I love that you have recognized the cultish behavior that is so evident today of all days.And dared to mention it. Probably too subtle for cult members themselves. Brit stuck in Oregon here. Oregon has plenty of cults. Eugene has a cult adjacent "country fair". They think it is a community but they act like a cult if you say Boo to their "truth".
we have a lot of cultists too give us time they say we are always 10 years behind USA we allready have the right wing cultists. More religious explains more open to cults cuz religious people are more easy to be duped
The biggest cult in the UK is being a football fan 😂😂 You can divorce your wife Abandon your children Disown your family Change your Country But you can NEVER change your football team , or your soul will burn in hell for ever & ever 😅😅
Things people ask me: Where am I from(different accent) and then what football team I support. People stop bothering with me sometimes cause I say I don't watch football, they literally don't believe me and think i'm pissing around.
Jehovahs Witnesses only ever knock on my door once! I always talk to them rationally about what they believe, compare it to what other religions believe compared to what we now know about the immensity of the Universe and plant doubts in their minds. They never come back.
In the UK we don't force kids to pledge allegiance to a flag etc, that daily repeated behavioural conditioning normalises the idea of giving up control to authority. Probably causes some to rebel violently too.
Tbf our national anthem is “god save the king” + we can’t walk a square mile in nature without “trespassing” so I’m not lecturing anyone on “giving up control to authority” 😂
@MBM1117727 you don't know the words to your national anthem? Is that normal around the world? I remember being a kid during a competition that was open to international students (but was mostly made up of Americans). Everyone was respectfully silent when we played snippets of everyone else's anthems, but when it got to ours the whole stadium boomed with everyone singing "....and the home of the brave!" (The part that they played for us) It was wild to hear that many people singing even just that part all at once We also have "Yankee Doodle," "America, the Beautiful," "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)," and "You're a Grand Old Flag" to name a few that kids would learn in school. Post-9/11 "I'm Proud to be an American" was really, really popular. We sang it at a chorus concert when I was young
Another possible factor is the UK sense of humour which is often based on mockery and insulting everybody and everything including ourselves, our friends and our loved ones. It's not something that cult leaders can tolerate precisely because they lack a sense of humour. There's not much the average British person enjoys more than being rude to, and about, people who take themselves way too seriously.
Maybe also that Brits have a greater exposure to eccentricity and a more liberal drinking culture. Seeing someone rat-arsed and talking bollocks perhaps breeds an arm's-length wariness, and undetstanding they're not in the best place, mentally.
Alas, increasingly modern society (including British society) is ever more intolerant of 'inappropriate humour', which is the end has a chilling effect on all humour.
The British are a _highly_ cynical people. We just aren't taken in by a person giving us an easy answer to our problems, because we can't believe that life could be _that_ easy. We treat good luck with suspicion and doubt. This is what comes of getting rained on every time you rush outside because the Sun just came out.
Yep! Not even necessarily cynical. You are more naturally sceptical of people who make promises that are too good to be true. Especially Americans who consider themselves to be conservative. That is a pretty broad generalisation, I know, but American Conservatives as a group seem to be more attracted - and loyal - to authority figures of all stripes and in all areas of life than others - and more willing to believe literally anything that their chosen authority figures tell them without questioning it. I'm neither British nor American, but after 60 years on this planet, I've had plenty of time to make a lot of observations into two very different cultures.
@@felissylvestris6557 brexit what stupid i understand but doesnt mean that ALL of us think its great. I myself, am disappointed in my fellow brits for voting for it.
One thing that sweetens the pot with cults is that in the US religious institutions are tax free. Meaning that in a cult, you can run a business tax free. So many businesses started out or is run by a cult.
In the UK, they are paid directly by the government, and they hold dedicated seats in the House of Lords. In the US, starting a cult is like starting a business. In the UK, it's like becoming a civil servant.
I think the Church of England is a false flag operation secretly designed to turn you away from religion. It's the only thing that explains why church is so mind-numbingly boring.
Omg this so true - the naff prayers in assembly and dreadful daily hymns just made religion a very sad, uncool thing that your teachers tried to push on you and turned most of us into atheists 🤣 I mean nobody wanted to be like their teachers!
I've lived/worked in the US in the past. I saw Waco, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Minutemen, and others. My humble opinion is that state schools in the US don't value critical thinking. The Pledge every morning, multiple-choice exams rather than rationalised essays, and the cult of the Flag and honouring the (well paid) military, all add up to creating minds open to direction. Many "evangelical" pastors have little formal education and lead only by oratory and are not answerable to a formal church doctrine or authority structure. You've effectively elected a cult leader as president now, so God help us all (and yes, I'm an Anglican Christian).
I find it so strange that many Americans seem to value the notions of individuality and freedom, yet do not seem to recognise that they are not experiencing it.
I agree that the US obsession with success and adoration of the charismatic confident presenting person is a lot of the problem. In the UK we tend to be suspicious of anyone who puts themselves in that position. Cynicism it's also just part of our culture.
A Dutch person here. I think other factors are the extreme focus on succes, on looking for hero's. Extreme admiration of hero's. There are several Dutch people in the public sphere whose skills and/or personality are admired but most Dutch people also look at them as normal people. We all have to go to the bathroom.
I think that is a very valid point. I think that to a large extent this comes from Hollywood making people into Superstars and encouraging that cult of celebrity. Other countries have actors but don't elevate them to hero status in the same way.
Scots are similar. We have a "we're a' Jock Tamson's bairns" attitude (not literally of course, unless that Jock was awffa virile & unfaithful to boot). Probs why I loved going to Holland 10-15 years ago
I feel like in the UK disliking our leaders is part of our cultural identity. In addition I think as a nation we are generally just a bit embarrassed about fanaticism and being too enthusiastic and those who don't feel that way are already taken up in football fandom 😂 (that was a joke ... Sort of but not really)
Hi! Also an American who has lived in the UK for around ten years! My take is that Brits are very comfortable with just being average. Like you said, it's part of being slightly more collectivist than the US. There's a culture of celebrating basic jobs like building, carpentry, being a postman, etc and a lot of popular (in the UK) British media has circulated around the working class (kitchen sink films). I saw another commenter saying that they think it has to do with the British sense of humour, but I think that's just a side effect of this comfort with being average. Generally speaking, Brits are very comfortable with everyone being equally as special and as not-special as the next person, so when someone starts to act superior it's hilarious and great fodder for comedy. Because usually that person is ignoring some SERIOUS deficits in order to feed their own ego (Jane Austen books are FULL of these characters). This is changing as American culture seeps more and more into British culture, but I think that the need to be Extraordinary is very much American. And that definitely feeds into what you were saying about public speaking in America. If someone sounds really well-spoken and has a large vocabulary, we tend to respect them regardless of what they are actually saying because we've been told that is THE sign of intelligence, and those are the people we need to listen to. Americans with this skill who are deficient in actual substance get HUGE whiplash in the UK and Europe because here people are trained more to listen to WHAT you are saying instead of HOW you say it. And this also feeds into how cults can infiltrate a person's mind - if you've been trained to think that confident and eloquent public speakers are somehow blessed and superior regardless of the actual substance of their speech, how are you meant to catch on to deranged behaviour? Edit: not people in the comments getting triggered 😂 I wrote my original post in the most complimentary of ways, honestly. There should NOT be such immense pressure to be extraordinary. There should be allowance of, and support for, averageness. All the Brits saying that Americans are "just crazy haha" have no idea the immense pressure American culture puts on people to be perfect, extraordinary, immensely successful, incredibly wealthy. "Wow America is so backwards, they don't even have national healthcare!" No duh, we don't have national healthcare! We harbour the most intense suspicion and hatred towards the concept of "average". I am not ignoring the existence of class structure, the existence of royalty, or the long lasting effects of imperialism and colonialism in the UK, nor am I saying that ambition and pressure to succeed do not exist in the UK, and I think reading my comment that way just goes to show ignorance. The UK literally cannot comprehend how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to American exceptionalism and egomaniacal individualism (though it is steadily moving in that direction). Everything I am saying here is how Americans (generally speaking, of course, though I think even a healthy chunk of people on the progressive left, despite themselves) would see British culture in this way. If it sounds extreme, it's because we are. We have no other cultural option.
Thanks for explaining to a Brit. I had noticed that alarming amount of word salad used in everyday vernacular and especially legislation. Until now I couldn’t verbalise it. You are right it is about HOW it is said not WHAT is said. The Conservative Party in the uk was unbearable to listen to because they used this word babble to say anything nothing over the past 14 years.
Average? Nah. Being exceptional doesn't have to be showy & ostentatious; on the contrary, our natural suspicion/BS meter would make us unimpressed & take the p*ss.
If Brits are so very comfortable being equally special, why is there the belief that the English think they're more special than other types of British people, and all the anger expressed toward the English by all the other types of British. Especially English people from the London area. Honestly, it's crazy you think a society with a king and a house of lords isn't immensely comfortable with the idea that certain people from certain families are so special that they have special laws made especially for them to keep their power.
A very thoughtful analysis. I'm surprised you didn't mention our British rainmaking cult. This is where twenty-two men dress in white and take some bits of wood and a red ball onto a neatly-mown field, at which point the heavens open.....
If the UK has 2,000 cults with a population of 66 million and the US has 10,000 cults with a population of 330 million (5x higher), the US and UK have the exact same number of cults per capita. Although I imagine the real difference comes when we start discussing adherents.
@@zoe._.1850 That's why I said " I imagine the real difference comes when we start discussing adherents", the US has much larger cults with broader appeal and likely far more members, in general and per capita, than in the UK.
Only difference is the UK cults probably only have one member.... The leader! Honestly could any of us Brits be bothered most of us try our best to avoid shopping let alone joining the tin foil brigade.
That's interesting in itself. One possibilty if more people are availble is that cults are bigger, the other is that there are more of them. Does that mean a cult can only be so big numerically before it stops being attractive and you need more choices ?
5:20 It's very strange because in Ukraine we use the word "sekta", sect, to refer to cults... we also happen to consider American-style churches "sects". To me, a typical evangelical preacher and American view on "being religious" is NOT considered religious, but cultish behavior. But people going to service once in a blue moon while technically belonging to church is what we call believers, and people going as often as every sunday, even casually, would be considered very religious. Typical American churchgoers? Those are just cult members.
@@rafangille That's kind of due to the fact that the Orthodox and Catholic Churches have their own hierarchies (via the Patriarch and the Pope). It has its pros and cons, with a very big pro being that the institution can and will crack down on any wannabe cult leader.
@@izabella7174 Just wondering- is uh, is catholic cult like behaviour in the older gens still a thing? Celebrating some priests and donating money to them etc? Or did it...literally died out as older people passed away?
@WhizzRichardThompson She just said the number of the Cults stats. You just need to Google the population stats. Just do the basics. Listen to this clip & then do a Google search.
More pertinent would be the number of members in the cult if you are talking about population...It's quite likely that most of the people in UK cults are in the hundreds per group at most, rather than thousands. Unless of course the 2000 cults includes football clubs. Then there would be a lot more members...
Another fascinating talk on a subject I hadn't thought about, but am now educated on. I think your point about people in the UK being used to the fact there are support systems (however flawed) out there when they need it, and so being less likely to gravitate towards a group that seems to come together for mutual support in the face of the rest of society is particularly insightful.
Also fascinating with how American founded cults export and finding ways to blame and distrust those support systems. They have to work a lot harder, but someone who refused free education for their child to pay for religious indoctrination doesn't want to face the amount of life and resources sacrificed and wasted on it
definitely fascinating! I have fairly close ties to a cult in the UK and i have friends that do too, albiet weaker links. A cult in the uk is VERY easy to spot, actually - its all around farmers!! Farming schools tend to be religious or faith practicing in some way, isolated from the more populated society. Many farms in the UK have cult-like tendencies and follow a commune set up. The support systems set in place aren't as available to farmers and outside money is hard to come by as they tend to be way out in the countryside. The one that I have been to was on a farm with a small community that definitely created the echo chamber needed. People who werent from a farm school and seek refuge end up looking up to the 'leaders' for instructions, housing arrangements, etc. This particular cult was a free commune to move into and focussed on a general spirituality. Because it was such a small group there were a lot of forced marriages, kids being pumped out as fast as they can, ones that will end up in the same farm schools. Its a shitty and isolated cycle that is thankfully less popular now due to the support systems and monopolisation of the food industry making the unpaid labour from members a lot less valuable
It's part of why UK politicians breaking the lockdown rules was such a huge deal - because UK citizens generally did obey the law, and people breaking that was seen really badly
the people who MADE the law no less, i think it was less a solidarity thing and more a sort of classism thing, like oh of course the rich eton boys don't think they should slum it with the rest of us, and then the classic british mob rule
@@katierasburn9571 Well, I think there was an element of it doesn't need and won't get 100% compliance, it'll work with, say, 95% compliance, and as such they decided they should pick the 5%, mostly meaning themselves. Because why should they be inconvenienced - it's the proles fault if not enough are doing what they were told, and that's what the police are for.
Great points, especially the loneliness, which is often overlooked. American culture strongly encourages us to move long distances, away from our families and childhood friends. We are told to boldly go out into the world. And by doing so, we lose our some of our support system, our social circle. If you listen to someone share their experiences joining a religion, they almost always talk about being welcomed, coming home, feel accepted. In the US, one of the fastest ways to build a new social circle and support system is to join a religion. And sadly, many cults prey on that.
The Hillsong cult in Australia used the same tactics to suck in a younger generation with music and the wealth doctrine. Hillsong is now a shadow of it's former self after multiple scandals going back decades.
A friend of mine moved to the US with his family for work. They were living in a small-ish town, and noticed that while people in the neighborhood were pleasant enough if approached, they didn't seem inclined to start interactions. Then, they followed someone's advice and started attending the local church, and found that people were suddenly being friendly, even people who didn't go to that church.
@@davewilson4493 Exactly. Different cultures have different ways to break the ice. Maybe it's a church, or a pub, or a hot springs like in Japan, or a football/soccer match.
Yup Americans are willing to give literally any and everyone a platform in the name of free speech even if what they have to say is factually and objectively wrong.
If any politician in the UK, NZ or Australia ever suggested an equivalent to California wildfires were started by Jewish space lasers, I am yet to heart of them. Such people would be laughed away and never elected.
