Reply to Is the Society for Creative Anachronism a cult?

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[quote=Anonymous]The organisation as a whole is not a cult, but some of its practices allow (or perhaps even encourage) the formation of small groups within it which have many of the features of cults: a charismatic leader who sets more stringent rules than the overall organisation, demands loyalty, controls communication into and out of the subgroup, and gains benefit from the acts of people within the group.

Some of the activities like the combat-related ones promote strong group bonding and adrenaline/endophorin rushes the same as any intense group sporting activity, and some of the ceremonial stuff is quite emotionally powerful - neither of these is dangerous in itself, but they can be a little addictive and add to the appeal of staying within the group even when there are negative aspects.

None of this is dangerous in itself, but it does attract and can easily exploit and further damage emotionally vulnerable people who are looking for a sense of belonging. Bullying is fairly common, in my experience, and I left because of it.

It is possible that none of this is relevant to your relative. I'd certainly take a hard look at the family of origin to see if there were good reasons for running "away" from them as opposed to "to" the SCA. Mind you it could be both.[/quote]

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