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MattOrchard
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The Weird World of Cults

TECHNICALLY This video is now an exclusive Director's Cut as the free release had to have the small Westbro Baptist church segment clipped after a copyright claim from the BBC

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I strived to make it before the end of the month and made it by the SKIN OF MY TEETH (depending on your timezone). Enjoy your early premiere everyone! Interested to hear your thoughts on this one as it's a bit different from the norm. Probably the closest to it is Memory Wars but even then not reaaaaaaallly.  AGAIN you might have to run ad block (swear I thought I double checked everything) due to a small copyright trigger. 

The Weird World of Cults

Comments

Still my all time favorite

shitler

Awesome video again Matt, the editing is top notch and the subjects keep being so interesting. Keep up the great work

Robin Lindbladh

Oh wow, I didn't get an alert ive been checking every few days. I can't wait to get home and watch this. Sad news about the podcast was literally my favorite podcast.

Rob B

Love it! someone also just uploaded an ISO to archive.org of the DVD Heavens Gate released before they "departed earth". https://archive.org/details/HPM-HeavensGateDVDLastPlanet

kneeL

I remember Creed from The Office said “you have more fun as a follower, but you make more money as a cult leader”. He apparently had experience with both :D I love the originality of your content, it’s exactly what we need.

Spela

Now I don't think it is but its soooooo close😲 😂

HollaHollaHolla!

Did you use the music from "Shrek is love, Shrek is life?" i feel like i recognize that music from the time i heard the words "pungent ogre love" strewn together in the same sentence

HollaHollaHolla!

I love the variety of videos you do! They are always so interesting and entertaining to watch

Emily Tupper

You and knowing better should do a collab. Big fan of both you guys and would want to see it.

Sir

Great writeup of a great film! I had no idea PTA had TC for a screening! That must’ve been right awkward 😂 Too funny. And yes, obviously any viewer with any sort of knowledge of cults would think “Scientology” before anything else. The cult qualities of AA are too much to unpack in this forum. Suffice it to say I’m not the only one who’s drawn that conclusion, and one can find literature out there which argues that stance well. You’ll also find die-hard cult members who’ll defend their cult to the end, and say it absolutely isn’t one. (In fairness, it doesn’t tick ALL the boxes, but quite enough to at least be considered a cult-light.) But it takes diligence and perseverance to uncover all the bullshit, brainwashing and illogic that gets propagated in those meetings and in the literature. There’s something about the “recovery” industry that lends itself really well to cult recruitment. Anyway. Your work is great as always. Intelligent, funny at times, thought provoking and fantastically entertaining.

Inge Berge

no, it's useless philosophical meandering.

Tom Tom

Does it serve any purpose to dissect free will or creativity or lack there of? Does this analysis just get us all into a deeper questioning of everything and if so does it make us a better species in any way?

Obi G.

Fascinating, I see you didnt touch the Tony R brand.

Obi G.

I feel like I could Paraphrase, now wondering if I ramble the same nothings and that’s why….

charlie carter

Love your videos Matt!!!! Thanks for another great one.

Simone Lawrence

Oh GOSH, just opened this treasure. THANK YOU

Obi G.

Oh and yeah I've seen The Master. PTA is one of my favorite directors. Even his "misses" are still interesting. One thing I love about The Master is PTA was (probably quite sincerely from his perspective) saying it wasn't really about Scientology when word was getting out about it's contents, and that he had only drawn a bit from LRH when crafting the character of Lancaster Dodd. He even gave Tom Cruise a private screening as a show of good will. So I read about all that at the time and figured it probably would just be a handful of vague similarities and then when I watched it...It was SO obviously about Scientology it was almost too on the nose. I can just picture Cruise sitting in that little private cinema thinking "WTF PT, how could you possibly think I would be okay with this?" But I'm sure PTA was being genuine. Once he got caught up in the world he created, the glaringly obvious implied criticisms of the religion he drew inspiration from must have just become an afterthought for him, and he didn't imagine it would be a big deal for anyone else either. Funny example of how artists can think.

Matt Orchard

Uhh, pretty sure they do but I used to live in Australia (will again soon) so maybe I'm just projecting. I would think most Australians would know Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch.

Matt Orchard

Hey Matt weird off topic question. Do Kiwis know the Australian states? I was just thinking I don’t think Aussies know anything about New Zealand except north island and South Island.

Matthew (Zei)

I've heard a philosopher named Sam Harris discuss such ideas. One of his specialties is consciousness and free will. Even he will admit that the ideas lead nowhere.

Tom Tom

Loved this video! Enjoy those videos where the viewer has the opportunity to interact with the material, exercises critical thinking. Cheers Matt

Terei Tumohe

The Heaven's Gate exit interviews are so damn surreal.

Kurt Narten

Well done for being able to summarize the conversation in one go. I had to re-watch it multiple times to script mine as I found it so mind numbing. The note I'd give though is that the video actually states that it IS coherent...but it's aimless. What purpose do Reneire's boilerplate musings serve? Who could they help and how exactly?

Matt Orchard

Alcoholics Anonymous? I know there's some controversial stuff in "stepping" like surrendering to a higher power and so forth, but I've seen too many sober people swear by it for me to not think it must be a net positive force. Always open to new info though.

Matt Orchard

Awesome, really looking forward to watching! I'm saving this for the weekend 😁

Kristoffer Hansen

Awesome video as always! Two things: Have you seen “The Master” with Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman? So, so good. Also: you forgot AA. 😵‍💫

Inge Berge

It's not incoherent. It's basic and standard stuff regarding free will. A lack of immediate accessibility to people who've never been exposed to certain ideas, does not imply incoherence.

Tom Tom

The acapella at the end had me cracking up

Dustin

yoooo Mr. Orchard, can't wait to see this. Awesome!!

JJ

Yeah that sounds like a lot of words to me wothout anything coherent

Marina D.

Just started watching, but I’m moving and this is a great time to have new content! Thanks, and I’m sure the video will be great as always

Tori Morales

My answer to the question of the first exercise: The conversation was about creativity, and free will. What is creativity? Anything predictable is not creative per se. But without free will, everything is predictable, in that we are automata. However, our self awareness as humans might put our predictability behind a veil, so we might consider ourselves creative, even while being predictable robots. I didn't consider it to be an incoherent monologue, nor did I consider the ideas incoherent. Actually pretty standard reflections on the nature of free will. Which is not to say the ideas are meaningful to anybody's life. They are not. But the ideas are standard and coherent philosophical musings.

Tom Tom

Amazing video as always, the only problem for me is it is too short ;) ... thank you!!

Marina D.

Heck YES!!!! I’m so excited now I love your videos

Laura Jones

I'm so excited! The best thing to wake up to is a new Matt Orchard!

BurlyBob

Oh heck yes. This will be my treadmill viewing today

Idella

Fantastic video again Matt! Although I'm afraid I'm going to have to leave my a capella group now....ta-doe-da-taa-doeeee....

Reinier Weerts

I was having a bad day yesterday and I thought to check the patreon for your new video and saw the mid April date on the JohnnyVAmber video and I allllllmost left a cheeky comment 🙃 Glad i didn't. Love your stuff and appreciate your hard work.

Adam Coleman

Can’t wait to watch! I absolutely loved Memory Wars so this should be great too. Thanks Matt 🙌

Elisabeth Villoutreix


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