INTERVIEW — Aug 12, starting 12:31
Interviewee: Gender Male, Age 53, German nationality, main language German, speaking in English, lives in Germany.
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Interviewer: So, first and only question — when you hear the word "cult," what comes to your mind?
Interviewee: Honestly, some kind of new wave band — Blue Öyster Cult, okay, this kind of stuff. And then secondly, religious cults.
Interviewer: Okay, do you think there is an actual cult aspect to Blue Öyster Cult?
Interviewee: I don't know.
Interviewer: Okay, no?
Interviewee: It's also quite different if you think about the German "Kult" or the English "cult" — because, there was this whole thing, "oh, this is cult, tick or no" [unclear phrase]. I mean it more as a noun than an adjective, like in English. I'm a non-native English speaker, so [my answer] might be distorted.
Interviewer: Yeah, no, that's fine. And then, you were talking about religious cults — do you have a specific example?
Interviewee: Yeah, this kind of mass-suicide.
Interviewer: Oh yeah, from the '70s or '80s?
Interviewee: That kind of thing, or — the Hare Krishnas.
Interviewer: And what is, in your opinion, "culty" about them — like, what are the attributes that make them a cult?
Interviewee: Well, usually following a leadership that tells you what's right and what's wrong, okay. And then identification with the leadership figure and the cult itself, so you clearly know that you're a member and that others are not.
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: And and I guess, suggest that it's a bit touching on the metaphysical — whereas the cult is more touching on the subcultural, or something like that.
Interviewer: Uh-huh. Okay — so you're making a difference between cult and religion?
Interviewee: Yeah, at first thought I would differentiate cult and religion, but then on second thought — of course, all the established religions are also cults. They just managed to be perceived a bit better.
Interviewer: Okay, so there's an aspect of cult that would be, um, like this kind of legitimacy, or how it's perceived as a whole?
Interviewee: It is — again, it's a bit difficult between German and English, I think, but for cults in Germany I would use the word "Sekte" [sect].
Interviewer: Yeah.
Interviewee: "Sekte" is kind of the differentiation from a proper religion — that it's a bit more fringe. In Germany it's quite clear: there are some churches which are registered with the state, they have the "Kirchensteuer" and so on, and once you're outside of that, you're very quickly perceived as a "Sekte," which is already connotated negatively. Nobody talks about a "Sekte" as positive, and I think that could be kind of the same as what English people mean when they say "cult." That's where it gets a bit unsharp, because I'm not a native speaker. So in German, if you say "Kult," you mean something that could also be more pop-cultural, from a movie, or — there's a cult around certain bands, but you would not say that about a sect, right.
Interviewer: And when you think about the German word "Sekte," do you have some specific ones in mind?
Interviewee: Yeah, I think — "Zeugen Jehovas", even though they're not... they're kind of also a proper church, but they don't have the same recognition. The classic would be the Hare Krishnas, Bhagwan movement, yeah, these things that kind of go viral for a certain time, and then you see them.
Interviewee: You clearly have the Catholic Church and the Protestant Church, and then the Jews also have that status. The Muslims don't properly get that status, and I think it's also because they don't have a central register. The Catholic Church is very clear, it's very hierarchical — you always know who's responsible.
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