The Parkour Cult

Συγγραφή: noxteryn

"Because the capacity to exploit human beings is universal, a cult could arise in any kind of group."

- Michael Langone

A cult, although hard to be defined by Sociology, is characterized by a set of specific qualities within its function, and if a certain group shares enough of these qualities, one can very well claim that this group is indeed a cult. It has recently dawned on me that the Parkour community fits almost all of these key features, as described by cult experts Steven Hassan (LMHC, Commonwealth of Massachusetts), Michael Langone (PhD, International Cultic Studies Association), Robert Lifton (MD, John Jay College), and Margaret Singer (PhD, Berkeley University).

Contemporary cults are likely to exhibit three elements to varying degrees:

Excessive zeal, unquestioning commitment to the identity and leadership of the group.
Exploitative manipulation of members.
Harm or the danger of harm to members, their families and/or society.

At this point, I believe it should be explained what "harm" really means, and what forms it may take. Most people associate cults with violence and death threats, which is correct to a certain point, but violence does not always have to be physical. However, for better clarity, I feel it is preferable to use the scientific definitions.

"Harm" is thought to be categorized in four groups:

Psychological (e.g. high stress resulting from members' being placed in demanding double binds).
Ethical (e.g. the use of deceit and manipulation to persuade people to attend an introductory seminar or - in Parkour's case - training session).
Social (e.g. breaking laws, medical neglect of children).
Theological (e.g. whether or not a translation of a "sacred" text is accurate, whether or not a group's claim to belong to a particular "religious" tradition is valid).

In the Parkour community, it seems that only types 1, 2, and 4 are observed, with an emphasis on the latter. Since types 1 and 2 are fairly transparent, I will not go into detail. Type 4 concerns all those the endless philosophical/theological talks that occur in both fora or group training sessions, whether they are in connection with the "is this Parkour?" question, the "You are not a traceur!" - "Yes, i am!" arguments, or even the "deciphering" of David Belle's words.

Because cults tend to be leader-centered, exploitative, and harmful, they come into conflict with and are threatened by the more rational, open, and benevolent systems of members’ families and society at large. Some gradually accommodate to society by decreasing their levels of manipulation, exploitation, harm, and opposition. Others, however, harden their shells by becoming totalistic, elitist, and isolated. These groups tend to:

Dictate sometimes in great detail how members should think, act, and feel.
Claim a special, exalted status (for example, occult powers, a mission to save humanity) for themselves and/or their leaders.
Intensify their opposition to and alienation from society at large.

I don't believe it's particularly hard to tie the above characteristics to the behavior of traceurs (Parkour practitioners). "Hero complex" is a character trait not uncommon within the Parkour community, but I will discuss this ethical compulsion later on.

Every cult is based on a thought-reform program. Such programs aim to dilute people's individuality, change their core belief systems and alter their concept of themselves. This is done by imposing a "totalistic ideology" which "explains everything". Such groups will say they are "the way", the "only way", be it in religion, science, self-help, psychotherapy, or politics. Included in this mystique is a sense of "higher purpose", of "having directly perceived some imminent law of social development", of being themselves the vanguard of this development. Consequently, all other groups are charlatans, shams, impostors, degenerate, etc. Normally they have authoritarian leaders and lieutenants at all levels and/or they venerate the works of dead leaders to justify their totalistic ideology and actions. Not choosing the group's Way will usually lead to humiliation, damnation, or even death. Members undergo what has been called "brainwashing", or "mind control" in order to achieve "Group-think".

How many of you have claimed that Parkour is "your way of life"? How many of you have claimed that you "live Parkour"? How many of you have tried to "spread" it, so that other people will feel like you? How many of you have expressed your "pity" to non-traceurs who do not train like you do? How many of you have talked about what it takes to be a "true traceur"? How many of you have looked down on "free-runners"?

I do not deny that certain people may find Parkour as something that greatly expresses their psyche, but it is very alarming to see so many teenage newbies talk about Parkour as their "way of life". I would not be surprised if they would say the exact same thing for any discipline that had been portrayed to them in a similar extend and tactic as Parkour.

Most cult members are from the educated middle class, including lawyers, doctors, psychologists, business people etc. (A good proportion, though not all, come from dysfunctional families and/or suffer alcohol or drug problems.) In general, new members are usually undergoing a personal crisis and are easy prey for all-embracing solutions. More specifically, they are people who are characterized by a high level of stress or dissatisfaction, a lack of self-confidence, unassertiveness, gullibility, the desire to belong to a group, low tolerance for ambiguity, naive idealism, cultural disillusionment, susceptibility to trance-like states, and frustrated spiritual searching.

Of course, not all of the above features can be observed on the members of the Parkour community, and it is not necessary that they are. Yet, I find that only one of them - "susceptibility to trance-like states" - is debatable (and irrelevant, I have to admit), a fact which alarms me even more.

