Are we a death cult?

[noname223]

On a website of the prolifers i have read the argument we would be a death cult. I think we have a special relationship to life and death. We know how cruel life can be. And for many more people on this world life means poverty, pain, hunger, assaults etc. No wonder that if life is that painful many question if life is worth living. If we talk to professionals many of us fear stigmatization or a visit in the psych ward. No one gives us a real way out if we reach our limits. Society abandons us instead.

Many of us question whether it is a good idea to procreate. (me included) No wonder if many of us experienced abuse, rape, poverty etc. But that's always present in our today's world and for many people the bitter reality. Is it really good to create more pain?
The nihilism of some would not be necessary if the world was a beautiful place and humans would be united and help each other. But in my experiences this is often not the reality. It is like the philosophical conclusion that God died in Ausschwitz. If you have experienced what some of us had experienced you would also lose faith in humanity and justice.

I think suicide is rather too strongly stigmatized and in many decades people will conclude that too. So if not clear enough: no we are not a death cult. We are simply pro choice because we experience how bad life can be.

 

[WornOutLife]

I prefer the terms "group of people who really understand and support each other and also, know a lot about life and death because most of them have been both in hell and heaven."

Kinda long but that's how I really feel about you all. You're the best community out there. Never ever in my life did I find a place in which I can fit in so well.

 

[TotallyIsolated]

Obviously not, no.

People who kill children and lock them up in cages call themselves 'pro-life'. The people who actually murder police officers say that 'blue lives matter'. The people who are the most pious have the least empathy and regard for human life.

They don't give two shits about the truth. They just make shit up because they think that they get to decide what's real and what isn't. Don't listen to them.

Only ignorant cretins who know nothing about this site would call it a death cult .

 

[nolongerhuman]

'death' would imply we want other people dead, which we don't and 'cult' implies we exert an unhealthy amount of control over people, which we don't. The phrase 'death cult' does not apply here in any meaningful sense of either word.

 

[LastLoveLetter]

I don't think we're a cult at all. I think that's a skewed perspective peddled by those so strongly against suicide (and perhaps consumed by their grief, if a loved one has taken their life) that it clouds their perception.

The way I see it is that this forum gives us a space to be honest and open about how we truly feel without the usual censorship, toxic positivity and judgement that suicidal individuals frequently encounter elsewhere.

It's also a safe place to access in depth information and resources about peaceful (and not peaceful) methods of suicide, so that we can make our own choices and reach our own conclusions. In other words, we are treated like adults with the capacity to make our own decisions, and not like children that need to be locked up in a ward.

SS doesn't force anyone to do anything. We don't put the pills in member's hands. We don't make them jump. We don't tell them what to do. It is simply a source of companionship, information and support. We may all have suicidal desires in common, but we don't force death upon anyone.

We are a community, not a cult.

 

[WornOutLife]

We are a community, not a cult.

This sums up what we really are in a perfect way.

 

[noname223]

I don't think we're a cult at all. I think that's a skewed perspective peddled by those so strongly against suicide (and perhaps consumed by their grief, if a loved one has taken their life) that it clouds their perception.

The way I see it is that this forum gives us a space to be honest and open about how we truly feel without the usual censorship, toxic positivity and judgement that suicidal individuals frequently encounter elsewhere.

It's also a safe place to access in depth information and resources about peaceful (and not peaceful) methods of suicide, so that we can make our own choices and reach our own conclusions. In other words, we are treated like adults with the capacity to make our own decisions, and not like children that need to be locked up in a ward.

SS doesn't force anyone to do anything. We don't put the pills in member's hands. We don't make them jump. We don't tell them what to do. It is simply a source of companionship, information and support. We may all have suicidal desires in common, but we don't force death upon anyone.

We are a community, not a cult.

This i really really good written. Respect

 

[TotallyIsolated]

SS doesn't force anyone to do anything. We don't put the pills in member's hands. We don't make them jump. We don't tell them what to do. It is simply a source of companionship, information and support. We may all have suicidal desires in common, but we don't force death upon anyone.

Yes, exactly. Its life that makes people suicidal. SS is here to help. How dare we, right?

 

[killedbypsychiatry]

no, the reason we have to do this in "secret" and it could makes it feel cult like is because we live in a retrograde society that denies the right to die to people. There was a time where feminist where also perceived as a cult just for wanting women rights

 

[GarageKarate07]

I'm in a mean mood so I'm going to not say anything. Is that ok?

