Was Enron a cult?

January 24, 2002 3:56 PM

Was Enron a cult?
posted by neilkod (12 comments total)

Okay, we all know that the media loves to take a big splashy topic and milk it to death for all it's worth.

This article was at least unique in it's approach. Interesting questions were raised; but I came away with the feeling that this would have been better as an in-depth article. More supporting evidence to the questions raised is needed.
posted by xena at 4:10 PM on January 24, 2002

It sounds like this article is an attempt to sell Prof. Dave Arnott's book.
posted by Neb at 4:21 PM on January 24, 2002

cults usually have a better pension plan.
posted by th3ph17 at 4:42 PM on January 24, 2002

Is Dallas Baptist University a cult? The good prof. seems unaware of some of theother aspects that separate out what seems cult-like groups from what specialist identify as true cults.
posted by Postroad at 4:51 PM on January 24, 2002

Cults just take to an extreme the sorts of tactics and psychological games that occur within most closed social systems. I remember talking to a girl, fresh out of college, who worked at Sapient (this was in 1995) who told me sincerely "Sapient is my company. I believe in it."

Are families cults? Sports teams? Most sales organizations? Is patriotism merely masking a large cult? Looked at in the right way (or in a paranoid way) our entire society is simply a set of standards, a set of agreed-upon beliefs, a consensual sense of common sense that arises out of a myriad of smaller, cultish groups each with their own particular beliefs or precepts.
posted by vacapinta at 5:01 PM on January 24, 2002

No, OK Soda was a cult.
posted by j.edwards at 5:35 PM on January 24, 2002

...and just like any other cultists, I couldn't care less about what happens to them. Pledging loyalty to a corporation is akin to selling one's soul. If only Enron cultists could meet an end as fitting as the one bestowed upon those loyal to Branch Davidianism.

Janet Reno, I still love you.
posted by Harry Hopkins' Hat at 8:57 PM on January 24, 2002

And did Enron's chairman, Kenneth L. Lay, operate in much the same way as David Koresh and Marshall Applewhite?

It took me a minute to realize they were saying "Marshall Applewhite," and not bad-mouthing the Texas quarterback.
posted by yerfatma at 4:58 AM on January 25, 2002

enron is to branch davidians as microsoft is to scientology.
posted by quonsar at 5:48 AM on January 25, 2002

If one looks with the right eyes, Enron is a cult. But so is every large company. And, by the way, every large union. And Mary Kay Cosmetics ought to be stormed by the FBI and Justice department. But I think this says more about the particular definition of "cult" being used than it does about Enron.
posted by MidasMulligan at 6:42 AM on January 25, 2002

enron is to branch davidians as microsoft is to scientology

Well, part of Windows 2000 was written by a company that is headed by a $cientologist. In Germany, this was enough to set off some alarm bells.
posted by PeteyStock at 8:09 AM on January 25, 2002

Cult? Enron Hubbard?
posted by ParisParamus at 4:02 PM on January 29, 2002