#cult tactic

[furiousgoldfish]

Abusive parents can sometimes create the 'us versus them' mentality inside of their family, where they convince you that anyone who isn't raising their child the exact way they are, is stupid, ignorant, spoiling their children and making selfish brats out of them.

They also convince you that the world inside of their house, and the world outside, are two different worlds, and only the outside is 'the real world', and it's a place you, according to them, know nothing about, and would never survive in. Outside world is at the same time filled with dangerous individuals, who would hurt you (unlike your parents, who also hurt you, but those outsiders would hurt you worse, apparently), and filled with stupid people who know nothing and are to be insulted and humiliated (abusive parents will often degrade homeless people, minorities, addicts and anyone they deem less worthy, and you'll be stuck in feeling like at least you're not them, but at the same time scared you'll become them, and then you'll be degraded just like that as well.)

In this 'us versus them' situation, your parents are the smartest, the only ones who know what the 'correct way to live is', and the 'correct way to raise children'. They'll tell you how you're supposed to think, behave, speak and act. Their words are the highest truth and not to be questioned or criticized; any criticism will be met with hostility and attacks, and insisting that any other way of thinking would convert them to the 'non desirables' (see above about the minorities and homeless people).

And the thing is, this is a tactic that cults use to make people unable to leave. Convincing people that the thinking and methods inside are vastly superior and better, that anyone outside who doesn't follow their methods is stupid, tainted, incapable of normal life, and that people outside are simultaneously stupid and wrong, but also dangerous, hateful, capable of doing intense harm to you, that's how the cults terrify people into belief that they can never live outside. That it's both dangerous and wrong to even want to.

If you feel scared and incredibly anxious of living outside of your parents home, and your parents have encouraged you to believe those things, you've been exposed to cult-level manipulation to prevent your escape.

[deservedgrace]

something that's really been bothering me lately is how the church i was a part of would like... repackage doctrine to make it sound nicer and more acceptable. like, the belief that all humans are evil by nature and deserve eternal torture for the crime of existing is inherently violent and cruel. but my church didn't frame it like that. they framed it as "yes we're ALL evil and wicked and we ALL deserve hell to atone for our sin (being human) BUT god loves you despite you not deserving love or happiness or anything good at all and all you have to do to avoid the pits of hell is accept jesus as your savior isn't that so amazing????" and they framed the crucifixion as this beautiful, selfless act of god by taking our place on the cross instead of "this all-powerful being who created all the rules decided that he required torture, death, and human sacrifice to be able to tolerate us". and it's not "women will be viewed as lesser than men" it's "women must submit to their husbands the same way we all must submit to god it's not dehumanizing it's holy and yes women have different roles but that doesn't make them lesser than and sure we don't have any women in leadership positions in the church and we would never even consider it, come on now that's ridiculous, but that's just because men are supposed to lead because men and women are different and created for different purposes it's just biology". and there are plenty others! i know that the reframing of everything is part of how they can even get people to accept the doctrine in the first place, but being on the outside of it is kind of horrifying. when you get down to the actual beliefs that are held without the distortions and manipulation, so many are violent, cruel, dehumanizing, abusive. but they distort and manipulate these beliefs to make them seem acceptable, morally correct, and redefine what love is and should look like.

[theonewhowails]

nari goes on field trips :]

[marisatomay]

always thinking about that tweet that’s like “taylor swift’s shenanigans and easter eggs are keeping millions of women from falling for qanon”

[samwisethewitch]

TW: This post contains explicit discussions of white supremacy and the alt-right, including mentions of racism and antisemitism.

One of my most impactful recent library reads was Sisters In Hate by Seyward Darby, and I want to take a moment to encourage other white Americans to check it out as we prepare for next years' presidential election and all the shit it's going to kick up.

Sisters In Hate is a book about the role of women in American white supremacist movements and specifically in the alt-right. Darby does a really excellent job of showing just how critical white women are to these hate movements. The book also gives us a detailed look at what radicalization looks like and how that process can be different for different genders.