Remember Stephen Fry once saying of America something like, "If you have a society that doesn't believe in any particular thing, you create a vacuum where people can believe absolutely anything". There are so many potential factors aiding cults in the States. Physical space helps, having so much space where people can just freely go and exist miles and miles from everyone else means that if you don't like or believe what the people around you think and do, you can just go and isolate yourself somewhere remote and get lost in your own belief system, then either spread that online or somehow attract the lonely others who also have those niche thoughts. Then there's money, pyramid schemes have been outlawed in European countries for decades but they still seem totally unregulated in the US where commercialism often goes hand in hand with a new belief system. Money is also seen as a thing to worship in the US, people become enthralled by those who seem to exemplify the American Dream of making a fortune. They'll then hang on those people's every word unquestioningly because they think their beliefs are what made them the billions. Then there's the history and tradition underpinning a society. Most societies on earth have developed organically from certain like-minded groups of people, passing through many iterations of religious beliefs, catechisms, renaissances and scientific discoveries that build on and challenge previous ways of thinking and beliefs. The US is rather a blank slate country, formed from many disparate groups who all sought a place to practice their beliefs to their extreme, without interference. Of course there were already some coherent indigenous belief systems which had developed organically by the natives over centuries, but they were suppressed and virtually eradicated, and never got close to being incorporated into any wider belief system across the population.
It might also be a factor that America has an in-built suspiscion of tyranny. The constution has primed them to believe that big government must be checked and balanced else it'll start a reign of terror. While you'd hope that would make them look askance at ALL forms of dominance, in practice it seems to have left them open to side-on subversion and bottom-up brainwashing as they're too focused on top-down tyrrany.
British people believe in quiet, stubborn cynicism (or loud alcoholism, but they go hand in hand) before any actual ideology and religion. It's surprisingly effective.
I think, at a certain level, Americans have been kept in a state of paranoia since the cold war started. Sometimes the anxiety is high, sometimes low, but it's always there. This makes it easier for someone who claims to have all the answers. This holds equally for con men, preachers, businessmen and politicians. They just have to press the right buttons and they have a cult-like following.
From what i've seen this month it's how politics is engrained in almost every part of american lives there's no much unnecessary worry and obsession about who gets into office next even if they've been proven time and time again they're going to do what they want anyway, and they're so incredibly anxious to the point of mental breakdown that it's not healthy whatsoever but they won't hear it that it's unhealthy. They've been made to believe so much that this is the correct way to live that somehow it's normal to destroy their mental health like so much self destruction and they're so self righteous about it and they see anyone trying to talk the out of it as "stopping them defending their country"🙄because they believe they're really influencing anything and they get a high off of it when the party they voted for wins and then it justified all that they think or believe even when much of it needs to change. I see the things they say to justify so much that they do or believe but really they just did it for their own benefit and find any opportunity to do that even getting rid of family members they never actually cared about, but they still genuinely believe they really influence anything and it's like a sport. So they generally function on high stress and anxiety levels.
Something that I think is being missed here both in the video and comments, which should be pointed out, is the pledge of allegiance. Whilst not in of itself cultist in nature, by religiously repeating the pledge day in, day out throughout your formative years at school you are instilling that sense of obedience to a higher authority which in turn makes you more likely to look to an authority figure or organisation when you get into a bind. Once you take the highly individualistic culture and lack of institutional safety net combined with the pledge of allegiance which is essentially programming young minds generation after generation it's not so surprising how cults are a bigger problem compared to other comparable countries, not just the UK.
This! I’m from the us, but I now teach in the uk. I’ve had soooo many students point out to me how culty the pledge of allegiance is. I always thought it was just weird, but now I’m like “yeah… that’s pretty shocking that we do that.” Edit: cults are a huge problem in the us. People just don’t realize it. I was in one myself!
Hmm, maybe I'm some kind of outlier, in my school years here in the US that Pledge was to me merely a thing we had to do for a few minutes in the morning and why are we pledging allegiance to a few yards of cloth anyway?
@scottfw7169 maybe it didn't impact you in the way it does most people, but my interpretation of the pledge to that bit of fabric has always been symbolic, and really, it is the federal government which the flag is representing is what you are pledging allegiance to.
If you are an NHS worker, we have to give ours in at the start of the shift. It's the only way we are guaranteed a cuppa at some point during said shift.
I get that you're joking but when you're struggling in thr UK at least you have relatively straightforward access to NHS mental health services, counselling or CBT, even if you have to wait for a number of months. I'm sure that makes us less likely to be taken in by a cult leader in our times of need.
@Athena-vs4cv Thank you for recognising my comment wasn't entirely serious. I have been a mental health worker in social care and the NHS, and used those services myself at different times. I absolutely know the stresses of working in MH and, as a service user (a horrible term), waiting times and scarcity of mental health services are no joke at all.
Trump is a cult leader. No way around it. I feel the same is happening in my country (Netherlands) to some extent with Geert Wilders, who seems to have a bit of a cult of personality going too.
With this coalition on very shaky grounds as of recently, I wouldn't be surprised he will use this to his advantage and get a more powerful say in the parliament.
This is something a few Americans have touched on, but I've never seen one go into detail on it. Americans are often taught "debate" as a skill. This is really unusual. In Europe, we sometimes get taught public speaking in our schools systems, and debate is certainly used as an educational tool, but the way America uses debate in it's schools is very intriguing to me. The purpose of a debate in European education systems (and just generally most non-US systems as far as I know) is to talk through a topic and reach conclusions as a group. The way it works in America seems to be less about the outcome; in fact the decision seems to be made before the debate even begans that both sides are equally valid. The conclusions and the facts we can learn are not the purpose of the debate, they are just the tools used by the debater. The purpose of the debate is not to educate or inform, it is for two people to square off against each other to conclude which person has "won" the debate. At least this is how it seems to an outsider. I've discussed this at length with an American friend who was educated mostly in the US but completed some higher education in the UK and it's been a very interesting topic of discussion. In Europe, watching a debate is something people might do in order to learn from two opposed positions, take facts from either side and reach their own conclusion. It is not gladiatorial, it is educational. I'd be very curious to see your thoughts on this. It seems to be a popular extra-curricular activity in the US and, again from an outside perspective, it seems like teaching children and young adults that the "truth" of a situation can be shaped by their words and how others perceive them is possibly incredibly harmful. Does US style debate create a system when moral relativism is applied to all things, and every moral position will ultimately be a binary with a "winner" and a "loser" based not on fact, but on performance? And does this create a system where the production of a demagogue (many of us would argue Trump, but this could be a cult leader, it could be any number of other Presidents or cultural figures) is not just likely but almost guaranteed? (P.S. A very thoughtful and interesting video as always!)
Unfortunately you described the Oxford Union Society as well as the USA. It explains a lot about the Conservative Party (which these days has hallmarks of a cult).
This is a really clever way to look at what has just been going on in the US without having to address it directly. Really enjoyed this video and found it really interesting.
@sdrawkcabUK The cult is about the leader and his every word being law. The Republicans were not a cult before Trump because opposition to the leader did not immediately lead to expulsion and death threats, and because bodies independent of the leader existed like the RNC and Republican congressmen and governors and judges. I know the history of the party, and it's never been remotely close to one-man rule like it is today. When he dies, everything will have to be rebuilt from scratch unless it goes the Kim Il Sung route.
Well researched. I believe it could also due to the fact that anyone who appears to take themselves too seriously will have the "p" taken out of the Monty Python style. "He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy.
😂😂😂😂😂😂 and poof! The illusion of importance disappears. Notice how Farage, try as he might, cannot get the sort of cult following of DT, thus his focus on American politics as it represents what he will never experience on this island.
@@dorianleakey 9 years ago I was at a (gay) wedding in the US. The happy couple had met at Yale University and most of the guests had attended Yale. The events went on for 3 days so I got to know a lot of them reasonably well. I came away with the impression that the British class system has nothing on the US one. I suspect that a British Duke would be closer to the urban or rural working class than any of those guys would have been to US working class people.
Yeah , they probably said you were a Cnut. Which is good because Cnut was the King of the North Sea Empire -the personal union of the kingdoms of England, Denmark and Norway
As a comment of pure conjecture from someone who's never been to the US, I would suggest sports differences could be a factor. Football teams in the UK are hundreds of years old, formed directly out of communities and continue to have a very strong community factor, often being integral to a city's entire identity. As far as I've been told, this is less often the case in the US, where sports teams are more corporate and can sometimes relocate to completely different regions. UK is also a smaller, denser area, meaning people are never technically that far from a big football team they might support, whereas in the US it's spread more sparsely across huge states. I would imagine this all makes it easier for UK citizens to find a sense of community and belonging within a football team
I fear that things are changing. I believe that one of the main differences in the past was that in the UK we, with our 3-4 TV channels and shared radio were 'force-fed' a wide ranging view of the world, and of science that we could not avoid and which made it impossible to latch onto one outspoken worldview without being aware of what made it kooky. Over the last few years, the curated, 'educational and balanced', media of TV and radio has disappeared off the radar for the majority and personal echo chambers have becoming the norm. This is more akin to how easy it has been to isolate in the US in the past, by ignoring moderate sense as just part of the general cacophony of available media.
this is the problem with the fetishization of freedom, specifically of free speech. it gets exaggerating to the point of 'i should be able to say everything and anything without consequence', and so people take advantage of that
When people talk about nihilism and cynicism, it feeds the system. People talk about these things because they want war and suffering and death and violence.
It's weird how culty high school sports seems to be in the US, and the way that people feel about their Alma Mater. In the UK schools and universities are places you go, but you don't usually feel this overwhelming sense of loyalty afterwards
Thank you for not setting up a cult. I fear we would all have been persuaded to join. Instead we get to enjoy your well researched, analytical discourses. You hit upon a key cultural difference: a sense of social responsibility in the UK vs individualism (i.e. selfishness) in the USA. I also note that, here in the UK, the most moral, helpful, kind people I have met have NOT been religious, they just understand that we are effectively all equal and all have a part to play and that everyone should be treated well.
One of the major factors of Trump winning the election was that the poorer voters can't afford to think of social responibility, they need to afford food and fuel and have no social safety nets. This forces them to vote for selfish reasons, and often single issues like food and fuel prices, and don't care about who gets it for them. The right wing media uses this to get them to vote against their interests, and like a vicious circle it just gets worse and worse.
I think another contributing factor has to be the tendency for Brits to just mock people. Culturally we're a lot more sarcastic and less inclined to take someone trying to be a charismatic leader. Like BoJo - although many people call him pretty charming, just as many call him a total clow. Or, in a more extreme example, the BUF failed back in the 30s partially due to a lot of people telling them the blackshirt uniform looked totally ridiculous and that Oswald Mosley was an absolute tool. People decided to mock fascism instead of following it.
To be fair, there was also some pretty serious organised pushback. How much either had an influence, I don't claim to know, though I'm sure that if someone in his uniform walking down the street was being called an arsehole by various random passers-by, it probably didn't help his confidence.
@@davewilson4493 oh, absolutely. we've got to remember stuff like the battle of cable street ofc, and the fact that mosley actually got sent to prison. i do wonder how much of an influence the collective british piss-taking had on his support, though!
10,000 cults in the US vs 2000 cults in the UK actually indicates the UK has a roughly similar, or even worse problem with cults than the US. What this does not tell you though is the relative extremism between cults in the US vs UK. I suspect US cults are more extreme, but I could be wrong!
What's most relevant is the number of people in them. In the UK cults have pretty much zero public awareness, and are presumably very small and probably just bunches of harmless eccentrics.
@@caw25sha Well, you may think that but you don`t know, and the statement in the video related to the number of cults, not the number of people involved in cults. It may not track that the UK has more cult members, but it may do.
I'm glad you pointed this out. This whole video feels like a circle jerk of British exceptionalism and "it couldn't happen here" (it does and has happened here).
@@billygoatgruff3536I kind of agree. I think British people are far less likely to fall into spiritual/Religious cults but political and social cults are parallel to the US.Look at the EDL, arguably football culture.
Some time ago I watched a video by an American visiting the UK who spent his time going to as many active places of worship as possible . This was of all faiths and I think in London . His conclusion was that many more Americans regularly attend a church than in the UK but his perception was that the UK believers were more devout in their faith ,whereas many Americans attend because it is the accepted thing to do. Although Kalyn says that Americans are individualistic ,they appear unwilling to put themselves out of step with their fellows . In contrast ,Brits often don`t give a damn what others think.
Perhaps due to the pioneer history, America has many formal social customs, around life events and a sense of belonging (vs the UK), things like prom, homecoming, babyshower, tailgating etc. so it's much more normalized (expected even) to join into various groupings, with others that might not always be your closest acquaintances. Brits are much more reserved in general about joining a group; outside of things like youth organisations, sports, hobbies and formal religion, social groupings tend to be much more organic, revolving around close friends or family. In the UK, there is a much clearer divide, between the formal and informal. So it's much harder to persuade Brits even to just join a group, simply because it's not something they are really used to. OTOH the underlying social expectation to join in, that exists in American culture, perhaps makes those who are less socially connected, more vulnerable to those who wish to exploit others for personal gain.
"Americans are more religious" is a very mild way of putting it: there are _atheist churches_ in the US 😅 Which means that there are people who simply cannot conceive _not_ being part of a church even if they don't have a god to believe in. That's some serious religious brainrot right there.
Falling for Harris's nonsense just because she is a Democrat or not Trump, regardless of whether she was capable of being an effective president, is more gullible.
@@camera2paintingdemocracy is about keeping the worst party out, not the best party in. The convicted felon who tried to steal the last election is the worst
@@marscentral Dont think its that bad, Trumps been convicted twice in criminal court for a total of 34 felonies and once (sexual abuse) in a civil lawsuit. Geoffrey Archer was convicted of perjury during a defamation lawsuit senteced to four years serving two, while Boris only received a £50 civil fine for breaking covid lockdown and was forced to resign as Prime Minister.
