pinch himself at night, wondering if this is a dream come true.” She chuckled a little at that. “The treatment of the children bolters this.
They are brought up by the group as a whole, rather than y their natural parents. That way, they are more easily influenced by he group ideology and are removed from the adult male/female bondng process. The children are continuously shuttled around from couple 0 couple for lodging. And, of course, the couples themselves are in onstant flux.
The idea is to reduce adult relationships to the purely exual or communal, as in working together for the common good.” “What about the other men? Where do they fit in?” “It’s like a pyramid, with Sarris at the top, holding power over hem all-males and females. Below him are what you might call lders or lieutenants, people who have stuck with him a long time and ave accumulated a certain amount of power, some of it official, some of.
Below them, you get a kind of new guys-old guys hazing relationhip, where people who have been inside awhile hold sway over the ewcomers.
Now the males higher in the hierarchy exercise control %174 over the lesser males by taking their women and by assigning menial tasks; the women, who are essentially without official status in this setting, achieve status by sleeping with powerful males, and supplanting one another in the process. It’s an incredibly complex society, almost entirely directed by interpersonal relationships rather than, say, competence, rank, or age, barring Sarris and a few of his inner circle.
It’s kind of like saying that only the blond can lead in a world of redheads. ‘Course, I’m trespassing here.” “How about it, Dr. Barrett?
Any arguments?” There was a small pause.
“I think it’s always misleading to superimpose our own values onto a personality like Mr. Sarris’s. People in his position-that is, leaders who live among their followers on a day-to-day basis-usually can’t afford our cynicism. It would trip them up sooner or later. What we see as opportunism might well be a form of spiritual expression.”
Kaufman laughed, which made me wince, but Barrett joined her. “I know, it’s a little hard to swallow, and it may not be true in this case. You disagree, Dr. Kaufman?” “No, no… Well, maybe a bit. I think a good part of him is just plain horny and self-serving.” “Okay,” I said once the laughter died down. “That takes care of Sarris.
Now what about the people he recruits?” “That covers a lot of territory,” Barrett hesitated. “Well, try it in general terms first, and then I’ll get very specific, down to one person, in fact.” “Okay…”
There was a moment’s silence as she collected her thoughts.
“The kind of people we’re talking about, the ones that stick it out in a cult, or whatever you want to call this group, tend to seek an authoritarian environment, be it military service, or a state hospital, or a cult. The irony is that they’re often looking for exactly what they’ve run away from at home.” I perked up at that. “From authoritarian parents, you mean. “Stern, overprotective, or downright abusive parents. In any case, the kids you’re talking about-although they aren’t all kids often come from stifling homes, homes in which the parents exercise absolute control over their children. These kids, as a result, yearn for independence, but are incapable of making decisions on their own. So they run from home and head for a life on the streets, or to outfits like The Order, places where they can just be, without having to be responsible, and where they can focus on an authority figure-orderly, street cop, drill sergeant, cult leader, whatever-who is not their parent. Indeed, cult recruiters often comb the streets for just these types.” %175 “And the college campuses.” “Yes, there, too, but for slightly different types. The college reuits share many of the same characteristics as the people I mentioned, they’re less apparent-the mental illness aspects have often been dden by other, more socially acceptable sobriquets, like ‘high-strung,’ oody’.
“Or ‘uptight,’” I said, remembering Petrovic’s word for Julie.
“Precisely. The higher educated, wealthier elements of our society e sometimes far more deluded and dishonest about these things than e street people.” “Okay, I have a specific person in mind, a single child-a girl.
e’s in her early twenties, is now in the Order, and her parents have me looking for her. From what I could interpret from people who ew her in high school and before, it sounds like life at home was ffocating: She didn’t have friends; her father was constantly hovering er her, and she had chronic headaches and explosive temper tanmns, times when she would just flip out. Her art teacher said she was tremely moody, sometimes painting normal scenes, sometimes turng out what he called concentration-camp art, which she then appartly destroyed. “She even stabbed herself once. In fact, that was interesting. The teacher witnessed that-and called the ambulance-and he seemed imply that the self-stabbing calmed her down. Can you make anying of that?” “Not legally.” “This is off the record; just the three of us.” There was a heavy sigh at the other end. “I almost hate to say Nothing. On the face of it, without knowing this girl or anything more bout her, I’d guess you might be dealing with a borderline personality. hat’s a very strong ‘might,’ by the way. I have no way of knowing for re. I’m merely going by the vague signposts you described.” “What’s a borderline personality?” “A pretty unpleasant type, actually. It’s a little unclear whether ey develop or are born with their personality disorder, but their rimary driving force is rage.
“Sounds charming,” Kaufman said softly.
“Hardly. Your mention of the violent temper tantrums would fit ere, as would the headaches and the suffocating, isolated home life.
hey are often hyperactive, difficult to manage and impulsive, and hen their fuse is lit, they blow sky-high.” “Doesn’t sound like someone like that would last three days in a ult.” I also had never heard any mention of hyperactivity in Julie; in %176 fact, my reading had been that she was unusually repressed and quiet.
“On the contrary; a cult might be just the place. Borderlines are not happy with their condition. Their lives are often solely directed at finding a solution. But without proper guidance, they’re likely to seek help from strong disciplinarians. You remember when the solution to a ‘problem child’ was to send it off to the French Foreign Legion or the Marines? The old ‘They’ll straighten you out’ school? Often the borderline himself will try to apply the same sort of medicine. They have the sense that since they can’t control their own rage, they ought to find an environment that will do it for them.” “So how do they function?” Kaufman asked, by now thoroughly caught up in the conversation. “Request regular beatings? Sounds like they’re in search of accommodating sadists.” “Quite the contrary. They internalize their rage. Usually the peopIe around them haven’t the slightest idea that they are half-consumed with anger. Remember, having chosen their surroundings, they try to conform; they follow the rules and regulations precisely and often stand out as exemplary citizens. The cost of all this is on the inside. They hate themselves growing up, they’ve often been told repeatedly that they’re bad, even ‘evil’ and so once in place in their chosen society, they often turn their rage on themselves, sometimes even cutting themselves again and again as self-punishment.
Your mention of the selfinflicted wound thus becomes relevant. But I would like to stress again, Lieutenant, that this is all hypothetical.