I’ve been wanting to do this thing for quite a while now ever since I watched Telltale’s first video on the subject on his YouTube.

Basically, I’ll be rating groups and organization on whether or not they are a cult. Using something called the B.I.T.E Model. If you want a quick idea of what this is, I suggest you watch any one of Telltale’s many videos on the subject.


For today, I’ll be tackling the possible “cult” close to my heart. The Singapore Armed Forces National Service (a.k.a: Conscription).

Behaviour Control

  • Promote dependence and obedience
    • Loyalty to the army branches is required
    • No other sources of income allowed, requiring you to depend on the allowance given and the food & lodgings provided
  • Modify behaviour with rewards and punishments
    • Threats of detention barracks
    • Physical exercise punishment for minor offences
    • Days-off given for behaviours deemed good
  • Dictate where and with whom you live
    • Required while in camp, but not enforced outside
  • Restrict or control sexuality
    • LGBT must be reported and classified under category 302
    • Cultural discrimination due to classification and shunning
  • Control clothing and hairstyle
    • Required while in camp, but not enforced outside
    • However, cultural discrimination of soldiers in uniforms exists
  • Regulate what and how much you eat and drink
    • Minimally for mass meals only
  • Deprive you of seven to nine hours of sleep
    • None
  • Exploit you financially
    • Non-regular serviceman have “allowance” instead of pay that is grossly below the standard of living
    • Conscripts can be pulled to do jobs of high market rates without an increase in financial compensation
  • Restrict leisure time and activities
    • Required while in camp, but not enforced outside
  • Require you to seek permission for major decisions
    • Required while in camp and enforced with certain laws outside

Information Control

  • Deliberately withhold and distort information
    • Yes, but I actually legally cannot tell you about what. Infer from the ranking what you will
  • Forbid you from speaking with ex-members and critics
    • Only cultural pressure from speaking with critics
  • Discourage access to non-cult sources of information
    • Only cultural pressure from speaking with critics
  • Divide information into Insider vs. Outsider doctrine
    • Large cultural divide between people who were “in” army and “not in” army
    • Within the system, the PES health status is used to further divide groups
    • Generally, the organization is trying to integrate as many people as possible, so the score is not as high
  • Generate and use propaganda extensively
    • I honestly don’t know what could be worst than having an entire country as a propaganda system for an organization
    • Seriously, there are holidays, parades, and everything
  • Use information gained in confession sessions against you
    • None
  • Gaslight to make you doubt your own memory
    • None
  • Require you to report thoughts, feelings, & activities to superiors
    • Required while in camp, but not enforced outside
  • Encourage you to spy and report on others’ “misconduct”
    • Required to report while in camp
    • Culturally enforced outside

Thought Control

  • Instill Black vs. White, Us vs. Them, & Good vs. Evil thinking
    • Attempts to instil a high level of patriotism
  • Change your identity, possibly even your name
    • Referred to by rank, unit, or platoon number most of the time
  • Use loaded language and cliches to stop complex thought
    • Use of orders can subvert questionable actions
  • Induce hypnotic or trance states to indoctrinate
    • None
  • Teach thought-stopping techniques to prevent critical thoughts
    • None
  • Allow only positive thoughts
    • Hah! No. Like seriously. Hello, I got super depressed.
  • Use excessive meditation, singing, prayer, & chanting to block thoughts
    • The songs sung while marching or chants used to instil camaraderie are actually extremely effective at thought blocking and instilling familial bonds
  • Reject rational analysis, critical thinking, & doubt
    • Following orders are heavily preferred over critical and rational actions at times

Emotional Control

  • Instil irrational fears (phobias) of questioning or leaving the group
    • This one is difficult because it’s not really irrational. The fears are completely rational. They are threats, basically. Not joining or leaving is considered law breaking
    • However, we have to consider the people who have reached the point where they can choose. For when they have finished their mandatory conscription. In that case, yes, they can leave without question
  • Label some emotions as evil, worldly, sinful, or wrong
    • Minimally
  • Teach emotion-stopping techniques to prevent anger, homesickness
    • Read above “Use excessive meditation, singing, prayer, & chanting to block thoughts”
  • Promote feelings of guilt, shame, & unworthiness
    • The lower rung of the PES status ladder can be bombarded with these feelings where you can be made to feel unworthy for simply “being a clerk” or “not a real soldier”
    • At the higher levels, especially for special forces like divers, they can be guilted into expanding all physical, emotional, and mental energy into attempting to “be the best”
  • Shower you with praise and attention (“love bombing”)
    • Successes are celebrated heavily within units to build a sense of unit identity
  • Threaten your friends and family
    • A complex system of laws prevents most families that do not have large finances from leaving the country without repercussions
    • Running can be fined up to $10,000 or 3 years jail, after which you are still required to serve
    •  These financial, logistical, or legal chains can make it impossible for families to plan for their future and safety under a form of national duress
  • Shun you if you disobey or disbelieve
    • Mainstream cultural pressure
  • Teach that there is no happiness or peace outside the group
    • Advertisements about bright future in army related profession are extremely common
    • Being out of society for 2 years can convince people that they are too far out of the loop to reenter society, thus signing on to be a regular soldier

CONCLUSION

It’s hard to actually pin down how bad the organization is as a cult. As a national body, everyone participates, but not all are affected to the same degree.

As cults are extremist organizations, I took the most statistically relevant extreme ends of the spectrum. The poster boys of the army and those most harmed by it then tabulated the experiences.

Honestly, I can see myself liberally taking off up to 30 points in some of the categories, even though I wanted to up the score on some stuff. But none of that would save Singapore’s military conscription from the final verdict.


Scoring System
0-10 (U): Ungraded. Not a cult. Not even sure if a person.
11-30 (F): The one time failing a test is good. Normal.
31-60 (E): A normal organization like a business or hobby group.
61-110 (D): Close, but not quite. Think of political divides.
110-170 (C): Cult tendency. Like far-winged politics and MLMs.
171-300 (B): Basic cult. Mormons. Jehovah’s Witnesses. Etc.
301-510 (A): A Scientologist would be here.
511-750 (S): Heaven’s Gate. Suicidal terrorist. Dangerous.

* The scoring system scales exponentially with the Fibonacci Sequence.