Janja Lalich is a professor of sociology who focuses on cults and specializes in charismatic authority, power relations, ideology, coercion, and social control. In this Ted Talk he discusses why people join cults. Cults have been around since the beginning of mankind have influenced many people all over the globe. He talks about how people assemble their cults and make them larger. Usually cults send out advocates to influence people who are struggling with personal obstacles or new to an area.  The cults grow larger in size because family members, friends, etc. refer people they know to said cult. Many people like the idea of being apart of a cult because it makes them feel included in something especially if they feel alone. Sometimes a cult can go wrong when the wrong people are in charge and it could lead to death. An example would be the Jonestown Massacre. 900 people from an American cult founded by Rev. Jim Jones known as the Peoples Temple which was a progressive religious movement died because they were poisoned by their cult leader after drinking a red flavorade. This was a well known cult from California and they were supported by many politicians. He flew his members to an area in Guyana and named it Jonestown and he reportedly abused his members in what was supposed to be a Utopian society. It shows how following something blindly can lead to something so unfavorable. Although religion is one of the most well known examples of a cult, he discusses how religions are not the only example of a cult. Anything that requires a high level of commitment and maintains a strict heirarchy is a cult. The goal of a cult is to have answers to lives most notorious questions such as life, death, etc and ways you can change or fix what you believe is broken. Cult leaders use formal and informal ways to keep their members obedient with little tolerance. One of the most important take aways from the video is that he also mentioned that believing in something should not sacrifice your relationships with people you are close to and if it does then that cult is trying to exploit you for personal gain.

The speaker gave a strong presentation on the video because he sounded like he knew what he was talking about and I believe that is essentially one of the most important aspects of relaying information when doing a presentation. The video was not a speech but rather just a presentation on cults. The speaker seemed like they were just giving a presentation with no personality and it was very monotone but overall it was a good and informative presentation.