BBC The Psychological Tricks that Make Cults so Dangerous (2022)

A highly critical documentary by UK broadcaster BBC in the series "BBC Reel". The video is published under the subseries “Psychology” and was broadcasted on April 26, 2022.

The commentary is – as the title shows already – propaganda-like. It reports about cults like “Jonestown” or “Children of god” but never mentions Osho or his Sannyasins. Nevertheless they repeatedly and conspicuously show footage of Osho or Sannyasins without putting it into the commentary text itself. Through this way of “reporting” the impression is subconsciously establishing Osho and his Sannyasins as a cult too. Not one of the interviewed “experts” mention Osho either, but the pictures talk a different language.

The unspoken alleged connection between destructive cults like the Manson Family, David Koresh (Waco tragedy), Jim Jones (Jonestown) and Osho and his Sannyasins is a good example of the critical perception still existing in 2022, especially in some public media.

From the BBC website:

”Thousands of groups known as cults have arisen over history. But most cults claim not to be cults, and many people involved might not even be aware they are in one. So how do cults lure people in?

Tui McLean explores the secret world of cults through a psychological lens, examining what a cult actually is, and how some cults have been able to make ordinary people do unthinkable things.”