A cult relies on the vulnerability and naivety of the person, who is unaware of the indoctrination process being used. They are then pressurized to gradually adjust to their environment so subtlety, that they do not notice the changes to themselves or, indeed, when they do, they view those changes as positive ones. From the beginning they are unwittingly seduced into replacing their own beliefs and values with those of the group and persuaded that everything about their former lives, their personality, and their character before joining the group, was worthless and degenerate.

Apart from the obvious emerging problem of "Christians" and "Buddhists" infiltrating the community, it is impossible not to notice the fact that almost all new members are teenagers. Many people argue that this happens because of the "sporty" nature of Parkour which usually attracts children of such ages, but I believe it is due to the easily moldable minds of the youth that desperately want to find a group to belong to. It is countless of times that I heard people defend Parkour as if their very lives depended on it, or talk about how Parkour "changed their lives". Such extreme notions and perceptions can be dangerous.

A regime exists where the individual feels a sense of powerlessness and helplessness and the lack of other alternatives, under an authoritative or authoritarian system. Members are told that they will be destroyed or corrupted by negative pressures, and that they can maintain their purity only within the group's ranks.

I can offer quite a few examples to this. First and foremost is the way more experienced traceurs scare the new members about the hazards of not training enough, or not training the way they tell them to. Many times have I seen people publish "disclaimers" or "educational" videos, as well as other types of propagandistic information.

You see, cults prey on human aversion to uncertainty. That is why religions have always shown such success. The group supplies ready-made answers for everything, thus helping to reduce insecurity and fear. Everything is seen in terms of black and white, pure and the impure, good and evil. There are set answers for everything and no room for uncertainty, controversy, healthy debate or doubt. The member is given a complete solution. In return, members of the group are expected to be unquestioning in their commitment to the group's identity, its ideas and leaders (or past leaders).

You can view this trait almost everywhere in Parkour. Whether it is statements like "flips are not Parkour" or "only eat organic fruit", or "sugar is poison", or "bodyweight training is all you need", or "don't do drops higher than your own height during your first year of training". These are all arbitrary statements that are nothing but expressions of prejudice lurking within the people who preach them. Newer members just copy this behavior without taking the time to assess the information, which leads us to the subject of character cloning.

Cults "clone" people into smaller versions of the cult leader(s) and members. Visit a branch of the same cult in all the corners of the Earth and you will find yourself in the presence of the same "person" or type. Cults rob people of their individuality, personality and uniqueness, and replace it with the cult "Self", which implants a cult personality in place of the person's real self.

The most visible example of this phenomenon is the obsession Parkour-practitioners have with the definition of the term "traceur". There have been written dozens of articles regarding who a traceur is and what he is supposed to do or be. The content varies from simple "traceur is a person who practices Parkour" definitions, to entire complicated doctrines regarding ethics and mindsets that suspiciously remind religious duties.

The group asserts increasing control over a member's time and social and psychological environment. Members are expected to attend many meetings and involve themselves in other activities, reducing their contact with the outside world. Members may be directly encouraged to break relations and social contact with former friends, acquaintances and even loved ones. Gradually, it becomes more and more difficult for members to imagine a life outside their organization.

The subject of how a traceur should spend their time is overly present within the Parkour community. With catchphrases such as "shut up and go train" and "while you're resting, others are out training", traceurs are often afraid of being left behind, while others move on. Through peer pressure, the community attempts to control how traceurs spend their spare time, for example by criticising them harshly when they play video-games.

Fortunately, the feeling of being dependent on the group does not occur worldwide, but it unfortunately happens a lot within "Christian" Parkour communities, which are somewhat concentrated in the UK.

Other group members work in meetings and on a private basis to undermine new members' confidence in their own perceptions and opinions. A personal mentor may be appointed to accelerate integration and mind control. I have seen this happen a lot of times. Even I did it at some point in the past, by "explaining" Parkour to newbies on MSN.

Bad feelings are always the fault of the person and not the group. Only "good" and "proper" thoughts are encouraged and "negative" thinking is jumped on. This feature immediately reminded me of those YouTube comments that say "If you don't have something positive to post, don't post at all," but I think this goes much deeper than that. Whenever anyone criticizes the authority of David Belle or questions the Parkour community, they receive a "beating" from the elites.

The pressure to conform is immense within cults. They use a combination of flattery, threats and guilt. A system of punishments and rewards is used to encourage group learning and reduce unwanted behavior. Punishments like isolation, shunning, "tut-tut's" and humiliation are used to cause fear and obedience, while, alternatively, awards like recognition, praise and "strokes" are sparingly offered by older members for obedience and loyalty to Group-think by the newer ones.

Group meetings often include confessional sessions where members admit to past or present sins against the norms of the group -- doing bad deeds, thinking bad thoughts, etc, and in return, they receive both admonition, warnings and praise for their confessions. To help cultivate emotional control public exhibitions of emotional highs and lows are often encouraged and applauded as a form of ritual self-flagellation, and if I had a nickel for every long "when I first started, I used to do jumps from high" post, I would have a lot of nickels.