I think it comes down to how secure/safe you feel as an individual - the more you feel safe the less you need to belong to something beyond yourself; then there is how one's society is set up, here in the UK we are an inclusive social group of peoples and countries, whereas the US tends to favour individuality as the ideal but if you cannot succeed as an individual then you need some other form of feeling successful and being above others.
omg the scientology shop picture you used (4:23) is in my hometown (Poole), I remember when it first opened a few years ago everyone thought it was so wierd, last year these two old ladies stopped me in the street to ask me questions abouth mental health and lonelyness (that type of thing anyway) and they finnished by showing me a book and I saw it said dianetics (realised they're scientologists) and I immediatly said bye and walked away lmao
As a student who was brought up a regular church goer I went along to a couple of evenings in College which were advertised as Concerts, but were in fact looking for recruitments for cults. The first was the "Children of God" yes American. This was a pleasant evening but the chats with the friendly youths afterwards revealed to me to be so naive and as a person who believes in evolution, and that Genesis was an allegory, very ignorant about fossils and so on. The attempts at love bombing did not work. The second was more dangerous, a very charismatic speaker, but who was too well dressed for my liking, (too much money involved), the choir in this case after their great sing song, surrounded us all and used murmuring and increasing volume to whip up a kind of hysteria. I would not involve but many did and I saw someone being prevented from leaving and someone crying in the corner, unable to exit. A few of us gathered to together to resist pressure and we were photographed, which felt very threatening in a kind of way. It made me very wary of that kind of preaching where emotions are whipped up into a frenzy which can actually bring on physical symptoms. I don't remember which group they were, it was about 50 years ago now, but I learned a lot about crowds, cults, and love bombing from those two events.
The point on American confidence and performance culture is a really interesting one. I work for a business with offices in the UK and US and I've really noticed this when interviewing job candidates. The average US candidate tends to really impress us in the first interview, which is much more to do with assessing their softer skills, but then we've had so many completely fail at the second competency-based section. Not that they're necessarily worse at that side overall, just that we often think we have an amazing candidate but it turns out they're just able to put on a good show rather than there being any substance behind it.
Hi Kalyn. I really appreciate the topics you cover and the effort you go to. The UK USA comparison channels is a crowded space but your videos really are a cut above. It’s not just “what is a biscuit” nonsense. Many channels focus on serving their UK audience by pandering to the British sense of smug superiority over the silly Yanks. No culture is perfect and I appreciate you demonstrating pride in parts of yours. As a Brit I find I am learning more about Americans through your experiences and reactions. Keep up the good work!
I'm from the U.k, but now live in Japan. I work with a lot of U.S.A people. They are mostly great, but I can testify that they all love the sound of their own voice and like to speak aloud their thoughts whilst still processing what has been said. It makes me long for England, where people usually listen first, think through what they are going to say, and then say it.
I don't have to go anywhere and i saw that especially in areas like texas and idaho especially the men like the females should stay quiet while the men should always get all the attention like they always want to be center stage. I like a lot of american tv shows well all of them in fact are made in america and i see it from the actors how loud and in your face they are and these days they like to pander too much to the most immature side of the audience, they're taught to pride themselves on being so loud though it really is so cringy like what are you compensating for? lol but other people have said they treat socializing as a sport rather than just talking to people. Here in the uk we're taught to be a lot quieter although sadly too much that it's oppressive you might as well not talk at all lol but we know when loud is too loud but i think we're too polite that it doesn't help build confidence or self esteem, which i've grew out of a while ago now i don't care about being so polite because it's just not a realistic way to act and people really take advantage of that politeness now. So i've took on a bit of how americans are more forward about posing a question, get to the answers, and then just do it and are more opportunistic lol like there's just no sense in hesitating about everything because you think you aren't being polite enough, i like their directness and i think that suits me better. I'm never loud about it though in fact it's better not to be because too many too opportunistic people so i guess it's taught me how to deal with them better and just focus on what i've gone directly for. So even if there's been more influence from america from tv shows and social media i'm also glad for it because i feel like it can balance us out more if we do it in the right ways. What i would like is just one universal way of socially behaving that isn't too loud or too quiet, isn't too passive, allows the fostering of confidence and self esteem, allows people to talk louder and let off steam when needed, and allows people to use their persistence being as direct as they need to be rather than freaking out at how direct you are. Then i think no part of the world would be so susceptible to cult behaviors.
@@musicfuhrer 🙂I just wish social cultures didn't go from one extreme to another in a bunch of ways, here in the uk we're too unsociable while in america it's the opposite they're too sociable while in other countries i dunno most cultures aren't so loud like americans but they always have highlights of their culture that is just too much on the extreme side. I think change is needed in that regard to create balanced social cultures because that still makes us susceptible to cults.
Hi Kalyn,Yorkshire here. Another great video! I think your point that religiosity has Already opened peoples minds to accept ever more bizarre beliefs is spot on, by heck.
It’s loneliness. The average lifestyle in North America is very alienating: living in suburbs, always in a car, very little areas for social gatherings in public… etc. This makes people much more vulnerable and willing to believe scammers.
You always hear that the pilgrims fled Britain due to religious persecution but not that a big group of them fled to the Netherlands about 12 years prior to the Mayflower voyage. At that time the Netherlands already had a fair amount of religious freedom and the pilgrims could practice their beliefs without being forced to adhere to a state church. But the downside for them was that their children were being ‘corrupted’ by those more tolerant beliefs and veered off the path set by their religious leaders. Only then they left for Plymouth to sail to the new world to set up their congregation that had (and still has) a big influence on the US. They only kept the part of the story about the religious persecution and not the part where they thought rules in NL weren’t strict enough. Because that would leave the door open for people to question the stern direction their leadership took instead of the current ‘heroic’ story of finding religious freedom. They already had that, but it was to free for them. I would say that has hints of cultish behavior, but then again in my opinion any religion in its more fanatical form is also pretty cultish.
@@anouk6644 Thank you for your reply, I may have been a little facetious in glossing over history there. Though I would also recommend looking into the Huguenots / protestant movement of the 16th century in continental Europe.
@@chrisplumb4284 No problem, your comment was meant more lighthearted. I don’t know much about the Huguenot, except they also came to the Netherlands to flee religious persecution. Growing up I used to be fairly anti-religion, so I avoided the subject if I could. But it is interesting how these developments shaped our history and have a bit of catching up to do.
I think you summed it all up very well. I have noticed how articulate many Americans seem compared to the British. They might be talking complete nonsense, but they do it very well! Anything to do with religion is regarded with suspicion by many people so we're not good fodder for cults.
Being neither American nor English, but having lived/worked/studied in both places, I cannot agree with your comment. Most political debate, dinner conversations, and even school interactions, have proved far more superficial and lacking in depth of context in my (and my children's) experiences in the US.
As someone who grew up in a rural part of the bible belt; critical thinking is not encouraged. People want you to AGREE with them rather than question the status quo, and if you do they will throw a fit. Yes many people are tolerant to you discovering new ideas but for those that only listen to crazy talk, they seem to fall for schemes way more. It doesn't help that there's less access to higher education in these areas, my older sister had to teach my Granny how to read and write at a decent skill level. Many of them find someone who says what they want to hear, and just live in that fantasy, this extends past religion as well. So I 100% can see how someone would fall for a cult when they fall for simple stuff like 'cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis'. Fact checking is very important.
Great video. The scientology mob tried to get me and my friends in Manchester once. There was a bloke outside a big room with a lot of empty desks in it asking people in the street if they would come in and do a 'short written survey'. We were too polite to say no so we went in and started the survey. There were pages and pages of questions which got weirder the further down you got. We did not know what scientology was (1980's), I thought they were going to ask us about actual science haha. Obviously we legged it once we'd cottoned on.
Haha. I remember in the early 80s we used to cross the road not to pass the suited robots outside the Scientology place in case we were lured it and never saw our families again!
@@jnr7265 I used to say to them, "Oh how interesting, I have a degree in theology and studied sects, I'd like to know more about yours." This tended to put them off.
I had the Mormans round years ago asking me if I thought that the world would be a better place with more religion. So I talked for about quarter of an hour about every religious conflict that I could think of. Saw them coming round again a few weeks later but for some reason they did not come to my door. I also had a serious disappointment a couple of months ago with some Jehovah's witnesses, told the bloke that I was sorry, but I had not seen the accident, and he did not get the joke.
I had that experience with the Scientologists back in the late 80s too. Since I was 19 (and therefore knew everything 😏) and already an ex-Catholic and an atheist I quite enjoyed the chance for a good argument with them when I twigged what it was all about.
For the reason behind the different reactions to lockdown in the UK and US, all you need to do is look up about the "Blitz spirit". The US didn't have to put up with years of strict rationing, German air-raids, V-1 Flying Bombs and V-2 ballistic missiles. We had to pull together in order to survive, and have that inspiration to fall back on when needed.
There are still a very few people living who endured those times, and younger people (like me) who heard their stories. I'm not so sure that's the reason for the lockdown reaction. Another commenter said that we Brits are more inclined to behave in ways that help the common interest than Americans who are more individualistic. I'd say that was a large part of it too.
We were in Singapore during the lockdown there and people were even more compliant than I hear you were in the uk. Singapore has a big community sprit for other reasons. Also SE Asia as a whole tends to be less individualistic and more group minded. They also experienced SARS so the minute the news broke of this new SARS type virus everyone masked up without being told to.
We in Australia joined together for the best of society . It's an attitude of wanting to help "the many" over the whim of the individual. It's really a difference in attitude.
A welfare state allows people to deal with issues of mental illness, addiction and poverty without reaching the level of desperation that leaves them vulnerable to cults. Also, brits treat very confident people with a massive amount of skepticism. If you have a big ego in the UK we will systematically take the piss until its in shambles. Mild bullying is our love language, for better or worse.
My late girlfriend was an accountant. Her small accountancy firm in the south of England did the accounts for three one-man-band-church pastors from the north of England but none for similar local pastors. Having seen the sort of things they spent their church's money on, she developed a theory that one-man-band pastors deliberately had their accounts done far from their base to avoid word leaking out locally to their congregations about the real nature of their expenditure, which apparently included a lot of proselytising missionary work in exotic, up market holiday destinations.
2:56 “part of it” has to do with population size? In researching for this video, did you happen to notice that the US population is about 5x that of the population of the UK? So if the US had an estimated 10k cults and the UK has an estimated 2k cults… that’s also 5x. So it seems like that might explain most of it, if not all? I think your video should have ended here.
I agree with you that this number doesn't say anything. The whole comparison is meaningless because the important number would be the percentage of people that are involved in some kind of cult, not the number of cults in itself. So yeah, it does not do much for the argument, but I don't think that's her point though. :) (In the rest of the video there are much more and a lot better points I think)
There is a lot of things to be taken into consideration on top of amount of cults in the country. A cult can consist of one family or of thousands of people. It’s difficult to deny that the biggest cults in the English speaking countries were located in the states.
I think Americans are much more individualistic and this can lead to loneliness. Cults attract the lonely as they offer a (false) sense of community and belonging.
Have you seen the way they react when they hear of someone in their early twenties living with their parents and saving up money? They call them childish and moochers.
@@Foop6570it's looked down upon,also they leave home at 18 still mentally growing up,so it's easy for them to get caught up in groups that will be bad for them ,since at 18 they are still vulnerable
0:53 No. "Cultist" comes from "cult", not the other way around, and "cult" doesn't mean "worship". It's *related to* worship, but it's a *system* of worship.
This is one of the best things about the UK. We're mostly agnostic/athiest. The majority of religious people in the area that I live are foreign nationals (and to a lesser extent, old people). I am in the cult of Girl Gone London though.
I like to think of us as Ankh-Morporkian, if it's of practical use we'll use it. If it's fun we'll do it. If neither we'll ignore it If it doesn't want to be ignored, we'll point and laugh at it. If this angers it or it hurts someone, then we'll be _cross_ with it and it won't end well for it.
@@FloweredUp-n4t Indeed, but these are religious-like in their mechanisms. I would argue that Soviet and Maoist style communism and Nazism are also pseudo religious cults where a personality cult is at the core.
There’s a lot of cultish behaviour in the UK when it comes to politics. Your example, Scottish independence, Brexit have all attracted cultish behaviour by some followers.
Absolutely. And if he wore a turban, or spoke in mosques or synagogues, he would be labelled as one. So would Nigel Farage and a number of others. I was born and raised in the UK, I left when I was 27. I am by nature a cynic. It still took me few years to completely shake some pieces of British indoctrination. Much of it was just little inaccuracies and ommisionsk but they add up and can hamper proper critical thinking.
@@MontytheHorsewhat is so strange about a movement in a place widely acknowledged as a country wanting to be separate from a larger geopolitical entity, applies both to Scottish Independence and Brexit. Btw I am jn favor of the first but would like to become independent to rejoin a more equal union like the EU than the UK where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have less of a say than England even in a proportional sense.
@@johngault22they Scots generally want to be part of a larger political entity, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of it, the entity was the EU. Unfortunately as the referendum was across the whole UK it meant their regional choice was overlooked. It's about choice, Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the UK but also got a lot more regional autonomy, so the wish to be independent almost seems like they don't want to be part of a small minded insular nation but part of an open minded wider world.
It’s generally believed that the people who left England to set up the colonies was because they wanted to get away from the Puritans, but it’s been discovered that these people wanted to set up a more strict version of the Puritans- I think this and the vast areas of land that they can hide in, etc means it’s easier & to be secretive & the fact that they can have compounds & weapons, that would be difficult in the uk
I don’t think it’s ’been discovered' it’s just been lied about. The puritans left the UK because they couldn’t stand the religious tolerance that was commanded in the UK. Once they arrived in the US, they were hanging Quakers, heretics and 'witches' in no time. - they were also the only religious movement in the past few millennia to call for the 'banning of Christmas’. They were appalled by the frivolity of it all and believed it should be a day completely devoted to prayer, not feasting and overt celebrations. Unfortunately America has a terrible habit of rewriting history to suit its ends. Britain is not immune to this, but does have a culture where people are not scared or prevented from challenging history or historical views. Between 2023 and 2024, over 4000 book bans occurred in American schools. America also went though McCarthyism and the epithet of Anti- American is still frequently used to attack anyone who may rock the boat in the USA.
There's two quotes I've seen on line... One a piece of fun ..that has a serious base in that period. T shirts available of line bearing the legend .....We are the Grand daughters of the of the Witches you tried to burn 🎃🧙🏼♂️ The other was an actual quote aligning with what you said ... Some of those Religious pilgrims were being held in Boston Lincolnshire jails before embarking on that fleet as it made it's way round to Plymouth Devon and departure to the Colonies... To paraphrase. Our founders left their old world for their religious freedom.... To a new world knowing full well they had the intent to deny that freedom to others...🧐 Which is why the restoration period was greeted generally as the birth of the British enlightenment period.. despite it's darker phase of Empire.
