The Democratic Socialists of America is, essentially, a bona fide full-on Communist Party in the United States, seriously and strongly pushing for socialism and communism in that country (and with a rather scary amount of political power as of recent years, given that they have several members in congress).
Recently anti-SJW skeptics noticed that their latest conference was posted on YouTube, and how utterly ridiculous and cringey it was. Many have made videos commenting on it. The original video is like over 2 hours long, so unless you are willing to sit through that insanity, I warmly recommend watching this 20-minute clip show that shows the juiciest (and cringiest) parts of the entire video.
There are plenty of videos on YouTube commenting on how ridiculous it is (many of these videos are quite interesting), so I'm not going to repeat those points. I will, however, talk about something that those videos don't seem to: How this shows how much of a cult the Democratic Socialists of America is.
Of course the main feature that you immediately notice is how much utter and deep regressive leftist social justice ideology there is in that group, and that conference. It's like the worst kind of leftist university campus, taken to eleven.
The speakers and especially the people in the public speaking to the microphone are constantly using social justice rhetoric and terminology, and using strange (and cringey) expressions like "point of privilege", and constantly saying their preferred pronouns. Likewise, especially at the beginning of the conference, every single person seems keen on one-upping each other in how many restrictions and rules they want to impose onto the others. Myriads and myriads of rules and restrictions, one on top of another, with no end in sight. Everybody must be constantly walking on eggshells to try to avoid offending someone, or "triggering" someone, or making someone "feel unsafe", or whatever of the myriads and myriads of complaints.
All these strange inside-group customs and rules are actually something that's extremely common in cults and sects. I have personally witnessed this in religious cults myself, and heard and read quite a lot about it as well.
Very often cults and sects (be their outright religious, or quasi-religious) will have their own inside-group language and expressions, and inside-group customs, habits and rules of conduct. Quite often this language and these customs feel strange (and often quite cringey) to outsiders, but to the members themselves they feel normal. All this language and these customs serve two main purposes:
Firstly, they give the members a feeling of belonging to this particular group. They feel like members of a special closed club, with its own inside knowledge, customs and language, which outsiders aren't privy to. It makes them feel special. It creates a "we vs. them", "us vs. the outsiders" feeling and mentality. These minor things, these expressions, words, customs and practices make them feel part of the special inside-group, separate from outsiders.
The second purpose of these is more nefarious: The more that the cult members are accustomed to these unusual strange practices and language, the more they are conditioned to following all these customs and rules, the easier it's to control them. Nobody in the cult wants to be an outsider, the outlier, the one who goes against and stands out from everybody else; they want to belong, they want to be accepted, they want to be part of the group. Therefore they will easily follow all these minor things, all the customs and practices, and use all the preferred language, no matter how unusual or bizarre to outsiders.
So, if the cult members have been conditioned into following all these unusual customs, it becomes easier to make them do other more significant things as well by the cult leaders. For example, if money or manpower is needed for some purpose, it becomes much easier to convince the cult members to contribute with their own. They have already been conditioned to follow all the other rules, lest they feel as outsiders, so now that everybody else is eg. contributing monetarily to some cause, once again nobody wants to be the one outsider, the one that goes against everybody else, so they feel compelled to obey.
The myriads and myriads of tiny rules and restrictions play into this as well. Rule after rule, restriction after restriction, demand after demand, is piled one on top of another, as an endless heap of things to be wary of and to obey. Once again, when the cult members have been conditioned into following these hundreds and hundreds of rules, it becomes easier to make them follow other, more significant rules as well (which they might otherwise be hesitant to do). It's also easier to control cult members with hundreds and hundreds of rules, new ones being invented all the time, because it keeps them on their toes, fearing retribution and punishment from the slightest of errors. They become docile and easy to command, as they are too scared to disobey.
Another very cult-like thing that happens in the video is when this guy emphasizes (among many, many other things) that the members must never talk to outsiders, nor to the police. Moreover, and quite prominently, he instructs all the members to report to a "marshal" if they see somebody talking to the police. This is extraordinarily cult-like behavior: Do not engage with outsiders, with the "enemy", do not talk to them, do not listen to what they have to say, and if you ever see someone from the cult talking to the enemy, immediately report it to the superiors! It's extremely common in cults to discourage members from getting outside information and dissenting opinions, and from engaging with outsiders. Only the cult is safe, and outsiders are dangerous and must be avoided at all cost. And if an outsider start speaking, it must never be listened to.
