“I’m telling you Pooh, negative orgones are the source of all the negative energy in the world. Trust me.”

“But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is I’m the only one.” Tigger

So sings the beloved children’s character by A.A Milne. His uniqueness serves as an intrinsic part of his identity and his self-worth. But unlike the truly one-of-a-kind Tigger, high-control groups are a dime-a-dozen; though ironically many of them use the same line – highlighting their uniqueness to convince newcomers and control their followers.

This usually comes in the form of claiming special knowledge, that conveniently only the leader/s are privy too. Only they are “the one true” church/religion/group. By doing what they say, you might be able to avoid a coming Armageddon/Nuclear War/Zombie Apocalypse. They also might claim to be the only group to show true love or have true morality.

Such claims should always raise internal alarm bells.

To illustrate this point, here are a pair of quotes from the literature of Jehovah’s Witnesses and Mormonism.

“Only Jehovah’s Witnesses, those of the anointed remnant and the “great crowd,” as a united organization under the protection of the Supreme Organizer, have any Scriptural hope of surviving the impending end of this doomed system dominated by Satan the Devil.” Watchtower 1989 Sep 1 p.19

“Therefore it was made clearly manifest that salvation is in the Church, and of the Church, and is obtained only through the Church [of LDS]. ” – Mark E. Petersen

These claims of unique insight quickly start to crumble when you realise the language used between groups is essentially the same. Further, no real evidence is given for such extraordinary claims. This is why such claims usually have an element of fear added. Note the implicit threat of death and/or destruction in both of these quotes.

The threat of losing salvation, or death in a fiery Amargeddon is often sufficient to quash any doubts that believers may have. But appeals to emotion, negative or positive, are a form of psychological control and have nothing to do with the veracity of an organisation.

So next time you hear an individual or group promoting themselves to be one-of-a-kind – ask yourself, “Are they really the only one?”