I think in America there is more of a craving to belong to a group and not be left out. More cliques from a young age. Also popularity is highly rated. Real pressure to be socially acceptable ie look a certain way, dress a certain way, have certain types of friends, go to certain clubs. It’s all about lee up with the latest trends. So many people feel like outsiders in a very hostile environment. Constant pressure to thrive, to make money, to look the part etc etc. Some people join cults to fit in. Cults are no different to how gangs are formed. Some one tells you , you can be a part of their gang and family. In a country where more and more people feel hopeless, it feels nice to know you can be part of something and feel like you belong somewhere!
When I get lonely, my mates set up a day to go for a curry followed by beer. Many years ago, I was having panic attacks following a burglary. My best friend took me to the pub, we talked about stuff with more friends, i got drunk and went home feeling much better. To alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
I also think it’s a culture and family thing. If I suddenly disappeared and joined a cult (i’m from the uk), my family and friend would track me down, find me and bring me back. There is no such thing as “joining a cult”. They would intervene and get me help, instead of “letting me do what my heart desires”. It might seem controlling to Americans but that’s how most families show their love, it’s a bit tough but if it’s for the best, then it’s okay.
One cultist aspect of America not mentioned is the need for Americans to delude themselves they're Irish, Italian, African, and so on. This is based on a similar need to feel part of a tribe..... Though mostly harmless unless they are deluding themselves, they are Scottish, then they'll get fleeced for every penny they got.
Since this week we should be more vigilant in debunking any white American's claim at being "European heritage" or identifying as their ethnicity. They clearly do not share Europe's... anything.
That's a very interesting analysis. I think there's one point you've missed out, though: In England, we have cultural scars dating back to Oliver Cromwell and even to Bloody Mary. Two hated national leaders, whose bigoted attempts to impose their religion on everyone else led to two great principles of English society: - Discussing religion or politics in public, or with a stranger, is rude. Those who attempt it will be told to Mind Their Own Business. - Showing enthusiasm for religious or political principles is dangerous fanaticism. Those who attempt it will be unwelcome in almost every social setting (except perhaps at a planning committee for a riot). These two principles make it quite difficult for a cult to spread in England... and aid social cohesion because you generally have no idea what religion your boss/colleague/housemate/sister-in-law follows, until you attend their funeral...
I read recently someone saying that in Britain we regard religion in the same way as a man's wedding tackle. It's okay to have it, you can play with it as much as you like in private, but you don't get to flash it about in public or stick it down unwilling people's throats.
Americans are also more reliant on self help life style. 'How to be your best self', 'How to get over that one flaw'. In bookstores you see so many American self help therapy styled books. Americans have always, seemingly, sought a more perfectionised version of themselves. Which makes it far easier for a Cult to slip on in there. Where as we Brits tend to be far more cynical and we distrust things that look tooi good to be true lol.
12:02 something interesting to note on the point of school presentations and things like that: i am from the south of england and once we reached the final years of school (age 14-16ish) we started needing to do a few presentations. if you didn’t want to do it in front of the class then you could just ask to do it in front of the teachers only instead. which i didn’t even know was an option, and tbh wasn’t presented as one to the rest of us, you had to ask but if you did then you just didn’t have to do the presentation in front of people. something that the rest of us already fought our nerves about. that probably has some correlation to what you were talking about in this segment of the video, so just wanted to share that experience!
interesting video. To your points I would add that in the UK we tend to respect science and logic more and that schools encourage us to question, teach how to evaluate evidence and apply critical thinking. In RE ( religious education) we are told about many different faiths and are expected to have some familiarity with and ability to compare the tenets of various forms of Christianity, Judaism - both strict and liberal and various Zionist factions, Islam - including differences between different traditions, Hinduism - including aspects of their various Gods, Buddhism, Sikhism, Shinto, Animism, Zoroastrianism, Ancestor Worship and so on. We also look at the impact of history and impact of economics and politics on religion. I suspect that there are information silos in the USA and that in some areas people are not educated in different perspectives and the wider world views and history behind them. In every country, in difficult times people look for certainty and easy answers . In the UK we are taught to question, because we have a complex history. In our past, people have suffered persecution and seen how unscrupulous leaders leverage religion and populism in the pursuit of power - we have had our own history of deeply unpleasant theocrats and autocrats and we don't like or trust them and stand fiercely against them, for the most part we are not prone to flag humping and have seen the impact of war in our own land - more so than in the USA - we are sceptical but not excessively cynical and measure leaders by their actions as well as their words and expect to hold them to account. We kick out bad leaders much faster than the USA and we have a swifter transition of power, facilitated by the continuity of but relatively powerless monarchy. We are stubborn and pragmatic and are neither prone to excessive utopianism nor excessive distopianism nor conspiracy theories - we distrust self-promoting narcissists and value ethics, humility and integrity but hate being preached at by hypocrites. We respect and admire honest and quiet service but recognise we frequently don't live up to our ideals. For the most part we value tolerance and are happy to let people do their own thing as long as they don't insist we follow their thing too. We admire talent, intellect and skill but not boastfulness or dogma. We don't like extremism and distrust it. We try to take a nuanced view and recognise that there are other perspectives beyond our own. We value diversity and the insights of other cultures - and pick and choose what we will adopt as our own. We dislike bullies, we may insult our friends and be excessively polite to our enemies, then again - if pushed we will hold to our chosen lines.
I couldn't agree more! After attending a private school back in Estoril, Portugal in my first preteens years. I've learned not only about religious systems but also languages, cultures, identification of thought processes. Theology and and philosophy. As well as as cosmology and so many more! I remember reading endlessly books on languages, songs, cosmology as well as astrology seemed like a great entry into different educational activities. When I was sent to live in the States, I was really sad for not finding like-minded people who enjoyed reading, asking questions and exploring ideas. The American Educational System is awfully flawed. How do they get students hooked on for ten plus years and graduate? I have no idea.
@@hameley12if you couldn’t find someone who shared your interests like you could in Portugal, maybe that’s more a cultural communication issue? Not in a negative sense at all, but that the issue is less ‘people aren’t into it’ and more norms around making friends and communication are different. If you lived in the US I find it really hard to imagine how you could struggle finding anyone like that :0
I think there are less differences between the countries than you think, but the difference with regards to transfer of power is interesting. I don’t know which one I prefer.
@rayafoxr3 🤗 Don't get me wrong... After learning English, which took me three years, I finally met and communicated better with my peers. But it was super difficult to make friends and keep them. You may right 'bout the communication issue and cultural differences, as well as being undiagnosed autistic living away from my family. Thankfully, I grew up and have gotten better at speaking, expressing, and making new friends. But the fact remains that some schools in America aren't for everyone. Each child has different ways of learning, which I learned in HS and Uni. Graduated as a family therapist in 2015.
There are several cults in the UK. They all work through childhood indoctrination and social isolation. It’s an important thing to notice. Thankfully legal requirements for education really make the isolation aspect more difficult.
There was certainly a decline after the war, but more generally the Education Acts of 1918 and 1921, which provided for secondary schooling and made it mandatory to age 14, are a contribution. Before then the vast majority children got their elementary schooling through their local church, either on the premises or at a local primary school maintained by the church (thousands of which survive today). Only those children who won a scholarship, or whose parents could afford to pay, got any secondary schooling before 1921. Once church attendance was no longer required for parents to get their child into school, attendance started to fall (contrast that with the rise 20 years ago when churches were given the right to select pupils once again). My paternal grandmother only attended school between the ages of 7 and 9, thanks to falling ill with Spanish Flu after the war and needing a long convalescence. If she'd been a year younger she would have qualified to start secondary school in 1921. If it wasn't for her father teaching her proper penmanship as a teenager, she'd likely have had a 9 year old's handwriting for the rest of her life.
2:48 this means that both countries have the same amount of cults when accounting for population. US has 5x the population of the U.K. so a 10,000/2,000 split makes us even.
How timely… nicely put together and provides some food for thought, clearly you’ve recovered from your cold to be back at the top of your game. Loved this. !
After researching for this video, I have concluded that there is nothing more American than starting a cult.
Except, perhaps, for bringing one to a cataclysmic end.
I love that you have recognized the cultish behavior that is so evident today of all days.And dared to mention it.
Probably too subtle for cult members themselves. Brit stuck in Oregon here. Oregon has plenty of cults. Eugene has a cult adjacent "country fair". They think it is a community but they act like a cult if you say Boo to their "truth".
That's is the republican party is
we have a lot of cultists too give us time they say we are always 10 years behind USA we allready have the right wing cultists. More religious explains more open to cults cuz religious people are more easy to be duped
How to recognise a cult. The BITE method:
B...control of behaviour.
I.....control of information.
T....control of thoughts.
E....control of emotions.
The biggest cult in the UK is being a football fan 😂😂
You can divorce your wife
Abandon your children
Disown your family
Change your Country
But you can NEVER change your football team , or your soul will burn in hell for ever & ever 😅😅
Things people ask me:
Where am I from(different accent) and then what football team I support. People stop bothering with me sometimes cause I say I don't watch football, they literally don't believe me and think i'm pissing around.
Up the Owls! SWFC till I die!
Always support your local team. The safe option.
Plus Football has more riots, fights and stupidity than say Cricket, Basketball, Hockey and all other Sports inc Rugby.
The same can be said about Germany 😅😅
Anyone who claims to be the messenger of God would be laughed at in this country.
Jehovahs Witnesses only ever knock on my door once! I always talk to them rationally about what they believe, compare it to what other religions believe compared to what we now know about the immensity of the Universe and plant doubts in their minds. They never come back.
@@kendee4421 I just tell them I'm Jewish.
He was before my time, but how did people react to David Icke back in the day?
@@hughtube5154he said he was speaking for god, I thought he was a weather man lol nutter
@@hughtube5154 🙄🙄🙄
In the UK we don't force kids to pledge allegiance to a flag etc, that daily repeated behavioural conditioning normalises the idea of giving up control to authority. Probably causes some to rebel violently too.
Tbf our national anthem is “god save the king” + we can’t walk a square mile in nature without “trespassing” so I’m not lecturing anyone on “giving up control to authority” 😂
@@VentureHollyyh but hardly anyone actually cares ab the royal family
@@VentureHolly On the other hand I am a 29 year old British person and don't even know the words to God Save the King. It's quite different.
@MBM1117727 you don't know the words to your national anthem? Is that normal around the world?
I remember being a kid during a competition that was open to international students (but was mostly made up of Americans). Everyone was respectfully silent when we played snippets of everyone else's anthems, but when it got to ours the whole stadium boomed with everyone singing "....and the home of the brave!" (The part that they played for us) It was wild to hear that many people singing even just that part all at once
We also have "Yankee Doodle," "America, the Beautiful," "America (My Country, 'Tis of Thee)," and "You're a Grand Old Flag" to name a few that kids would learn in school. Post-9/11 "I'm Proud to be an American" was really, really popular. We sang it at a chorus concert when I was young
@@msjkramey On the whole, I think most of us know the lyrics to the first verse of our national anthem. After that, it gets mumbly.
Another possible factor is the UK sense of humour which is often based on mockery and insulting everybody and everything including ourselves, our friends and our loved ones. It's not something that cult leaders can tolerate precisely because they lack a sense of humour.
There's not much the average British person enjoys more than being rude to, and about, people who take themselves way too seriously.
Which reminds me, we're going to need to get that giant inflatable Trump Baby out of storage.
@@RichWoods23 .. let's see who follows it to Stonehenge, where at midnight it starts raining pianos.
@@RichWoods23 Good point.
Maybe also that Brits have a greater exposure to eccentricity and a more liberal drinking culture. Seeing someone rat-arsed and talking bollocks perhaps breeds an arm's-length wariness, and undetstanding they're not in the best place, mentally.
Alas, increasingly modern society (including British society) is ever more intolerant of 'inappropriate humour', which is the end has a chilling effect on all humour.
The British are a _highly_ cynical people. We just aren't taken in by a person giving us an easy answer to our problems, because we can't believe that life could be _that_ easy. We treat good luck with suspicion and doubt.
This is what comes of getting rained on every time you rush outside because the Sun just came out.
Yep! Not even necessarily cynical. You are more naturally sceptical of people who make promises that are too good to be true. Especially Americans who consider themselves to be conservative. That is a pretty broad generalisation, I know, but American Conservatives as a group seem to be more attracted - and loyal - to authority figures of all stripes and in all areas of life than others - and more willing to believe literally anything that their chosen authority figures tell them without questioning it. I'm neither British nor American, but after 60 years on this planet, I've had plenty of time to make a lot of observations into two very different cultures.
Hello? Johnson. Farage?
@@4bawbees You know what, you've got me there.
There's no rational explanation for that.
yeah most of you voted for brexit so I'm gonna doubt that
@@felissylvestris6557 brexit what stupid i understand but doesnt mean that ALL of us think its great. I myself, am disappointed in my fellow brits for voting for it.
One thing that sweetens the pot with cults is that in the US religious institutions are tax free. Meaning that in a cult, you can run a business tax free. So many businesses started out or is run by a cult.
That's exactly why Scientology became a church.
Religious institutions are generally not taxed anywhere as they are non-profit organizations.
@@Eddies_Bra-att-ha-grejer Well cults are certainly a for profit organization
In the UK, they are paid directly by the government, and they hold dedicated seats in the House of Lords.
In the US, starting a cult is like starting a business. In the UK, it's like becoming a civil servant.
The late Cult Founder of Scientology said "If you want to get Rich start a Cult"
Religion in the UK is like inoculation, small doses as a child stop you getting a full blown case in adulthood.
😂
I think the Church of England is a false flag operation secretly designed to turn you away from religion. It's the only thing that explains why church is so mind-numbingly boring.
@@edwardlosty549 That is by far the smartest comment about religion, I have ever read thank you very much
Omg this so true - the naff prayers in assembly and dreadful daily hymns just made religion a very sad, uncool thing that your teachers tried to push on you and turned most of us into atheists 🤣 I mean nobody wanted to be like their teachers!
@@TheComputecI can’t claim credit, someone made the observation years ago and it’s stuck with me.