 

[Odwin]

We are a community, not a cult.

Uhh, I don't wanna be like a grammar nazi. A cult is like a church this is synonymous with a communion and this again would be a community.

 

[noname223]

I'm in a mean mood so I'm going to not say anything. Is that ok?

Against me? Am I paranoid?

 

[killedbypsychiatry]

Uhh, I don't wanna be like a grammar nazi. A cult is like a church this is synonymous with a communion and this again would be a community.

there are many specific characteristics that need to be met for a 'community' to be a cult.

Like:

• "The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.
• The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
• The group is preoccupied with making money.
• Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
• Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
• The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).
• The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity)." Source: https://drsteveeichel.com/about-cults

 

[GarageKarate07]

Against me? Am I paranoid?

No no no. I was going to say really mean things about pro life types of people and I just felt that was mean and then I realised im just in a bad mood so maybe I should not be posting/commenting right this second. I have nothing against anybody here no matter what they thread/post. Although hilariously I was going to say eat your cookies and be quiet! Nobody talks about the death cult that's the first rule of death cult! Also if its your first night in death cult then you have to make cookies! Dont burn them! Larry burned them and now he has to do laundry for a week.

I was going to say about these pro life fucks: This is the ignorant and depraved type of behavior that made your loved one's want to get away from you so bad that they killed themselves! Which like I was saying is very mean and that's just not right. Anyways.....

 

[Odwin]

Wouldn't say this is a cult. Just a bunch of people who are really really desperate and this is the place where they gather.
Here you can find people who understands each other.
Besides only thing you can find here that's disturbing for other people is the concentration of information for suicide. (most of the information isn't really new)

 

[noname223]

Oh I am glad. I had 2 psychosis and I am often paranoid. I am glad.

 

[Odwin]

there are many specific characteristics that need to be met for a 'community' to be a cult.

Like:

• "The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.
• The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
• The group is preoccupied with making money.
• Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
• Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and its leader(s).
• The leadership dictates sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).
• The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leader(s), and members (for example: the leader is considered the Messiah or an avatar; the group and/or the leader has a special mission to save humanity)." Source: https://drsteveeichel.com/about-cults

Yeah of course. This group here is far from being a cult. We are not going around and try to convince to convert to suizidism.

 

[Zzzzz]

absolutely not. we are not even remotely in the ballpark of meeting the definition of cult. Just because we disagree with most people, doesn't mean we're in a cult and it doesn't mean we're wrong either. The majority of people on Earth throughout human history have often been in the wrong. Here is a detailed description of cults.

Steven Hassan's BITE Model of Authoritarian Control

freedomofmind.com

Telltale on youtube has a lot to say about cults as well.

 

[wait.what]

Yeah, the word "cult" has a specific meaning beyond "people I disagree with." It doesn't describe us, for reasons others have pointed out. Since we're not any kind of cult at all, we're by definition not a "death cult."

My advice is to avoid the garbage the Ft26 types post, if you can. That group has a vested interest in making us out to be villains, because if we're the "bad guys" then they don't have to be. Honestly, there probably aren't any "bad guys" involved in most suicides anyway. People take their own lives for all kinds of reasons, and it's usually not as simple as "Person X was mean to me so I killed myself." And when it is a case of someone killing themselves due to abuse, who is more likely to be the abuser: total strangers on a messageboard that nobody is required to visit, or close family members that someone lives with day in and day out? Hmmmmm ...

Anyway, those people are peddling a version of reality that makes them look as good as possible. Keep that in mind if you feel you must read what they have to say.

 

[fufa]

No, cults follow a religious dogma.
I guess we could invent a god of suicide and become one.

 

[Odwin]

No, cults follow a religious dogma.
I guess we could invent a god of suicide and become one.

Mhh, God of Suicide. Worst God ever. His super power to transform water into SN.

 

[Symbiote]

The Cult of @WornOutLife sounds like a good one. Charismatic leader, very popular, pro-choice! All hail WornOutLife!

 

[LetMeGoPlease]

Sounds like something someone in a pro-life cult would say.

 

[mediocreshining]

I don't really care if we're a death cult or not, personally. It gets the job done.

 

[Sprite_Geist]

No. Firstly because this website does not promote death, or coerce people into ending their own lives. Those that join this community are already suicidal, in some cases for many years before discovering this forum.

