Anyone can be convinced to believe anything.

Recently I realized a very important life lesson.  It came to me as a byproduct of my recent train of thought.  Part of what makes it so valuable is how versatile the lesson is, it can apply to many things.

Here is the lesson:  Anyone can be convinced of anything, no matter how crazy the idea.  There are countless examples of this, I will provide a few.  Scientology is an easy pick, it exists as perhaps the greatest modern cult we are aware of.  At it's core, Scientology is a collection of really bad sci-fi concepts that have no business being used to direct anyone's life.

From the outside looking in, it's painfully obvious to any sane, rational person that Scientology is a cult.  A dangerous, unhealthy, despicable cult that accomplishes nothing of value.  So we must beg the question:  Why would anyone join such a group?  Why would celebrities give many thousands of dollars in support of such an obviously fraudulent organization?

And so we get to the driving force behind the lesson: gradual acclimation and one-sided viewpoints.  If you are only exposed to the information provided by the company/organization/person in question, you have limited data with which to make a decision.  And the data you do have available is badly biased.  In addition, the really weird ideas are very gradually introduced to the new members.

The Church of Scientology goes to great lengths to carefully guard the completely insane ideas that are the foundation of it's teachings, and only allow the most committed members access to them.  Of course, many such members have left over the years, and these ideas are well-known today.  With hindsight, the apostates of scientology are quick to point out that they would never have joined if they were aware of how crazy it was to begin with.

Let's explore this concept in broader scope.  Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, FLDS, snake handlers, Heaven's Gate, The Twelve Tribes, Raelism, and many other cults all utilize very similar methods.  They put their best face forward, presenting only the most tame ideas from their ideology.  New members are welcomed into the group, made to feel safe and relaxed as part of a community.  Only after they are emotionally and financially invested in the group are they exposed to the insanity.

What is truly horrifying is the idea of acclimation.  If an idea or concept is hammered home incessantly, eventually it stops sounding crazy and becomes accepted as reality.  For an example of this, we turn to the religion of Christianity.  For many people, Christianity is considered tame and culturally acceptable.  In the US, many people have some connection to some version of this religion.

The asinine and ludicrous ideas taught by christianity are mainly accepted because of acclimation.  It's completely insane to tell someone that they will be punished forever because of a minor infraction committed by a far distant ancestor, without regard to what they have actually done in their life.  But if you speak certain words in a particular order and you mean it, you can not only avoid a fate worse than death, but you will go to a place of eternal reward.

Of course, this is only available to the people who are aware of this limited time offer.  The tribes of savages that exist in remote corners of South America or western Australia have no chance of redemption, since even today they are unaware that a man was tortured to death on a hill in bronze age Palestine.

It doesn't sound so magical when it's put into perspective, does it?  So what exactly is the method of counteracting these methods of indoctrination?  How can we avoid being sucked into some new cult that approaches us with the best face forward?

Here is the solution:  Always listen to the critics.  At the very least, listen to both sides of any argument, statement, idea, company, or group.  Perhaps those people who got caught up in any of the modern cults I have mentioned above would not be there had they simply took the time to listen to the detractors of those groups.

That is not to say that critics are always right.  There are good people, companies, and social groups that have unfair critics.  You must weigh the good with the bad, and make a judgement call.  With the power of the Internet, there is no longer any excuse for being ignorant of the glaringly obvious cults.