practical day by day situations. (Then I caught this last line in this bit of your post.)

As, I felt and said, there will always be those who need a tether from being overwhelmed by life, and yes fall for what's at their reach at the time. I remember at the time, at least they didn't bring their families and children into this. 

2 hours ago, Perdurabo said:

And as an aside: why would an article in "Live Science" need to add a not-so-subtle dig at Trump? I don't care for the man's personality myself but I hardly fear that he will applewhite us all into a mass self-phenobarbitaling.

I don't think a mass of what ever, but there seems to be a mass divide in ideals at the moment, I wonder how many will give up and then more cults catch the world's attention. Although, I can understand the :o at that. 

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Let us not forget Waco, Texas and the Branch Davidians.  

Edited by Totah Dine
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10 minutes ago, Totah Dine said:

Let us not forget Waco, Texas and the Branch Davidians.  

That was murder not suicide. 

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1 hour ago, Farmer77 said:

That was murder not suicide. 

I believe it was a combination of both.  The end result was the same.  Religious cult.  Charges of abuse.  Charismatic leader didn't want to give up his power or go to prison.  People died.  

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I actually owned a copy of the recruitment tape back in the 90's. Messed up stuff.

Warning insanity ahead.

 

 

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Who is still paying to keep the HEaven's Gate web site up? And apparently unchanged

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