A cult - any cult - seeks to have full control over its members; Sanctioned Suicide gives its members control over their own lives. A cult employs abusive tactics to force people into submission; Sanctioned Suicide serves as a haven for those escaping abuse.

A cult has a strong and singular final goal; it is a group, and this group mindset usually manifests itself in the form of ceremonial clothing, esoteric chants and an enforced collective belief. Contrarywise Sanctioned Suicide is not one monolithic group, it is not a group at all, and therefore has no end objective; rather every user has the ability to decide their own goals. This community revolves around the pro-choice stance which includes individuals of many different backgrounds and opinions who may not have anything in common at all; except that they have one important overlapping belief: that everybody should be allowed to leave this world if they desire, and that it is a personal choice.

If you want to find a death cult then just observe the behaviour within various societies that push people into suicide. Notice the pressure to conform to the group standards - even in the so-called "individualistic" parts of the world; now see what happens when an individual fails to meet the expectations of their society or community: they collapse, mentally, and end up here.

We are not the ones who are promoting death.

 

[Odwin]

Aren't death cults those gore websites?

 

[wait.what]

Anybody remember the Heaven's Gate cult, where the members all killed themselves so that aliens would let them hitch a ride out of the solar system on a comet? It seems probable that most or all of the rank and file cult members really thought that was going to happen, but the leader presumably knew he was spewing shit. After the mass suicide, it came out that there were weird things in the pockets of the dead cultists, like rolls of quarters and lip balm. All the news pundits worked themselves up into a tizzy speculating on why you'd need quarters on a magic alien comet, until someone who actually knew the cult leader said that he had a weird sense of humor, and probably just had his people do that expressly so news pundits would talk about it and sound stupid. Which they did.

Obviously, tricking or manipulating gullible people into killing themselves when they might otherwise have chosen to live is morally repugnant. That's not a thing we do here or should do. I can get on board with the idea of inventing a fake cult that exists only to make pearl-clutchers sound dumb, though. All the "cult members" would have to be in on the joke, of course. Just a last thing to amuse yourself with on your way out. It wouldn't even matter if there was abundant evidence on this site that it was all made up and nobody really believed it. The conspiracy-minded would latch onto the idea like so many lampreys on a particularly-tasty fish. This is the way these folks make sense of a confusing universe, and like Agent Mulder, they Want To Believe.

I'd have to think for a bit about what would cause the greatest-possible amount of tail chasing. Maybe we could all ctb with a piece of paper in our pockets that says "1.618" on it. That's said to be "the golden ratio" because it shows up over and over again in both art and nature, most famously in nautilus shells and in certain Renaissance paintings. I don't think anybody knows for sure why that is, but for our purposes it wouldn't matter. The point would just be for dumbasses to flood social media with theories about how seashells and old Italianate paintings are this terrible, sinister force causing people to kill themselves. "Seashells: Gateway Drug To Suicide?!!!" "Is Your Teen Hooked On Leonardo da Vinci?!!! 15 Signs To Watch Out For!!!!"

All of it would be silly nonsense of course, but if you're suicidally depressed you take your lols where you can get them.

 

[GarageKarate07]

No. Firstly because this website does not promote death, or coerce people into ending their own lives. Those that join this community are already suicidal, in some cases for many years before discovering this forum.

A cult - any cult - seeks to have full control over its members; Sanctioned Suicide gives its members control over their own lives. A cult employs abusive tactics to force people into submission; Sanctioned Suicide serves as a haven for those escaping abuse.

A cult has a strong and singular final goal; it is a group, and this group mindset usually manifests itself in the form of ceremonial clothing, esoteric chants and an enforced collective belief. Contrarywise Sanctioned Suicide is not one monolithic group, it is not a group at all, and therefore has no end objective; rather every user has the ability to decide their own goals. This community revolves around the pro-choice stance which includes individuals of many different backgrounds and opinions who may not have anything in common at all; except that they have one important overlapping belief: that everybody should be allowed to leave this world if they desire, and that it is a personal choice.

If you want to find a death cult then just observe the behaviour within various societies that push people into suicide. Notice the pressure to conform to the group standards - even in the so-called "individualistic" parts of the world; now see what happens when an individual fails to meet the expectations of their society or community: they collapse, mentally, and end up here.

We are not the ones who are promoting death.

Most cults and religions also have shame tactics to keep the sheep in line. Also they take dues/tithing/money nobody pays to be here and they can leave any time without a second thought.

 

[UseItOrLoseIt]

It's not a cult if there's a "Recovery" section.