I've lived/worked in the US in the past. I saw Waco, the Aryan Brotherhood, the Minutemen, and others. My humble opinion is that state schools in the US don't value critical thinking. The Pledge every morning, multiple-choice exams rather than rationalised essays, and the cult of the Flag and honouring the (well paid) military, all add up to creating minds open to direction. Many "evangelical" pastors have little formal education and lead only by oratory and are not answerable to a formal church doctrine or authority structure. You've effectively elected a cult leader as president now, so God help us all (and yes, I'm an Anglican Christian).
I find it so strange that many Americans seem to value the notions of individuality and freedom, yet do not seem to recognise that they are not experiencing it.
Quite. American patriotism is a cult. A blind unquestioning faith and devotion to a flag.
Don't get me started on pastors. What on earth is that about? A gullible population, quick to believe lies and reluctant to face truth.
And this is why America is crumbling and Kamala is on her way to Finland to rally the troops.
@@t4bs594Much is historical fact. Faith supplies the rest.
I agree that the US obsession with success and adoration of the charismatic confident presenting person is a lot of the problem. In the UK we tend to be suspicious of anyone who puts themselves in that position. Cynicism it's also just part of our culture.
A Dutch person here. I think other factors are the extreme focus on succes, on looking for hero's. Extreme admiration of hero's. There are several Dutch people in the public sphere whose skills and/or personality are admired but most Dutch people also look at them as normal people. We all have to go to the bathroom.
I think that is a very valid point. I think that to a large extent this comes from Hollywood making people into Superstars and encouraging that cult of celebrity. Other countries have actors but don't elevate them to hero status in the same way.
Scots are similar. We have a "we're a' Jock Tamson's bairns" attitude (not literally of course, unless that Jock was awffa virile & unfaithful to boot). Probs why I loved going to Holland 10-15 years ago
@@elaineb7065I am Dutch and love Scotland. Can't wait to visit again! I think both the Dutch and Scots are very down to earth
Exactly. Americans rebelled against a king and turn every politician into a celebrity King.
American culture sounds admirable. Onward & upward. No wonder Europe has been in a permanent state of decline since the first world war.
I feel like in the UK disliking our leaders is part of our cultural identity. In addition I think as a nation we are generally just a bit embarrassed about fanaticism and being too enthusiastic and those who don't feel that way are already taken up in football fandom 😂 (that was a joke ... Sort of but not really)
Hi! Also an American who has lived in the UK for around ten years! My take is that Brits are very comfortable with just being average. Like you said, it's part of being slightly more collectivist than the US. There's a culture of celebrating basic jobs like building, carpentry, being a postman, etc and a lot of popular (in the UK) British media has circulated around the working class (kitchen sink films). I saw another commenter saying that they think it has to do with the British sense of humour, but I think that's just a side effect of this comfort with being average. Generally speaking, Brits are very comfortable with everyone being equally as special and as not-special as the next person, so when someone starts to act superior it's hilarious and great fodder for comedy. Because usually that person is ignoring some SERIOUS deficits in order to feed their own ego (Jane Austen books are FULL of these characters).
This is changing as American culture seeps more and more into British culture, but I think that the need to be Extraordinary is very much American. And that definitely feeds into what you were saying about public speaking in America. If someone sounds really well-spoken and has a large vocabulary, we tend to respect them regardless of what they are actually saying because we've been told that is THE sign of intelligence, and those are the people we need to listen to. Americans with this skill who are deficient in actual substance get HUGE whiplash in the UK and Europe because here people are trained more to listen to WHAT you are saying instead of HOW you say it. And this also feeds into how cults can infiltrate a person's mind - if you've been trained to think that confident and eloquent public speakers are somehow blessed and superior regardless of the actual substance of their speech, how are you meant to catch on to deranged behaviour?
Edit: not people in the comments getting triggered 😂 I wrote my original post in the most complimentary of ways, honestly. There should NOT be such immense pressure to be extraordinary. There should be allowance of, and support for, averageness. All the Brits saying that Americans are "just crazy haha" have no idea the immense pressure American culture puts on people to be perfect, extraordinary, immensely successful, incredibly wealthy. "Wow America is so backwards, they don't even have national healthcare!" No duh, we don't have national healthcare! We harbour the most intense suspicion and hatred towards the concept of "average". I am not ignoring the existence of class structure, the existence of royalty, or the long lasting effects of imperialism and colonialism in the UK, nor am I saying that ambition and pressure to succeed do not exist in the UK, and I think reading my comment that way just goes to show ignorance. The UK literally cannot comprehend how deep the rabbit hole goes when it comes to American exceptionalism and egomaniacal individualism (though it is steadily moving in that direction). Everything I am saying here is how Americans (generally speaking, of course, though I think even a healthy chunk of people on the progressive left, despite themselves) would see British culture in this way. If it sounds extreme, it's because we are. We have no other cultural option.
Thanks for explaining to a Brit. I had noticed that alarming amount of word salad used in everyday vernacular and especially legislation. Until now I couldn’t verbalise it. You are right it is about HOW it is said not WHAT is said. The Conservative Party in the uk was unbearable to listen to because they used this word babble to say anything nothing over the past 14 years.
I disagree with that rather patronising characterisation .
@@DrTWG And? Where's your rebuttal?
Average? Nah. Being exceptional doesn't have to be showy & ostentatious; on the contrary, our natural suspicion/BS meter would make us unimpressed & take the p*ss.
If Brits are so very comfortable being equally special, why is there the belief that the English think they're more special than other types of British people, and all the anger expressed toward the English by all the other types of British. Especially English people from the London area. Honestly, it's crazy you think a society with a king and a house of lords isn't immensely comfortable with the idea that certain people from certain families are so special that they have special laws made especially for them to keep their power.
A very thoughtful analysis. I'm surprised you didn't mention our British rainmaking cult. This is where twenty-two men dress in white and take some bits of wood and a red ball onto a neatly-mown field, at which point the heavens open.....
The cheaper version involves two women with things like dream catchers and a ball, with a net between them. But yes.
😂
Or travelling to the shore of our island, renting a canvas chair, removing most of our clothes, shuffling into the sea and pretending we're having fun
@@ceejay0137My grandfather made a good living renting out deckchairs. Don't laugh at it.
But the high priests of TMS carry on regardless...
If the UK has 2,000 cults with a population of 66 million and the US has 10,000 cults with a population of 330 million (5x higher), the US and UK have the exact same number of cults per capita.
Although I imagine the real difference comes when we start discussing adherents.
Do you know how many people are in those cults?
@@zoe._.1850 That's why I said " I imagine the real difference comes when we start discussing adherents", the US has much larger cults with broader appeal and likely far more members, in general and per capita, than in the UK.
Only difference is the UK cults probably only have one member.... The leader! Honestly could any of us Brits be bothered most of us try our best to avoid shopping let alone joining the tin foil brigade.
That's interesting in itself. One possibilty if more people are availble is that cults are bigger, the other is that there are more of them. Does that mean a cult can only be so big numerically before it stops being attractive and you need more choices ?
5:20 It's very strange because in Ukraine we use the word "sekta", sect, to refer to cults... we also happen to consider American-style churches "sects". To me, a typical evangelical preacher and American view on "being religious" is NOT considered religious, but cultish behavior. But people going to service once in a blue moon while technically belonging to church is what we call believers, and people going as often as every sunday, even casually, would be considered very religious. Typical American churchgoers? Those are just cult members.
american evangelicals aren’t the norm either, they’re a big minority but most are “mainline protestant”, similar to how you describe it
@@rafangille That's kind of due to the fact that the Orthodox and Catholic Churches have their own hierarchies (via the Patriarch and the Pope). It has its pros and cons, with a very big pro being that the institution can and will crack down on any wannabe cult leader.
Same in Poland. Things are considered a cult a lot sooner
Thanks for Ukraine and Polish perspective, I learnt something.
@@izabella7174 Just wondering- is uh, is catholic cult like behaviour in the older gens still a thing? Celebrating some priests and donating money to them etc? Or did it...literally died out as older people passed away?
You said, "Americans are crazy". I'm glad you said it and not me thinking aloud.
Ditto 😂
They are and it comes at a cost.
I'm an American, and after this week, I can say that at least 50% of us are indeed crazy.
Nothing to do with the US election result, lol.
This aged...very well I guess😅
UK has 2000 Cults
USA has 10,000 Cults (5× UK number)
UK population is 60 million
USA population is 320 million (5x UK number)
Source for your stats please.
@WhizzRichardThompson
She just said the number of the Cults stats.
You just need to Google the population stats. Just do the basics. Listen to this clip & then do a Google search.
More pertinent would be the number of members in the cult if you are talking about population...It's quite likely that most of the people in UK cults are in the hundreds per group at most, rather than thousands. Unless of course the 2000 cults includes football clubs. Then there would be a lot more members...
@@jaclam1 ha ha!! 🤣
name the UK cults then, im 65 and dont know of any, are you american?
Another fascinating talk on a subject I hadn't thought about, but am now educated on.
I think your point about people in the UK being used to the fact there are support systems (however flawed) out there when they need it, and so being less likely to gravitate towards a group that seems to come together for mutual support in the face of the rest of society is particularly insightful.
The only flaw is ironically has been conservative government,
The right vote for themselves
The left vote for everyone
And proper depressing in terms of how awful the US is. Like how is that not the same for everyone?!
Also fascinating with how American founded cults export and finding ways to blame and distrust those support systems. They have to work a lot harder, but someone who refused free education for their child to pay for religious indoctrination doesn't want to face the amount of life and resources sacrificed and wasted on it
definitely fascinating! I have fairly close ties to a cult in the UK and i have friends that do too, albiet weaker links. A cult in the uk is VERY easy to spot, actually - its all around farmers!! Farming schools tend to be religious or faith practicing in some way, isolated from the more populated society. Many farms in the UK have cult-like tendencies and follow a commune set up. The support systems set in place aren't as available to farmers and outside money is hard to come by as they tend to be way out in the countryside.
The one that I have been to was on a farm with a small community that definitely created the echo chamber needed. People who werent from a farm school and seek refuge end up looking up to the 'leaders' for instructions, housing arrangements, etc. This particular cult was a free commune to move into and focussed on a general spirituality. Because it was such a small group there were a lot of forced marriages, kids being pumped out as fast as they can, ones that will end up in the same farm schools. Its a shitty and isolated cycle that is thankfully less popular now due to the support systems and monopolisation of the food industry making the unpaid labour from members a lot less valuable
@@eleanorboggs3308 I'd watch a video on this! Farms totally make sense as a hotspot for UK cults
It's part of why UK politicians breaking the lockdown rules was such a huge deal - because UK citizens generally did obey the law, and people breaking that was seen really badly
the people who MADE the law no less, i think it was less a solidarity thing and more a sort of classism thing, like oh of course the rich eton boys don't think they should slum it with the rest of us, and then the classic british mob rule
@@katierasburn9571 Well, I think there was an element of it doesn't need and won't get 100% compliance, it'll work with, say, 95% compliance, and as such they decided they should pick the 5%, mostly meaning themselves. Because why should they be inconvenienced - it's the proles fault if not enough are doing what they were told, and that's what the police are for.
Great points, especially the loneliness, which is often overlooked.
American culture strongly encourages us to move long distances, away from our families and childhood friends. We are told to boldly go out into the world. And by doing so, we lose our some of our support system, our social circle. If you listen to someone share their experiences joining a religion, they almost always talk about being welcomed, coming home, feel accepted. In the US, one of the fastest ways to build a new social circle and support system is to join a religion. And sadly, many cults prey on that.
The Hillsong cult in Australia used the same tactics to suck in a younger generation with music and the wealth doctrine.
Hillsong is now a shadow of it's former self after multiple scandals going back decades.
A friend of mine moved to the US with his family for work. They were living in a small-ish town, and noticed that while people in the neighborhood were pleasant enough if approached, they didn't seem inclined to start interactions.
Then, they followed someone's advice and started attending the local church, and found that people were suddenly being friendly, even people who didn't go to that church.
@@davewilson4493 Exactly. Different cultures have different ways to break the ice. Maybe it's a church, or a pub, or a hot springs like in Japan, or a football/soccer match.
In the UK, New Zealand or Australia, crazy people get laughed away by politicians and the public. In the USA, they get a voice and an audience.
And elected
The crazy people ARE our politicians!!!
Yup Americans are willing to give literally any and everyone a platform in the name of free speech even if what they have to say is factually and objectively wrong.
Boris??
If any politician in the UK, NZ or Australia ever suggested an equivalent to California wildfires were started by Jewish space lasers, I am yet to heart of them. Such people would be laughed away and never elected.
Very fitting video for an American to upload this week.
True we finally got rid of one, it took four years
Beautifully put dude... 😮
Yep
Trump/MAGA
@@tlw6932 if only that were true lol the year'd either be 2020 or 2028.
0:12 i just think its crazy how you said theres a “lack” of cults in the uk, no hate just the wording of that sentence is crazy
Sadly American comes across to me as a me,me,me society & screw everyone else.
Britain is this way too. Ridiculously individualistic
@@RichardCheshire Not as bad as America... yet...
I tried to do my part to vote against this individualistic mindset, alas . . . It's not ALL of us. 😮💨💙
@@RichardCheshireBrits love the NHS . That's not a me me me thing. There definitely are a few selfish pxicks tho
Yes same like Chinese culture.
Remember Stephen Fry once saying of America something like, "If you have a society that doesn't believe in any particular thing, you create a vacuum where people can believe absolutely anything". There are so many potential factors aiding cults in the States. Physical space helps, having so much space where people can just freely go and exist miles and miles from everyone else means that if you don't like or believe what the people around you think and do, you can just go and isolate yourself somewhere remote and get lost in your own belief system, then either spread that online or somehow attract the lonely others who also have those niche thoughts.
Then there's money, pyramid schemes have been outlawed in European countries for decades but they still seem totally unregulated in the US where commercialism often goes hand in hand with a new belief system. Money is also seen as a thing to worship in the US, people become enthralled by those who seem to exemplify the American Dream of making a fortune. They'll then hang on those people's every word unquestioningly because they think their beliefs are what made them the billions.
Then there's the history and tradition underpinning a society. Most societies on earth have developed organically from certain like-minded groups of people, passing through many iterations of religious beliefs, catechisms, renaissances and scientific discoveries that build on and challenge previous ways of thinking and beliefs. The US is rather a blank slate country, formed from many disparate groups who all sought a place to practice their beliefs to their extreme, without interference. Of course there were already some coherent indigenous belief systems which had developed organically by the natives over centuries, but they were suppressed and virtually eradicated, and never got close to being incorporated into any wider belief system across the population.
