Rocky

YOU are the one conflating the issues. Btw, this is salient and can provide you with solace, if you want solace, that is. Bless your heart. https://www.instagram.com/reel/CeEiHCOA9pk/

Not an argument. A statement. You misstated and mischaracterized previous threads, comments, and posts.

You misstated and mischaracterized previous threads, comments, and posts.

That claim is not true. It seems your confirmation bias is radiating out brightly.

They are afraid of losing their social status. That's one definition of "belonging."

This is where, if you didn't understand, you need to ask for clarification. Instead, you, with hostility, declare the meaning you inferred without any reference to what was the intended message. Frankly, WW did a very good job (IMO) of explaining key sociological issues you seemed to have misunderstood, intentionally or otherwise.

Yes Until you derailed the thread and made it about YOU. And then you made statements wherein you didn't explain yourself but acted like everybody already knew what you meant anyway. That's tedious... and absurd, especially when you declare that your audience was PRETENDING to not understand your words.

???????????????

Not taking your bait.

That's not what you claimed I said when you made an erroneous characterization of my point about a sense of belonging... I can only shake my head at what you're doing and guess at why you're doing it.

Those are YOUR words, not mine. Again, I have no idea why you write like you have a chip on your shoulder, but the hostility is not coming from me. You did NOT take MY words at face value.

What's with the persistent chip on your shoulder? By definition, YOU cannot label any other person's experience as being wrong. You say you have degrees in hard sciences. If that's where you stopped learning, that's just sad.

I wasn't resorting to any "fact." I was sharing MY EXPERIENCE. Are you telling me that my experience is wrong?

Are you suggesting that unless I come to agree with you, I am and will continue to be WRONG about all of what I have to say about TWI? Because that is very much what it sounds like.

Perhaps because despite your views/understanding of the notion, you're not going to change human nature in any way just by telling everyone here that belonging is childish or otherwise anachronistic.

No, that's not necessarily true. There was great joy for many at ROA gatherings... because people felt a sense of belonging to each other. Bolshevik, please find solace and peace... somewhere, somehow. Perhaps by finding a social network to and from which you can obtain a sense of belonging. Hostility? From me? That's not what you're sensing.

That's a statement of judgment, apparently not arrived at with any amount of empathy.

At no point in the comment (of mine) to which you replied did I mention or even allude to vpw.

Dude... I'm not the enemy. Cults' lure, whether you like it or not, is the sense of belonging they provide to recruits. Your questions neither confront ME, nor advance a position. If you didn't sound like you have a chip on your shoulder, I might be willing to engage in discussion on those questions. Bottom line: cults promise a sense of belonging. If they don't, people don't stay. Period.

Why do you think universities have fraternities and sororities?

Again, seriously? Belonging IS something that has been written about before... on GSC. IF you need any insight on where to find sociologist or psychologist research on the subject, just ask. Otherwise, ICSA might be a good place to start.

Seriously? Because you were born into it, YMMV, but many of us were not born into it. What do you understand the hook was that kept anyone in the cult for 12 years?

By then, many have realized (albeit temporarily) their sense of belonging is inextricably linked to the cult. The duration of that belonging depends on one's tolerance for control/abuse by the cult leaders.

word!

To echo Waysider: Do you know any sinners who are not saints? Seems to me that your question was a condescending way to dismiss the point to which you had responded. Have you EVER read Matthew 5:45?