"The Joy of Sect" is the thirteenth episode of The Simpsons' ninth
season. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on
February 8, 1998. In the episode, a cult called the "Movementarians"
takes over Springfield, and Homer and the rest of the Simpson family
become members. Homer and Bart are initially introduced to a pair of
young Movementarian recruiters in an airport. Homer becomes
brainwashed, and moves his family into the cult compound. David Mirkin
had the initial idea for the episode, Steve O'Donnell was the lead
writer, and Steven Dean Moore directed. The writers drew on many groups
to develop the Movementarians, but were principally influenced by
Scientology, Heaven's Gate, the Unification Church and Peoples Temple.
The episode was later analyzed from religious, philosophical and
psychological perspectives, and books on The Simpsons compared the
Movementarians to many of the same groups that the writers had drawn
influences from. The show contains many references to popular culture,
including the title reference to The Joy of Sex and a gag involving
Rover from the television program The Prisoner. USA Today and The A.V.
Club featured "The Joy of Sect" in lists of important episodes of The
Simpsons.
Read the rest of this article:
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Joy_of_Sect>
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Today's selected anniversaries:
1006:
SN 1006, the brightest supernova in history, first appeared in the
constellation Lupus, and was then seen by observers in Switzerland,
Egypt, China, Japan, and possibly North America within the next day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SN_1006>
1789:
George Washington took the oath of office as the first President of
the United States at Federal Hall in New York City.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Washington>
1945:
World War II: As Allied forces were closing in on Berlin, Adolf Hitler
and Eva Braun committed suicide in the Führerbunker after being married
for one day.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Adolf_Hitler>
1948:
Twenty-one countries signed a charter in Bogotá, Colombia, establishing
the Organization of American States.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organization_of_American_States>
1975:
North Vietnamese troops captured Saigon shortly after American forces
ended its helicopter evacuation of U.S. citizens, South Vietnamese
civilians and third country nationals from the city, ending the Vietnam
War with the unconditional surrender of South Vietnam.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Frequent_Wind>
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Wiktionary's word of the day:
lebensraum (n):
Hitherto unoccupied “living space” claimed as one’s rightful domain
<http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/lebensraum>
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Wikiquote quote of the day:
Zen is not a particular state but the normal state: silent, peaceful,
unagitated. In Zazen neither intention, analysis, specific effort nor
imagination take place. It's enough just to be without hypocrisy,
dogmatism, arrogance — embracing all opposites.
--Taisen Deshimaru
<http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Taisen_Deshimaru>
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