It might also be a factor that America has an in-built suspiscion of tyranny. The constution has primed them to believe that big government must be checked and balanced else it'll start a reign of terror. While you'd hope that would make them look askance at ALL forms of dominance, in practice it seems to have left them open to side-on subversion and bottom-up brainwashing as they're too focused on top-down tyrrany.
Very well put!
British people believe in quiet, stubborn cynicism (or loud alcoholism, but they go hand in hand) before any actual ideology and religion. It's surprisingly effective.
If I may ask, how can we fix this?
👀
I think, at a certain level, Americans have been kept in a state of paranoia since the cold war started. Sometimes the anxiety is high, sometimes low, but it's always there. This makes it easier for someone who claims to have all the answers. This holds equally for con men, preachers, businessmen and politicians. They just have to press the right buttons and they have a cult-like following.
From what i've seen this month it's how politics is engrained in almost every part of american lives there's no much unnecessary worry and obsession about who gets into office next even if they've been proven time and time again they're going to do what they want anyway, and they're so incredibly anxious to the point of mental breakdown that it's not healthy whatsoever but they won't hear it that it's unhealthy.
They've been made to believe so much that this is the correct way to live that somehow it's normal to destroy their mental health like so much self destruction and they're so self righteous about it and they see anyone trying to talk the out of it as "stopping them defending their country"🙄because they believe they're really influencing anything and they get a high off of it when the party they voted for wins and then it justified all that they think or believe even when much of it needs to change.
I see the things they say to justify so much that they do or believe but really they just did it for their own benefit and find any opportunity to do that even getting rid of family members they never actually cared about, but they still genuinely believe they really influence anything and it's like a sport. So they generally function on high stress and anxiety levels.
Dawg I'm sorry but you can't just psychoanalyze an entire country
Something that I think is being missed here both in the video and comments, which should be pointed out, is the pledge of allegiance. Whilst not in of itself cultist in nature, by religiously repeating the pledge day in, day out throughout your formative years at school you are instilling that sense of obedience to a higher authority which in turn makes you more likely to look to an authority figure or organisation when you get into a bind. Once you take the highly individualistic culture and lack of institutional safety net combined with the pledge of allegiance which is essentially programming young minds generation after generation it's not so surprising how cults are a bigger problem compared to other comparable countries, not just the UK.
Straight out of the North Korean brainwashing manual
This! I’m from the us, but I now teach in the uk. I’ve had soooo many students point out to me how culty the pledge of allegiance is. I always thought it was just weird, but now I’m like “yeah… that’s pretty shocking that we do that.”
Edit: cults are a huge problem in the us. People just don’t realize it. I was in one myself!
Hmm, maybe I'm some kind of outlier, in my school years here in the US that Pledge was to me merely a thing we had to do for a few minutes in the morning and why are we pledging allegiance to a few yards of cloth anyway?
@@scottfw7169 not sure what school you’re at or state you’re in. Rural wisconsin, urban Minnesota, and suburban Florida all do it every single day
@scottfw7169 maybe it didn't impact you in the way it does most people, but my interpretation of the pledge to that bit of fabric has always been symbolic, and really, it is the federal government which the flag is representing is what you are pledging allegiance to.
'Salvation of your soul' is outside the remit of the NHS. 😂
If you are an NHS worker, we have to give ours in at the start of the shift. It's the only way we are guaranteed a cuppa at some point during said shift.
I get that you're joking but when you're struggling in thr UK at least you have relatively straightforward access to NHS mental health services, counselling or CBT, even if you have to wait for a number of months. I'm sure that makes us less likely to be taken in by a cult leader in our times of need.
@Athena-vs4cv Thank you for recognising my comment wasn't entirely serious. I have been a mental health worker in social care and the NHS, and used those services myself at different times. I absolutely know the stresses of working in MH and, as a service user (a horrible term), waiting times and scarcity of mental health services are no joke at all.
yeah we need to put you on a 2 year waiting list for that 😂
Trump is a cult leader. No way around it. I feel the same is happening in my country (Netherlands) to some extent with Geert Wilders, who seems to have a bit of a cult of personality going too.
With this coalition on very shaky grounds as of recently, I wouldn't be surprised he will use this to his advantage and get a more powerful say in the parliament.
Yes, and religion helps it here
This is something a few Americans have touched on, but I've never seen one go into detail on it.
Americans are often taught "debate" as a skill. This is really unusual. In Europe, we sometimes get taught public speaking in our schools systems, and debate is certainly used as an educational tool, but the way America uses debate in it's schools is very intriguing to me.
The purpose of a debate in European education systems (and just generally most non-US systems as far as I know) is to talk through a topic and reach conclusions as a group.
The way it works in America seems to be less about the outcome; in fact the decision seems to be made before the debate even begans that both sides are equally valid. The conclusions and the facts we can learn are not the purpose of the debate, they are just the tools used by the debater. The purpose of the debate is not to educate or inform, it is for two people to square off against each other to conclude which person has "won" the debate. At least this is how it seems to an outsider. I've discussed this at length with an American friend who was educated mostly in the US but completed some higher education in the UK and it's been a very interesting topic of discussion.
In Europe, watching a debate is something people might do in order to learn from two opposed positions, take facts from either side and reach their own conclusion. It is not gladiatorial, it is educational.
I'd be very curious to see your thoughts on this. It seems to be a popular extra-curricular activity in the US and, again from an outside perspective, it seems like teaching children and young adults that the "truth" of a situation can be shaped by their words and how others perceive them is possibly incredibly harmful. Does US style debate create a system when moral relativism is applied to all things, and every moral position will ultimately be a binary with a "winner" and a "loser" based not on fact, but on performance? And does this create a system where the production of a demagogue (many of us would argue Trump, but this could be a cult leader, it could be any number of other Presidents or cultural figures) is not just likely but almost guaranteed?
(P.S. A very thoughtful and interesting video as always!)
their politicians don't seem to benefit . Most "debates " are just bad- mouthing and insulting the other , especially from the GOP .🤨
Americans love debating, but it is not about the truth. It is about the show.
Unfortunately you described the Oxford Union Society as well as the USA. It explains a lot about the Conservative Party (which these days has hallmarks of a cult).
"Debating" is simply learning how to lie and sound convincing
@@EbenBransome public schools are liars academies - that's their actual mission
This is a really clever way to look at what has just been going on in the US without having to address it directly.
Really enjoyed this video and found it really interesting.
Definition of a cult:- unpopular religion.
Definition of a religion:- popular cult
Yep
I like the fine line you trod where you only hinted at the orange man being a cult
You hit the L key by accident there.
@@chrisperyagh you beat me to it
@sdrawkcabUK The cult is about the leader and his every word being law. The Republicans were not a cult before Trump because opposition to the leader did not immediately lead to expulsion and death threats, and because bodies independent of the leader existed like the RNC and Republican congressmen and governors and judges. I know the history of the party, and it's never been remotely close to one-man rule like it is today. When he dies, everything will have to be rebuilt from scratch unless it goes the Kim Il Sung route.
@sdrawkcabUK Compared to the alternative, yes.
@@chrisperyagh
"I ike the fine ine you trod where you ony hinted at the orange man being a cut"
I dont get it.
Well researched. I believe it could also due to the fact that anyone who appears to take themselves too seriously will have the "p" taken out of the Monty Python style. "He's not the Messiah. He's a very naughty boy.
😂😂😂😂😂😂 and poof! The illusion of importance disappears.
Notice how Farage, try as he might, cannot get the sort of cult following of DT, thus his focus on American politics as it represents what he will never experience on this island.
13:18 im glad we dont have that level of public speaking at school in the uk. id have hated that.
In Britain we have Pubs, great for social interaction, plus we are not taught we are better than anyone else!
It's amusing that the place which still has a class system is more inclusive of people of differing incomes than the US
@@dorianleakey the class system definitely exists but it's not very strictly enforced outside of the upper class
@@dorianleakey 9 years ago I was at a (gay) wedding in the US. The happy couple had met at Yale University and most of the guests had attended Yale. The events went on for 3 days so I got to know a lot of them reasonably well. I came away with the impression that the British class system has nothing on the US one. I suspect that a British Duke would be closer to the urban or rural working class than any of those guys would have been to US working class people.
Execpt any one blaqq, foreign or lgbt
@jadebel7006 the US is more racist than the UK, clearly. We even have a black fascist leading our main right wing party.
I’ve been called a cult, but I could have misheard 😳
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
And I have been referred to as a merchant banker - yet do not have anything to do with financial services - weird...
@@mark314158 And when I worked in the catering industry I was know as a Master Baker…..🥖
Yeah , they probably said you were a Cnut. Which is good because Cnut was the King of the North Sea Empire -the personal union of the kingdoms of England, Denmark and Norway
I think they might have thought you were a Copper Nano Tube 😂
As a comment of pure conjecture from someone who's never been to the US, I would suggest sports differences could be a factor. Football teams in the UK are hundreds of years old, formed directly out of communities and continue to have a very strong community factor, often being integral to a city's entire identity. As far as I've been told, this is less often the case in the US, where sports teams are more corporate and can sometimes relocate to completely different regions. UK is also a smaller, denser area, meaning people are never technically that far from a big football team they might support, whereas in the US it's spread more sparsely across huge states. I would imagine this all makes it easier for UK citizens to find a sense of community and belonging within a football team
I give you MK Dons - previously Wimbledon (the Wombles).
@miaschu8175 very good point! I completely forgot that happened
I fear that things are changing. I believe that one of the main differences in the past was that in the UK we, with our 3-4 TV channels and shared radio were 'force-fed' a wide ranging view of the world, and of science that we could not avoid and which made it impossible to latch onto one outspoken worldview without being aware of what made it kooky.
Over the last few years, the curated, 'educational and balanced', media of TV and radio has disappeared off the radar for the majority and personal echo chambers have becoming the norm. This is more akin to how easy it has been to isolate in the US in the past, by ignoring moderate sense as just part of the general cacophony of available media.
This is unfortunately happening everywhere, though at different speeds and severity.
It's a double-edged sword. So much access to varying opinions, yet algorithms will feed you the one you like the most.
@@spiralsausage So true, or in the case of a certain 'Musky' platform, the ones you dislike most too. Gotta fuel that division and hate-clicking.
this is the problem with the fetishization of freedom, specifically of free speech. it gets exaggerating to the point of 'i should be able to say everything and anything without consequence', and so people take advantage of that
When people talk about nihilism and cynicism, it feeds the system. People talk about these things because they want war and suffering and death and violence.
I sense a hidden message here 🙂
Surely nothing related to current events, right? RIGHT?!
Very subtlety put. 🤐
Then tell us
Just Making Another Group Again.... thing.
2000 UK cults? Wow! I had no idea. I should get out more lol
It's weird how culty high school sports seems to be in the US, and the way that people feel about their Alma Mater. In the UK schools and universities are places you go, but you don't usually feel this overwhelming sense of loyalty afterwards
Thank you for not setting up a cult. I fear we would all have been persuaded to join. Instead we get to enjoy your well researched, analytical discourses. You hit upon a key cultural difference: a sense of social responsibility in the UK vs individualism (i.e. selfishness) in the USA. I also note that, here in the UK, the most moral, helpful, kind people I have met have NOT been religious, they just understand that we are effectively all equal and all have a part to play and that everyone should be treated well.
One of the major factors of Trump winning the election was that the poorer voters can't afford to think of social responibility, they need to afford food and fuel and have no social safety nets. This forces them to vote for selfish reasons, and often single issues like food and fuel prices, and don't care about who gets it for them. The right wing media uses this to get them to vote against their interests, and like a vicious circle it just gets worse and worse.
I think another contributing factor has to be the tendency for Brits to just mock people. Culturally we're a lot more sarcastic and less inclined to take someone trying to be a charismatic leader. Like BoJo - although many people call him pretty charming, just as many call him a total clow. Or, in a more extreme example, the BUF failed back in the 30s partially due to a lot of people telling them the blackshirt uniform looked totally ridiculous and that Oswald Mosley was an absolute tool. People decided to mock fascism instead of following it.
To be fair, there was also some pretty serious organised pushback. How much either had an influence, I don't claim to know, though I'm sure that if someone in his uniform walking down the street was being called an arsehole by various random passers-by, it probably didn't help his confidence.
@@davewilson4493 oh, absolutely. we've got to remember stuff like the battle of cable street ofc, and the fact that mosley actually got sent to prison. i do wonder how much of an influence the collective british piss-taking had on his support, though!
0:38 Did anyone else think she was leading into a sponsorship?
10,000 cults in the US vs 2000 cults in the UK actually indicates the UK has a roughly similar, or even worse problem with cults than the US. What this does not tell you though is the relative extremism between cults in the US vs UK. I suspect US cults are more extreme, but I could be wrong!
What's most relevant is the number of people in them. In the UK cults have pretty much zero public awareness, and are presumably very small and probably just bunches of harmless eccentrics.
@@caw25sha Well, you may think that but you don`t know, and the statement in the video related to the number of cults, not the number of people involved in cults. It may not track that the UK has more cult members, but it may do.
I'm glad you pointed this out. This whole video feels like a circle jerk of British exceptionalism and "it couldn't happen here" (it does and has happened here).
@@billygoatgruff3536I kind of agree. I think British people are far less likely to fall into spiritual/Religious cults but political and social cults are parallel to the US.Look at the EDL, arguably football culture.
@@amethyst034I think the fact that Brexit happened is proof enough that the UK is vulnerable to political cults.
Some time ago I watched a video by an American visiting the UK who spent his time going to as many active places of worship as possible .
This was of all faiths and I think in London .
His conclusion was that many more Americans regularly attend a church than in the UK but his perception was that the UK believers were more devout in their faith ,whereas many Americans attend because it is the accepted thing to do.
Although Kalyn says that Americans are individualistic ,they appear unwilling to put themselves out of step with their fellows .
In contrast ,Brits often don`t give a damn what others think.
Perhaps due to the pioneer history, America has many formal social customs, around life events and a sense of belonging (vs the UK), things like prom, homecoming, babyshower, tailgating etc. so it's much more normalized (expected even) to join into various groupings, with others that might not always be your closest acquaintances.