Recently anti-SJW skeptics noticed that their latest conference was posted on YouTube, and how utterly ridiculous and cringey it was. Many have made videos commenting on it. The original video is like over 2 hours long, so unless you are willing to sit through that insanity, I warmly recommend watching this 20-minute clip show that shows the juiciest (and cringiest) parts of the entire video.There are plenty of videos on YouTube commenting on how ridiculous it is (many of these videos are quite interesting), so I'm not going to repeat those points. I will, however, talk about something that those videos don't seem to: How this shows how much of a cult the Democratic Socialists of America is.
Of course the main feature that you immediately notice is how much utter and deep regressive leftist social justice ideology there is in that group, and that conference. It's like the worst kind of leftist university campus, taken to eleven.
The speakers and especially the people in the public speaking to the microphone are constantly using social justice rhetoric and terminology, and using strange (and cringey) expressions like "point of privilege", and constantly saying their preferred pronouns. Likewise, especially at the beginning of the conference, every single person seems keen on one-upping each other in how many restrictions and rules they want to impose onto the others. Myriads and myriads of rules and restrictions, one on top of another, with no end in sight. Everybody must be constantly walking on eggshells to try to avoid offending someone, or "triggering" someone, or making someone "feel unsafe", or whatever of the myriads and myriads of complaints.
All these strange inside-group customs and rules are actually something that's extremely common in cults and sects. I have personally witnessed this in religious cults myself, and heard and read quite a lot about it as well.
Very often cults and sects (be their outright religious, or quasi-religious) will have their own inside-group language and expressions, and inside-group customs, habits and rules of conduct. Quite often this language and these customs feel strange (and often quite cringey) to outsiders, but to the members themselves they feel normal. All this language and these customs serve two main purposes:
Firstly, they give the members a feeling of belonging to this particular group. They feel like members of a special closed club, with its own inside knowledge, customs and language, which outsiders aren't privy to. It makes them feel special. It creates a "we vs. them", "us vs. the outsiders" feeling and mentality. These minor things, these expressions, words, customs and practices make them feel part of the special inside-group, separate from outsiders.
The second purpose of these is more nefarious: The more that the cult members are accustomed to these unusual strange practices and language, the more they are conditioned to following all these customs and rules, the easier it's to control them. Nobody in the cult wants to be an outsider, the outlier, the one who goes against and stands out from everybody else; they want to belong, they want to be accepted, they want to be part of the group. Therefore they will easily follow all these minor things, all the customs and practices, and use all the preferred language, no matter how unusual or bizarre to outsiders.
So, if the cult members have been conditioned into following all these unusual customs, it becomes easier to make them do other more significant things as well by the cult leaders. For example, if money or manpower is needed for some purpose, it becomes much easier to convince the cult members to contribute with their own. They have already been conditioned to follow all the other rules, lest they feel as outsiders, so now that everybody else is eg. contributing monetarily to some cause, once again nobody wants to be the one outsider, the one that goes against everybody else, so they feel compelled to obey.
The myriads and myriads of tiny rules and restrictions play into this as well. Rule after rule, restriction after restriction, demand after demand, is piled one on top of another, as an endless heap of things to be wary of and to obey. Once again, when the cult members have been conditioned into following these hundreds and hundreds of rules, it becomes easier to make them follow other, more significant rules as well (which they might otherwise be hesitant to do). It's also easier to control cult members with hundreds and hundreds of rules, new ones being invented all the time, because it keeps them on their toes, fearing retribution and punishment from the slightest of errors. They become docile and easy to command, as they are too scared to disobey.
Another very cult-like thing that happens in the video is when this guy emphasizes (among many, many other things) that the members must never talk to outsiders, nor to the police. Moreover, and quite prominently, he instructs all the members to report to a "marshal" if they see somebody talking to the police. This is extraordinarily cult-like behavior: Do not engage with outsiders, with the "enemy", do not talk to them, do not listen to what they have to say, and if you ever see someone from the cult talking to the enemy, immediately report it to the superiors! It's extremely common in cults to discourage members from getting outside information and dissenting opinions, and from engaging with outsiders. Only the cult is safe, and outsiders are dangerous and must be avoided at all cost. And if an outsider start speaking, it must never be listened to.
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