Are Mormons Really Standoffish?

I was political forum-ing today, as I do every day.  (My life is in desperate need of purpose and excitement at the moment.  WAY too much spare time...)  One of the discussions involved the fact that Perry's pastor called the LDS church a cult.  Quite honestly, I've looked up the definition of "cult" and I can see the point.  But then, going by the definitions I read I'm not sure why ALL religions aren't considered cults.  The problem is, it is more of a connotative word than an objective word and going by strict definition is pretty much impossible.  IMO.  Anyway, in typical Curtis fashion I went on a tangent, and that's not really the point of this post.  So, moving on to the point...

One person on this forum stated that he/she did not believe the church is a cult, this person did find the Mormons he/she lived around to be standoffish and clannish.  This is not the first time I have heard or read this.  And I two main thoughts on that statement:

1)    People tend to gravitate towards others who have a similar, if not the same, culture.  And I firmly believe there is nothing wrong with this.  We like to be around others that make us feel safe, and knowing that those around you feel the same as you do on some of the basic, fundamental principles makes for good, safe friendships.  It's why we have Chinatowns, Little Italys, and Hassidic Jewish neighborhoods.  I don't see a problem with having a circle of close friends that you connect with on the things that are the most important to you.  I would argue that any culture, be it ethnicity, faith, life circumstance, age, etc is "standoffish and clannish."

2)  That being said,, it is important to reach beyond these boundaries at times because you can learn a lot from others who are different than you.  Excluding others because they are not just like you is wrong.  And I am sorry that there are those out there who have had a negative experience with members of my faith because those members were being exclusionary.  We all have so much to share with each other that can broaden our understanding of others and of ourselves.

It's okay to have a comfort zone, but it's also necessary to get out of the comfort zone from time to time.

P.S.  I found some great thoughts at mormon.org about the whole "Is Mormonism a cult?" issue.   I gained some great insight and understanding.