Brits are much more reserved in general about joining a group; outside of things like youth organisations, sports, hobbies and formal religion, social groupings tend to be much more organic, revolving around close friends or family. In the UK, there is a much clearer divide, between the formal and informal.
So it's much harder to persuade Brits even to just join a group, simply because it's not something they are really used to. OTOH the underlying social expectation to join in, that exists in American culture, perhaps makes those who are less socially connected, more vulnerable to those who wish to exploit others for personal gain.
"Americans are more religious" is a very mild way of putting it: there are _atheist churches_ in the US 😅 Which means that there are people who simply cannot conceive _not_ being part of a church even if they don't have a god to believe in. That's some serious religious brainrot right there.
The election result tells me all I need to know about gullibility in USA!
if your pro Harris you are super gullible
We haven't been covering ourselves in glory on that front either.
Falling for Harris's nonsense just because she is a Democrat or not Trump, regardless of whether she was capable of being an effective president, is more gullible.
@@camera2paintingdemocracy is about keeping the worst party out, not the best party in. The convicted felon who tried to steal the last election is the worst
@@marscentral Dont think its that bad, Trumps been convicted twice in criminal court for a total of 34 felonies and once (sexual abuse) in a civil lawsuit. Geoffrey Archer was convicted of perjury during a defamation lawsuit senteced to four years serving two, while Boris only received a £50 civil fine for breaking covid lockdown and was forced to resign as Prime Minister.
I think it comes down to how secure/safe you feel as an individual - the more you feel safe the less you need to belong to something beyond yourself; then there is how one's society is set up, here in the UK we are an inclusive social group of peoples and countries, whereas the US tends to favour individuality as the ideal but if you cannot succeed as an individual then you need some other form of feeling successful and being above others.
Fair point. Also if I lived in a country with astronomical medical insurance and medical bankruptcy I’d be desperately praying to God to heal me too 😂
I live in the U.S. I think you are right
omg the scientology shop picture you used (4:23) is in my hometown (Poole), I remember when it first opened a few years ago everyone thought it was so wierd, last year these two old ladies stopped me in the street to ask me questions abouth mental health and lonelyness (that type of thing anyway) and they finnished by showing me a book and I saw it said dianetics (realised they're scientologists) and I immediatly said bye and walked away lmao
Damn, beat me to it
I got a ferry from Poole once
I'm always so mean to the ladies on the high street that stop you and try to get you in the shop 😂
As a student who was brought up a regular church goer I went along to a couple of evenings in College which were advertised as Concerts, but were in fact looking for recruitments for cults. The first was the "Children of God" yes American. This was a pleasant evening but the chats with the friendly youths afterwards revealed to me to be so naive and as a person who believes in evolution, and that Genesis was an allegory, very ignorant about fossils and so on. The attempts at love bombing did not work. The second was more dangerous, a very charismatic speaker, but who was too well dressed for my liking, (too much money involved), the choir in this case after their great sing song, surrounded us all and used murmuring and increasing volume to whip up a kind of hysteria. I would not involve but many did and I saw someone being prevented from leaving and someone crying in the corner, unable to exit. A few of us gathered to together to resist pressure and we were photographed, which felt very threatening in a kind of way. It made me very wary of that kind of preaching where emotions are whipped up into a frenzy which can actually bring on physical symptoms. I don't remember which group they were, it was about 50 years ago now, but I learned a lot about crowds, cults, and love bombing from those two events.
This has to be one of your best videos ever. It’s a really interesting subject and you have obviously done a lot of research. Thank you for this.
The point on American confidence and performance culture is a really interesting one. I work for a business with offices in the UK and US and I've really noticed this when interviewing job candidates. The average US candidate tends to really impress us in the first interview, which is much more to do with assessing their softer skills, but then we've had so many completely fail at the second competency-based section. Not that they're necessarily worse at that side overall, just that we often think we have an amazing candidate but it turns out they're just able to put on a good show rather than there being any substance behind it.
Hi Kalyn. I really appreciate the topics you cover and the effort you go to. The UK USA comparison channels is a crowded space but your videos really are a cut above. It’s not just “what is a biscuit” nonsense. Many channels focus on serving their UK audience by pandering to the British sense of smug superiority over the silly Yanks. No culture is perfect and I appreciate you demonstrating pride in parts of yours. As a Brit I find I am learning more about Americans through your experiences and reactions. Keep up the good work!
There’s so many interesting cultural/linguistic quirks that don’t usually get mentioned, I agree.
9:27 On point 3: In the UK, and in Europe generally, we have pubs, bars or clubs within walking distance of home where we can meet other people.
I'm from the U.k, but now live in Japan. I work with a lot of U.S.A people. They are mostly great, but I can testify that they all love the sound of their own voice and like to speak aloud their thoughts whilst still processing what has been said. It makes me long for England, where people usually listen first, think through what they are going to say, and then say it.
I don't have to go anywhere and i saw that especially in areas like texas and idaho especially the men like the females should stay quiet while the men should always get all the attention like they always want to be center stage. I like a lot of american tv shows well all of them in fact are made in america and i see it from the actors how loud and in your face they are and these days they like to pander too much to the most immature side of the audience, they're taught to pride themselves on being so loud though it really is so cringy like what are you compensating for? lol but other people have said they treat socializing as a sport rather than just talking to people.
Here in the uk we're taught to be a lot quieter although sadly too much that it's oppressive you might as well not talk at all lol but we know when loud is too loud but i think we're too polite that it doesn't help build confidence or self esteem, which i've grew out of a while ago now i don't care about being so polite because it's just not a realistic way to act and people really take advantage of that politeness now.
So i've took on a bit of how americans are more forward about posing a question, get to the answers, and then just do it and are more opportunistic lol like there's just no sense in hesitating about everything because you think you aren't being polite enough, i like their directness and i think that suits me better. I'm never loud about it though in fact it's better not to be because too many too opportunistic people so i guess it's taught me how to deal with them better and just focus on what i've gone directly for. So even if there's been more influence from america from tv shows and social media i'm also glad for it because i feel like it can balance us out more if we do it in the right ways.
What i would like is just one universal way of socially behaving that isn't too loud or too quiet, isn't too passive, allows the fostering of confidence and self esteem, allows people to talk louder and let off steam when needed, and allows people to use their persistence being as direct as they need to be rather than freaking out at how direct you are. Then i think no part of the world would be so susceptible to cult behaviors.
@@Harteo3917 You are clearly intelligent and considered. So, follow your own rules. Just be real and speak up when necessary.
@@musicfuhrer 🙂I just wish social cultures didn't go from one extreme to another in a bunch of ways, here in the uk we're too unsociable while in america it's the opposite they're too sociable while in other countries i dunno most cultures aren't so loud like americans but they always have highlights of their culture that is just too much on the extreme side. I think change is needed in that regard to create balanced social cultures because that still makes us susceptible to cults.
Hi Kalyn,Yorkshire here. Another great video! I think your point that religiosity has Already
opened peoples minds to accept ever more bizarre beliefs is spot on, by heck.
The current events in America really puts this into perspective.
It’s loneliness. The average lifestyle in North America is very alienating: living in suburbs, always in a car, very little areas for social gatherings in public… etc. This makes people much more vulnerable and willing to believe scammers.
I think the main reason is that we used to have cults but they left from Plymouth on a ship called the Mayflower I believe...
You always hear that the pilgrims fled Britain due to religious persecution but not that a big group of them fled to the Netherlands about 12 years prior to the Mayflower voyage. At that time the Netherlands already had a fair amount of religious freedom and the pilgrims could practice their beliefs without being forced to adhere to a state church. But the downside for them was that their children were being ‘corrupted’ by those more tolerant beliefs and veered off the path set by their religious leaders. Only then they left for Plymouth to sail to the new world to set up their congregation that had (and still has) a big influence on the US.
They only kept the part of the story about the religious persecution and not the part where they thought rules in NL weren’t strict enough. Because that would leave the door open for people to question the stern direction their leadership took instead of the current ‘heroic’ story of finding religious freedom. They already had that, but it was to free for them.
I would say that has hints of cultish behavior, but then again in my opinion any religion in its more fanatical form is also pretty cultish.
@@anouk6644 Thank you for your reply, I may have been a little facetious in glossing over history there. Though I would also recommend looking into the Huguenots / protestant movement of the 16th century in continental Europe.
@@chrisplumb4284 No problem, your comment was meant more lighthearted.
I don’t know much about the Huguenot, except they also came to the Netherlands to flee religious persecution. Growing up I used to be fairly anti-religion, so I avoided the subject if I could. But it is interesting how these developments shaped our history and have a bit of catching up to do.
I think you summed it all up very well. I have noticed how articulate many Americans seem compared to the British. They might be talking complete nonsense, but they do it very well! Anything to do with religion is regarded with suspicion by many people so we're not good fodder for cults.
British history is full of the people saying a big f you to authority
I wonder if you aren't confusing articulate with confident.
Being neither American nor English, but having lived/worked/studied in both places, I cannot agree with your comment. Most political debate, dinner conversations, and even school interactions, have proved far more superficial and lacking in depth of context in my (and my children's) experiences in the US.
@@RichWoods23 Good point
@@jgreen2015 uh British people ARE the authority most of the time
As someone who grew up in a rural part of the bible belt; critical thinking is not encouraged. People want you to AGREE with them rather than question the status quo, and if you do they will throw a fit. Yes many people are tolerant to you discovering new ideas but for those that only listen to crazy talk, they seem to fall for schemes way more. It doesn't help that there's less access to higher education in these areas, my older sister had to teach my Granny how to read and write at a decent skill level.
Many of them find someone who says what they want to hear, and just live in that fantasy, this extends past religion as well. So I 100% can see how someone would fall for a cult when they fall for simple stuff like 'cracking your knuckles gives you arthritis'. Fact checking is very important.
Great video. The scientology mob tried to get me and my friends in Manchester once. There was a bloke outside a big room with a lot of empty desks in it asking people in the street if they would come in and do a 'short written survey'. We were too polite to say no so we went in and started the survey. There were pages and pages of questions which got weirder the further down you got. We did not know what scientology was (1980's), I thought they were going to ask us about actual science haha. Obviously we legged it once we'd cottoned on.
Haha. I remember in the early 80s we used to cross the road not to pass the suited robots outside the Scientology place in case we were lured it and never saw our families again!
@@jnr7265 I used to say to them, "Oh how interesting, I have a degree in theology and studied sects, I'd like to know more about yours." This tended to put them off.
I had the Mormans round years ago asking me if I thought that the world would be a better place with more religion. So I talked for about quarter of an hour about every religious conflict that I could think of. Saw them coming round again a few weeks later but for some reason they did not come to my door.
I also had a serious disappointment a couple of months ago with some Jehovah's witnesses, told the bloke that I was sorry, but I had not seen the accident, and he did not get the joke.
I had that experience with the Scientologists back in the late 80s too. Since I was 19 (and therefore knew everything 😏) and already an ex-Catholic and an atheist I quite enjoyed the chance for a good argument with them when I twigged what it was all about.
For the reason behind the different reactions to lockdown in the UK and US, all you need to do is look up about the "Blitz spirit". The US didn't have to put up with years of strict rationing, German air-raids, V-1 Flying Bombs and V-2 ballistic missiles. We had to pull together in order to survive, and have that inspiration to fall back on when needed.
There are still a very few people living who endured those times, and younger people (like me) who heard their stories. I'm not so sure that's the reason for the lockdown reaction. Another commenter said that we Brits are more inclined to behave in ways that help the common interest than Americans who are more individualistic. I'd say that was a large part of it too.
@@ceejay0137my thoughts too 😊
We were in Singapore during the lockdown there and people were even more compliant than I hear you were in the uk. Singapore has a big community sprit for other reasons. Also SE Asia as a whole tends to be less individualistic and more group minded. They also experienced SARS so the minute the news broke of this new SARS type virus everyone masked up without being told to.
We in Australia joined together for the best of society . It's an attitude of wanting to help "the many" over the whim of the individual. It's really a difference in attitude.
South Africa had a similar situation. We'd already dealt with a virus outbreak, so we weren't strangers to dealing with something like covid.
A welfare state allows people to deal with issues of mental illness, addiction and poverty without reaching the level of desperation that leaves them vulnerable to cults.
Also, brits treat very confident people with a massive amount of skepticism. If you have a big ego in the UK we will systematically take the piss until its in shambles. Mild bullying is our love language, for better or worse.
Great topic for this week. Perfect content and so pleased that you gave it coverage . Thoughts are with my true American friends
At 7:17 I thought you were going to say that we Brits don't have souls.
The difference between Jim Jones and Donald Trump is that Trump would charge you for the Kool-Aid
Flavor-Aid
The difference between Hitler and a fascist Democrat bureaucrat is that Hitler loved animals and would have spared Peanut.
My late girlfriend was an accountant. Her small accountancy firm in the south of England did the accounts for three one-man-band-church pastors from the north of England but none for similar local pastors. Having seen the sort of things they spent their church's money on, she developed a theory that one-man-band pastors deliberately had their accounts done far from their base to avoid word leaking out locally to their congregations about the real nature of their expenditure, which apparently included a lot of proselytising missionary work in exotic, up market holiday destinations.
I'm pleased to see you're much better now after your post on cold remedies 🙂
thank you! Finally turned the corner!
No such thing as cold remedies, it is just stuff she took that made her feel a bit better while a cold ran its course through her immune system.
@@ScruffyMisguidedAndBluebut they make you feel marginally better whilst you’re suffering.
@@deniseadams1703 That's why take a hot toddy when i have a cold. It does nothing for the cold - but I enjoy it more.
2:56 “part of it” has to do with population size? In researching for this video, did you happen to notice that the US population is about 5x that of the population of the UK? So if the US had an estimated 10k cults and the UK has an estimated 2k cults… that’s also 5x. So it seems like that might explain most of it, if not all? I think your video should have ended here.
Right, I looked at the populations after she said that and it almost lines up exactly. Maybe a little bit more here for the population but not much
I agree with you that this number doesn't say anything. The whole comparison is meaningless because the important number would be the percentage of people that are involved in some kind of cult, not the number of cults in itself.
So yeah, it does not do much for the argument, but I don't think that's her point though. :)
(In the rest of the video there are much more and a lot better points I think)
there’s more to it than population size as she said in her video of you watched the whole thing…
@@chipiix_i think there mind was already made up
There is a lot of things to be taken into consideration on top of amount of cults in the country. A cult can consist of one family or of thousands of people. It’s difficult to deny that the biggest cults in the English speaking countries were located in the states.
