What kind of people join cults?

It’s not just poor and stupid people

[Jezzica]

"How to think, not what to think" powerful statement!

[personneici]

I see myself here. Cult of narcissistic mother to cults of 1 with partners/spouse, to 12 step programs, to living in the USA, to finally divorcing and deprogramming. Wish me luck!

[hyakushiki_]

Sometimes I wonder why my mother joined the cult of MAGA. This video answered all my questions. She struggles to make friends bc people see her beliefs as insane and she blames them, not herself, and she sees being this way as a way to find more purpose, so she found a super conservative church, in a very liberal town, that spoke to her, and those are the only close friends she has. It's all because she sought out things to change her rather than looking inward to reflect on herself without anything external. Thank you for enlightening me

[KTempestBradford]

After several months of watching cult docs and vids on YouTube I came to this same conclusion: community is key to humans. When they lack it, they end up prey to cults. Good to know the research backs that up!

[townsendv]

A narcissistic father, domestic abuse, led to the mormons. I got out after 12 years. Reasons I got out, no time for myself, tithing, I did not want to be SHM and gave a large family.

[anangoohns]

I feel like recognizing you are capable of being vulnerable to cult recruitment/tactics is important to protecting yourself

Thinking "Im too to fall for that kind of thing" makes you more vulnerable because you wont be able to recognize or admit if youve found yourself being recruited or manipulated.

Knowing it can happen to anyone (with certain aspects adding to vulnerability points) is a measure of helping prrotect yourself because youre willing to admit youre at risk

[bluelotus]

It sounds like joining a gang. That need to belong is intoxicating and anyone that has been rejected or that has felt alienated from their own family could be susceptible.

[Sylvawolfe]

You know, this explains so much about my mother. Sky grandma was very progressive, and my mom was such a tomboy that they fought to have her be the first girl in her school allowed to take woodshop. She has a very “women can do anything a man can do, but better” attitude… but she was a navy brat, made to move from coast to coast and never settling in one place too long. The church must have given her the social stability she needed.

[AuntieMamies]

Seems like just human nature can make anyone subject to falling into a cult. Humans are social creatures and have strong tribal instincts. And probably a lack of education in what cults look like. Not being stupid but just not knowing what the signs of a cult are. There's also really no reason to believe that a lot of people that join cults don't know they're joining one. I'm sure it's possible that some people actually enjoy the idea of it because it is such a deep sense of belonging in an environment that they think has a worthwhile purpose.

[ushere]

you are wonderful! i'd never considered the connection between cults and terrorism, but it makes sense. i pretty much identify as a spiritual seeker because i want to know "what's really out there, " but having grown up with a narcissistic sib, i never needed to feel superior; nor did i ever really care about having "a mission from god" (to quote the blues brothers). i fell for a couple mlm schemes when i was younger--i'm still kinda shocked at myself that i did, but then i remember how many holes i felt like were in my life. nature abhors a vacuum.

[itsdeanya]

I'm hooked. Love your style and your narrative "voice." So thankful to meet you, here on the other side of all of this. I don't like to think of myself as a survivor, but something beyond that, a thriver, if you will. Great to meet another one.

[StayThrsty]

The cults of personality of streamers is really scary.

[abaker]

I adore the knitting clicking in your videos.

[RaeLuna-gw]

Since I accepted most of my cult-y family betrayed me, and people I thought I was close to were neglectful, I have been socially isolated. This has been over the course of.. most of my life. Yet I continue to firmly believe that spirituality should not be under lock and key, that I am ultimately my own guru, that every answer I need is right here and now. I owe that belief to the misery I suffered in a traditional Catholic cult. I’d rather be isolated and have bouts of depression than be shoved into the spiritual equivalent of a tiny crate.

[ConfusedBean]

Love your work! Thank you!! You and other creators have helped me think more independently and notice abusive and manipulative patterns. I appreciate you!!

[donnellallan]

This resonates. I joined the Mormons at age 19, left in my fifties.
Thanks for your important work and for sharing your wisdom so freely. 🩷

[veggiet]

Well this certainly explains why I joined my last church...

[kennalikesbooks]

Hello! I really appreciate your content, it has helped me a lot to break the 8 generation cycle of mormonism in my family. I do have a question though, what makes a cult extreme? And if you were raised in a less extreme cult (which I think mormonism might be), is that a valid reason to invalidate your own trauma?

[Ann_A_Lien]

The idea that exogenous homogeneity in social collectives protecting from weakly-aspected individual extremisms due to a lack of ego strength that becomes collectivized (as if extremism isn’t part of collective ideological identitarianism of any type) is amusing. The epistemic & ontological assumption of the mainstream as a basically benign entity (education, etc) without its own internal problems with cultish behavior & practices is also amusing.

[bramstokerfan]

Is this from your new book?😮 [answered my own question-yes it is]