Cults and Icons

People get sort of religious talking about the rarest, most desirable wines.

In sociological terms, a cult refers to a group of people centered around a charismatic figure whose precepts are unquestioningly accepted as law. Within the memories of some of us, examples include the Manson Family, the Branch Davidians, or the flock that drank the fatal Kool-Aid on the instructions of People’s Temple founder Jim Jones. Cults tend to be insular, exclusionary, zealous and paranoid.