I think Americans are much more individualistic and this can lead to loneliness. Cults attract the lonely as they offer a (false) sense of community and belonging.
This 100%. MAGA gives them a sense of belonging.
Have you seen the way they react when they hear of someone in their early twenties living with their parents and saving up money? They call them childish and moochers.
@@Foop6570it's looked down upon,also they leave home at 18 still mentally growing up,so it's easy for them to get caught up in groups that will be bad for them ,since at 18 they are still vulnerable
I'm in the cult of Liverpool F.C there are thousands of us and we go and worship every fortnight at Anfield Road
YNWA
Yeah bread and circus
0:53 No. "Cultist" comes from "cult", not the other way around, and "cult" doesn't mean "worship". It's *related to* worship, but it's a *system* of worship.
Errm you are splitting hairs because how can you worship a god without a method of worship.
This is one of the best things about the UK. We're mostly agnostic/athiest. The majority of religious people in the area that I live are foreign nationals (and to a lesser extent, old people). I am in the cult of Girl Gone London though.
I like to think of us as Ankh-Morporkian, if it's of practical use we'll use it.
If it's fun we'll do it.
If neither we'll ignore it
If it doesn't want to be ignored, we'll point and laugh at it.
If this angers it or it hurts someone, then we'll be _cross_ with it and it won't end well for it.
Cults aren't always religious. They can be commercial or political as well.
@@MostlyPennyCat Love the Terry Pratchett reference
@@FloweredUp-n4t Indeed, but these are religious-like in their mechanisms. I would argue that Soviet and Maoist style communism and Nazism are also pseudo religious cults where a personality cult is at the core.
@charlieunderwood1311 The Nazis were closely associated with the Catholic church, so aren't the best example here. You are correct, though.
Also Tommy Robinson and the EDL I would consider a political cult
There’s a lot of cultish behaviour in the UK when it comes to politics. Your example, Scottish independence, Brexit have all attracted cultish behaviour by some followers.
I can see why you think that, but I wouldn't agree.
Absolutely. And if he wore a turban, or spoke in mosques or synagogues, he would be labelled as one. So would Nigel Farage and a number of others. I was born and raised in the UK, I left when I was 27. I am by nature a cynic. It still took me few years to completely shake some pieces of British indoctrination. Much of it was just little inaccuracies and ommisionsk but they add up and can hamper proper critical thinking.
@@MontytheHorsewhat is so strange about a movement in a place widely acknowledged as a country wanting to be separate from a larger geopolitical entity, applies both to Scottish Independence and Brexit.
Btw I am jn favor of the first but would like to become independent to rejoin a more equal union like the EU than the UK where Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have less of a say than England even in a proportional sense.
@@johngault22they Scots generally want to be part of a larger political entity, they voted overwhelmingly in favour of it, the entity was the EU. Unfortunately as the referendum was across the whole UK it meant their regional choice was overlooked.
It's about choice, Scots narrowly voted to remain part of the UK but also got a lot more regional autonomy, so the wish to be independent almost seems like they don't want to be part of a small minded insular nation but part of an open minded wider world.
4:56 “but there’s more to it… i mean yeah we’re crazy but there’s more” 😆😆
It’s generally believed that the people who left England to set up the colonies was because they wanted to get away from the Puritans, but it’s been discovered that these people wanted to set up a more strict version of the Puritans- I think this and the vast areas of land that they can hide in, etc means it’s easier & to be secretive & the fact that they can have compounds & weapons, that would be difficult in the uk
I don’t think it’s ’been discovered' it’s just been lied about. The puritans left the UK because they couldn’t stand the religious tolerance that was commanded in the UK. Once they arrived in the US, they were hanging Quakers, heretics and 'witches' in no time. - they were also the only religious movement in the past few millennia to call for the 'banning of Christmas’. They were appalled by the frivolity of it all and believed it should be a day completely devoted to prayer, not feasting and overt celebrations.
Unfortunately America has a terrible habit of rewriting history to suit its ends. Britain is not immune to this, but does have a culture where people are not scared or prevented from challenging history or historical views. Between 2023 and 2024, over 4000 book bans occurred in American schools. America also went though McCarthyism and the epithet of Anti- American is still frequently used to attack anyone who may rock the boat in the USA.
There's two quotes I've seen on line...
One a piece of fun ..that has a serious base in that period.
T shirts available of line bearing the legend .....We are the Grand daughters of the of the Witches you tried to burn 🎃🧙🏼♂️
The other was an actual quote aligning with what you said ...
Some of those Religious pilgrims were being held in
Boston Lincolnshire jails before embarking on that fleet as it made it's way round to Plymouth Devon and departure to the Colonies... To paraphrase.
Our founders left their old world for their religious freedom.... To a new world knowing full well they had the intent to deny that freedom to others...🧐
Which is why the restoration period was greeted generally as the birth of the British enlightenment period.. despite it's darker phase of Empire.
I think in America there is more of a craving to belong to a group and not be left out. More cliques from a young age.
Also popularity is highly rated. Real pressure to be socially acceptable ie look a certain way, dress a certain way, have certain types of friends, go to certain clubs. It’s all about lee up with the latest trends.
So many people feel like outsiders in a very hostile environment. Constant pressure to thrive, to make money, to look the part etc etc.
Some people join cults to fit in. Cults are no different to how gangs are formed. Some one tells you , you can be a part of their gang and family. In a country where more and more people feel hopeless, it feels nice to know you can be part of something and feel like you belong somewhere!
When I get lonely, my mates set up a day to go for a curry followed by beer.
Many years ago, I was having panic attacks following a burglary. My best friend took me to the pub, we talked about stuff with more friends, i got drunk and went home feeling much better.
To alcohol! The cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
Yesterday proved the USA's cult following propensity 🤦♀️
Yes. Coincidence you released this today or …
Definitely!
Trump 2024 ❤❤
I was just about to put on here “Do you mean like The Trump Cult or The Maga Cult or Trump Worship” but you beat me to it lol.
@@nicolataylor6011 Enjoy the protection . Until you find out that nobody will have your back . Good luck!
I also think it’s a culture and family thing. If I suddenly disappeared and joined a cult (i’m from the uk), my family and friend would track me down, find me and bring me back. There is no such thing as “joining a cult”. They would intervene and get me help, instead of “letting me do what my heart desires”. It might seem controlling to Americans but that’s how most families show their love, it’s a bit tough but if it’s for the best, then it’s okay.
One cultist aspect of America not mentioned is the need for Americans to delude themselves they're Irish, Italian, African, and so on. This is based on a similar need to feel part of a tribe..... Though mostly harmless unless they are deluding themselves, they are Scottish, then they'll get fleeced for every penny they got.
Of course you have a tartan sir...
@@richardhoward7503 Why yes sir, yes I have. And one square foot of land in Scotland purchased from a reputable internet sales floor
@@cal9688 😂😂😂 And now you're a laird!
Since this week we should be more vigilant in debunking any white American's claim at being "European heritage" or identifying as their ethnicity. They clearly do not share Europe's... anything.
@@richardhoward7503 A set of bagpipes to go with the Andrzejewska clan tartan you just bought?
Well done. I hadn't linked the lack of social safety net with the attraction of cults . It's a great point.
This might explain why America voted for Trump in instead of sane person. 🤔
This explains a lot! Timely and thought provoking. Thank you.
That's a very interesting analysis.
I think there's one point you've missed out, though: In England, we have cultural scars dating back to Oliver Cromwell and even to Bloody Mary. Two hated national leaders, whose bigoted attempts to impose their religion on everyone else led to two great principles of English society:
- Discussing religion or politics in public, or with a stranger, is rude. Those who attempt it will be told to Mind Their Own Business.
- Showing enthusiasm for religious or political principles is dangerous fanaticism. Those who attempt it will be unwelcome in almost every social setting (except perhaps at a planning committee for a riot).
These two principles make it quite difficult for a cult to spread in England... and aid social cohesion because you generally have no idea what religion your boss/colleague/housemate/sister-in-law follows, until you attend their funeral...
I read recently someone saying that in Britain we regard religion in the same way as a man's wedding tackle. It's okay to have it, you can play with it as much as you like in private, but you don't get to flash it about in public or stick it down unwilling people's throats.
Americans are also more reliant on self help life style. 'How to be your best self', 'How to get over that one flaw'. In bookstores you see so many American self help therapy styled books. Americans have always, seemingly, sought a more perfectionised version of themselves. Which makes it far easier for a Cult to slip on in there. Where as we Brits tend to be far more cynical and we distrust things that look tooi good to be true lol.
America: Buncha cults.
(Excuse the typo.) 😏
Well done for saying cult so often and not slipping up
unlike more than a few BBC announcers when introducing then Culture Secretary Jeremy Hunt
Everyone thinks that someone else is in a cult. No one thinks that they are in a cult.
12:02 something interesting to note on the point of school presentations and things like that: i am from the south of england and once we reached the final years of school (age 14-16ish) we started needing to do a few presentations. if you didn’t want to do it in front of the class then you could just ask to do it in front of the teachers only instead. which i didn’t even know was an option, and tbh wasn’t presented as one to the rest of us, you had to ask but if you did then you just didn’t have to do the presentation in front of people. something that the rest of us already fought our nerves about. that probably has some correlation to what you were talking about in this segment of the video, so just wanted to share that experience!
interesting video. To your points I would add that in the UK we tend to respect science and logic more and that schools encourage us to question, teach how to evaluate evidence and apply critical thinking. In RE ( religious education) we are told about many different faiths and are expected to have some familiarity with and ability to compare the tenets of various forms of Christianity, Judaism - both strict and liberal and various Zionist factions, Islam - including differences between different traditions, Hinduism - including aspects of their various Gods, Buddhism, Sikhism, Shinto, Animism, Zoroastrianism, Ancestor Worship and so on. We also look at the impact of history and impact of economics and politics on religion. I suspect that there are information silos in the USA and that in some areas people are not educated in different perspectives and the wider world views and history behind them. In every country, in difficult times people look for certainty and easy answers . In the UK we are taught to question, because we have a complex history. In our past, people have suffered persecution and seen how unscrupulous leaders leverage religion and populism in the pursuit of power - we have had our own history of deeply unpleasant theocrats and autocrats and we don't like or trust them and stand fiercely against them, for the most part we are not prone to flag humping and have seen the impact of war in our own land - more so than in the USA - we are sceptical but not excessively cynical and measure leaders by their actions as well as their words and expect to hold them to account. We kick out bad leaders much faster than the USA and we have a swifter transition of power, facilitated by the continuity of but relatively powerless monarchy. We are stubborn and pragmatic and are neither prone to excessive utopianism nor excessive distopianism nor conspiracy theories - we distrust self-promoting narcissists and value ethics, humility and integrity but hate being preached at by hypocrites. We respect and admire honest and quiet service but recognise we frequently don't live up to our ideals. For the most part we value tolerance and are happy to let people do their own thing as long as they don't insist we follow their thing too. We admire talent, intellect and skill but not boastfulness or dogma. We don't like extremism and distrust it. We try to take a nuanced view and recognise that there are other perspectives beyond our own. We value diversity and the insights of other cultures - and pick and choose what we will adopt as our own. We dislike bullies, we may insult our friends and be excessively polite to our enemies, then again - if pushed we will hold to our chosen lines.
I couldn't agree more! After attending a private school back in Estoril, Portugal in my first preteens years. I've learned not only about religious systems but also languages, cultures, identification of thought processes. Theology and and philosophy. As well as as cosmology and so many more!
I remember reading endlessly books on languages, songs, cosmology as well as astrology seemed like a great entry into different educational activities. When I was sent to live in the States, I was really sad for not finding like-minded people who enjoyed reading, asking questions and exploring ideas. The American Educational System is awfully flawed. How do they get students hooked on for ten plus years and graduate? I have no idea.
@@hameley12if you couldn’t find someone who shared your interests like you could in Portugal, maybe that’s more a cultural communication issue? Not in a negative sense at all, but that the issue is less ‘people aren’t into it’ and more norms around making friends and communication are different. If you lived in the US I find it really hard to imagine how you could struggle finding anyone like that :0
I think there are less differences between the countries than you think, but the difference with regards to transfer of power is interesting. I don’t know which one I prefer.
@rayafoxr3 🤗 Don't get me wrong... After learning English, which took me three years, I finally met and communicated better with my peers. But it was super difficult to make friends and keep them. You may right 'bout the communication issue and cultural differences, as well as being undiagnosed autistic living away from my family. Thankfully, I grew up and have gotten better at speaking, expressing, and making new friends. But the fact remains that some schools in America aren't for everyone. Each child has different ways of learning, which I learned in HS and Uni. Graduated as a family therapist in 2015.
There are several cults in the UK. They all work through childhood indoctrination and social isolation. It’s an important thing to notice. Thankfully legal requirements for education really make the isolation aspect more difficult.
British people were religious too until the first world war.
There was certainly a decline after the war, but more generally the Education Acts of 1918 and 1921, which provided for secondary schooling and made it mandatory to age 14, are a contribution. Before then the vast majority children got their elementary schooling through their local church, either on the premises or at a local primary school maintained by the church (thousands of which survive today). Only those children who won a scholarship, or whose parents could afford to pay, got any secondary schooling before 1921. Once church attendance was no longer required for parents to get their child into school, attendance started to fall (contrast that with the rise 20 years ago when churches were given the right to select pupils once again).
My paternal grandmother only attended school between the ages of 7 and 9, thanks to falling ill with Spanish Flu after the war and needing a long convalescence. If she'd been a year younger she would have qualified to start secondary school in 1921. If it wasn't for her father teaching her proper penmanship as a teenager, she'd likely have had a 9 year old's handwriting for the rest of her life.
Yes but that was mainly Church of England which is caffeine free, diet religion.
Thank you so much for all the content you put together, which comes across as well researched. Liking your content more and more 🙂
2:48 this means that both countries have the same amount of cults when accounting for population.
US has 5x the population of the U.K. so a 10,000/2,000 split makes us even.
Indeed, I can't help but notice the timing of this video.
Oh, cults, you say? Are you talking about the LGTVs or the Talmud worshippers? Antifa or BLM?
How timely… nicely put together and provides some food for thought, clearly you’ve recovered from your cold to be back at the top of your game. Loved this. !