I was confused reading this. Is the author talking about literal suicide cult leaders like Jones, Koresh, and Applewhite, or "cult of personality" types like Jobs and Elon?
I have a LOT of problems with Koresh and the Branch Davidians, but he def wasn't leading a "suicide cult." They were actually the opposite...they believed that in the End Times they needed to stick it out on their property as long as possible even if it came to violence. They stockpiled weapons believing that it would come down to a final showdown between them and the antichrist's forces. Obviously they were unbiblical, and the child abuse is absolutely unforgiveable, but I take issue with people calling the Branch Davidians a suicide cult when that was against their beliefs.
That being said, I think the author is talking about cult of personality types. People with a personality that gears towards being the leaders of a cult, or getting a cult-like status. That is how it reads to me anyway.
It's obviously an n-dimensional space. I know a lot of the people that Sasha knows, so I can guess some of the people he was talking about here, and it's more like Jared Leto and his handful of weird groupies who are in a deeply unhealthy social and intellectual dynamic. So not really suicide cults, but uncomfortably close, not successful or mainstream enough to be Jobs, not really growth oriented or external facing enough to be Scientology. But a dubious social bubble around certain personality types.
..."cult of personality" types like Jobs and Elon?
I haven't met Elon, but the impression I got from videos is very different to Jobs. He has a cult following indeed, but is it really because his magnetism or PUA tricks like in the article?
That being said, I think the author is talking about cult of personality types. People with a personality that gears towards being the leaders of a cult, or getting a cult-like status. That is how it reads to me anyway.