"Group-speak" is another feature of all cults. Groups use the so-called "the thought-terminating cliche". Repetitive phrases, cliches, sayings, platitudes, and buzz words are regularly invoked to describe all situations, and prevent further analysis or discussion. Any disagreements are usually settled by referring to the sayings or writings of wise leaders (past or present), rather than by turning to independent analysis. Members are rewarded for their ability to regurgitate this "Group-speak" and for their willingness and talent for putting down dissenters with cult cliches. This is the most important part, and I strongly believe that it has severely damaged the advancement of Parkour as an art or sport, and could also play big role in its future development too.

Ironically enough, Parkour, an activity largely based on the mindset of cutting new paths, is too conforming.

The effect of group-speak is critical for mind control, since language is so central to all human experience, capacities for thinking and feeling are immensely narrowed.Moreover, the "secret vocabulary" reinforces the idea of distance from the outside world.

This, however, is not such a big deal. What I find a lot more disturbing is the behavior of leading figures within the cultic group.

Not content with just creating a false conception of the present, cults are also not adverse to rewriting history. Whenever historical facts or the truth does not fit in with the cult leader's designs and aspirations, they simply change it. Past historical events are retrospectively altered, wholly rewritten, or ignored, to make them consistent with the doctrinal logic. The new line simply replaces the realities of individual experience.

The most recent example of such behavior is the "bodyweight training vs weight-training" debate. Even though the evidence from scientific studies which indicates weight-training as superior is substantial, many leading figures of the Parkour community stubbornly deny this truth and prefer to base their conclusions on mere personal experience.

Other examples may include the mystery surrounding the events of the early Parkour days, whether it involves the true "founder" of Parkour or the reasons behind the big Yamakasi split.

The cult leader(s) is prepared to lie blatantly and obscenely about other individuals or organizations, with total disregard for the truth or any sense of moral objectivity. A frequent tactic by cult leaders is to divert attention from their own sins by accusing others inside or outside their organization of the very crimes of which they themselves are guilty. (In Psychology, this is called "projection.")

Only those who are group members are truly good, sane, or wise. Since members lose the faculty of critical judgment and the ability to think for themselves, they never question the lies and distortions of their leader(s). Members feel total loyalty to those who have "saved them" and follow in blind obedience.

Leading figures, either alive or dead, are honored and venerated. Statements are often supported by quotations and sayings from sacred writings or speeches. Predictions of catastrophe or damnation are common.

Even though not very obvious, this happens in the Parkour community to a great extend. People treat David Belle and other "big traceurs" as if they were perfect human beings when they are, of course, not, and neither are their words, which people treat as sacred gospels. There is also this fad about the descent of Parkour itself, which takes many different forms, be it "Dilution", "Parcouring", "Freestyle Parkour", or "Free-Running". There is no single traceur that does not talk about the "downfall" of Parkour.

The direction of the group comes from a shadowy leadership, rarely seen and with little or no real democratic controls. There are assurances about the democratic character of the group and its strident democratic checks and procedures. Indeed, on paper the cult may appear to be super democratic, but in practice everything is run by leader(s) and cliques and committees, and committees within committees, picked from the chosen few and frequently made up of the same people. I could not find a better description of how the Parkour community works.

Cults often have an internal aura of mystique in which members feel they have "a sense of 'higher purpose', of 'having directly perceived some imminent law of social development', of being themselves the vanguard of this development". This includes delusions about historical roles, being "chosen ones", the "vanguard" "pioneers" and leading new, mass social, political, religious or scientific movements. This gives a sense of purpose in life, for members who entered feeling that their life had no meaning or goal.

This is not obvious at all, but I have to admit I noticed this kind of behavior in quite a few members (both old and new) in that past. This has to do with the aforementioned "hero complex". People often talk about the "future" of other people and how to help it, which mainly concerns "doom prevention" (preventing knee injuries and such) or "salvation" (spreading Parkour, telling people to "condition", etc).

What is interesting, though, is the fact that the Parkour community does not appear to be deliberately driven as a cult. I believe we are dealing with some sort of emergent behavior derived from ignorance and narrow-mindedness. This may sound bad, but it is actually good news, because it means that, with proper mindset and harder criticism on the information being spread, these negative aspects of the community can be turned around. I hope this article sparks discussions that will lead towards solutions to the matter.

References:

Clinical Update on Cults - Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

"The Comet and its Tail" - Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

Criteria for Thought Reform - Robert Lifton, M.D.

Cults, Conversion, Science, & Harm - Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

Cult Formation - Robert Lifton, M.D.

Cults: Questions and Answers - Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

"David Belle and his Involvement in the Parkour Community" - Parkour.NET

Deception, Dependency, and Dread - Michael D. Langone, Ph.D.

Destructive Cults, Mind Control, Warning Signs, Help - Steven Alan Hassan, M.Ed., LMHC

"The History of Parkour" - Parkour.NET

"I want everyone to take a good look at me" - Parkour.NET