Cult expert
Steve Hassan has developed the four-pronged BITE Mind
Control Model as a yardstick in determining whether a group
qualifies as a cult. BITE stands for (i) Behavior
Control, (ii) Information Control, (iii) Thought
Control, and (iv) Emotional Control.
Below are the BITE criteria.
The ones I experienced at BoJo are
in red.
Some of the others may also apply, but I've only
reddened
the ones I personally observed.
I.
Behavior Control
1. Regulation of individual's physical reality (some)
a. Where, how and with whom the member
lives and associates with
b. What clothes, colors, hairstyles the
person wears
c. What food the person eats, drinks,
adopts, and rejects
d. How much sleep the person is able to have
e. Financial dependence
f. Little or no time spent on leisure, entertainment, vacations
2. Major time commitment required for
indoctrination sessions and group rituals
3. Need to ask permission for major decisions (some)
4. Need to report thoughts, feelings and activities to superiors (some)
5. Rewards & punishments (behavior
modification techniques)
6. Individualism discouraged; group think
prevails
7. Rigid rules and regulations
8.
Need for obedience and dependency
II. Information Control
1. Use of deception
a. Deliberately holding back
information
b. Distorting information to make it
acceptable
c. Outright lying (some - often
difficult to tell if they're lying or just self-deluded)
2.
Access to non-cult sources of
information minimized or discouraged
a. Books, articles, newspapers,
magazines, TV, radio
b. Critical information
c. Former members
(if
critical of BoJo)
d. Keep members so busy they don't have time to think
(keeps
them immersed in activities that reinforce group-think)
3.
Compartmentalization of information;
Outsider vs. Insider doctrines
a. Information is not freely accessible (some
- filtered internet, for example)
b. Information varies at different levels and missions within
pyramid
c. Leadership decides who "needs to know"
what
4.
Spying on other members is encouraged
a. Pairing up with "buddy" system to monitor and control
(some - students obligated to snitch on each other)
b. Reporting deviant thoughts, feelings,
and actions to leadership
5. Extensive use of cult
generated information and propaganda
a. Newsletters, magazines, journals, audio tapes, videotapes,
etc. (some)
b. Misquotations, statements taken out of context from non-cult
sources (some)
6. Unethical use of confession
a. Information about "sins" used to abolish identity boundaries
b. Past "sins" used to manipulate and control; no forgiveness or
absolution (applies to
infractions of BoJo rules & regulations)
III.
Thought Control
1. Need to internalize the group's doctrine
as "Truth"
a. Map = Reality (?)
b. Black and White thinking
c. Good vs. evil
d. Us vs. them (inside vs. outside)
2. Adopt "loaded" language
(characterized by "thought-terminating clichés"). Words are the
tools we use to think with. These "special" words
constrict rather
than expand understanding. They function to
reduce complexities of
experience into trite, platitudinous "buzz words".
3. Only "good" and "proper" thoughts are
encouraged.
4. Thought-stopping techniques
(to shut down "reality testing" by stopping "negative" thoughts
and allowing only "good" thoughts);
rejection of rational analysis, critical thinking, constructive
criticism.
a. Denial, rationalization,
justification, wishful thinking
b. Chanting
c. Meditating
d. Praying
e. Speaking in "tongues"
f. Singing or humming
5. No critical questions about leader,
doctrine, or policy seen as legitimate
6.
No alternative belief systems viewed as
legitimate, good, or useful
IV.
Emotional Control
1. Manipulate and narrow the
range [?] of a
person's feelings.
2. Make the person feel like if there are
ever any problems it is always their fault, never the leader's or
the group's.
3. Excessive use of guilt
-
Who you are (i.e., not living up to your
potential)
-
Your family
-
Your past
-
Your affiliations
(if not BoJo-approved)
-
Your thoughts, feelings, actions
-
Social guilt (some)
-
Historical guilt (some)
4.
Excessive use of fear
a. Fear of thinking independently
b. Fear of the "outside" world
c. Fear of enemies
d. Fear of losing one's "salvation"
e. Fear of leaving the group or being
shunned by group
f. Fear of disapproval
5. Extremes of emotional highs and lows. (some)
6. Ritual and often public confession of "sins". (some)
7. Phobia indoctrination: programming of irrational fears of ever
leaving the group or even questioning the leader's authority. The
person under mind control cannot visualize a positive, fulfilled
future without being in the group. (applies
if "leaving the group" is taken to mean "straying from BoJo
doctrine")
a. No happiness or fulfillment "outside" of the group (or
the group's doctrine)
b. Terrible consequences will
take place if you leave: "hell"; "demon
possession"; "incurable diseases"; "accidents";
"suicide"; "insanity"; "10,000 reincarnations"; etc.
c. Shunning of leave takers.
(applies
to those who stray from BoJo doctrine)
d. Never a legitimate reason to leave. From the group's
perspective, people who leave are: "weak"; "undisciplined";
"unspiritual"; "worldly"; "brainwashed by family, counselors";
seduced by money, sex, rock and roll. (applies
to those who stray from BoJo doctrine)
