Introduction
In the Simpson’s episode entitled ‘The Joy of Sect’, Homer Simpson is eventually persuaded to join a UFO cult called the ‘Movementarians’.[1] The episode is a satirical exposition of cults and mainstream religion in America. Within the episode numerous allusions are made to Scientology and UFO cults such as Heaven’s Gate and the Seekers.[2] The issues satirically addressed within ‘The Joy of Sect’ include: The grandiose promises of bliss and eternal reward;[3] the breaking down of the individual to remould their cognitive constructs in accordance with the cult’s ideology;[4] the employment of various ‘thought reform’ techniques; the indoctrination of children; physical isolation (‘milieu control’) from the outside world;[5] the use of the power of suggestion; the media’s negative reporting on new cults; Scientology’s ‘Project Clearwater’, which was, and continues to be, an attempt to take over the entire town of Clearwater;[6] the insanely long (billion year) contracts for service…
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Utopia, you are standing in it! 
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