The book is divided into three sections, each of which follows a real woman through her radicalization into the alt-right. I especially want to draw Tumblr's attention to the story of Ayla, a self-proclaimed "polyamorous, raw foodist-vegan, feminist, pagan" whose radicalization started in college with natural living and homebirth and ended with her running a popular tradwife blog and speaking at the Unite the Right rally.

I think a lot of leftists and liberals feel that we're too smart, or too educated, or too savvy to fall for white supremacist recruitment schemes. We are not. Intelligent, college-educated, left-leaning people are radicalized every day. Some of them are less overtly hateful, like your college friend who starts voting Republican in their 30s. Some of them are like Ayla, and their radicalization takes them all the way to the other end of the political spectrum until they're openly and genuinely calling for a white ethnostate with the same passion they once used to advocate for feminism, racial equity, and queer rights. And we need to remember that any one of us intelligent, college-educated, left-leaning white folks could be in her position, which is why it's so important to learn about radicalization tactics so we can recognize and resist them.

I'm not gonna lie -- this book is hard to read. The text contains racial slurs, white supremacist rhetoric, antisemitism, and anti-Black racism. All of this is condemned by the author, but Darby doesn't shy away from showing just how vile this movement is. I had to take a lot of breaks from this book and read it over several weeks, but I'm very glad I did because I feel like I needed this information.

White supremacist recruitment efforts are going to pick up in the next year, especially if Tr*mp is the Republican nominee for president. Stay informed and stay ready.

[hopalongfairywren]

Okay now that he's openly saying slurs can we talk about how this man's cultish fanbase was a pretty good bellwether to the general trends among gen z that incidated an ever expanding internet radicalization pipeline and general susepctibility to cults?

[tswwwit]

Re-reading your cult au is so funny from Dippers POV cause its just Bill pulling every high school pick up trick imaginable and Dipper missing every single one

One of my favorite things is Bill Failing at Something, and I am glad it delights others as well! Rest assured my mission to Uncool this dude will never cease.

[valenteal]

Oh my god I keep forgetting how some people in the Star Wars fandom see Anakin and then someone likes my long ranting reply and I just get reminded all over again.

And I know. I KNOW that I can’t change everyone’s mind and that it’s far from the most problematic issue I could be debating. But GOD does it piss me off when people say that Anakin was selfish or he should’ve just left the Jedi Order if he didn’t agree with them. Like… did no one ever teach you about recognizing a cult or its tactics? Do people not understand that the Jedi are literally brainwashed and have no “worldly possessions” and that leaving the order means striking out on your own, probably on Coruscant, with no money or job? Have people not payed attention to any of the NUMEROUS red flags? Do people just see that the Jedi staunchly oppose the obviously evil sith and decide they are saints?! Do people not recognize that the Jedi have literally committed genocide??? Like… the Jedi started the conflict with the Sith. They wiped out their entire civilization because of religious dogma. What are people not getting about that!?!?

And Anakin’s mental state. Oh my fucking god! Are people blind to the fact that he’s been groomed and manipulated for years by both the sith and the Jedi and is suffering from a severe mental breakdown during RotS??? Like. Even if you don’t know enough about psychology to recognize and understand BPD and a splitting episode it should still be obvious that he is NOT in his right mind through no fault of his own?!?! He’s traumatized after just coming back from literal WAR, he hasn’t been sleeping because he’s having premonitions of his wife DYING IN CHILDBIRTH EVERY NIGHT, his already feeble support system is in fucking shambles, and a guy he’s trusted for years is suddenly revealed to be an evil mastermind but the person standing against that evil mastermind is someone who has distrusted and scorned Anakin for just as long as the evil mastermind has been his mentor and confidant!!!!!!!!!

I don’t get it and I’m literally crying right now because I just don’t understand how people can’t feel empathy for Anakin and just want to vilify him while putting the people who hurt him on a pedestal. All it took for Anakin to come back to the light was ONE person believing in him. If you somehow missed that the original trilogy is about how love saves people and the prequel trilogy is about how denying love DESTROYS people then I don’t know how to help you.

No seriously I’m crying right now I know people are sheep who want to follow the pretty light and see the people in the marble castle with the gorgeous gardens and peaceful philosophy as good. I get it. But open your fucking eyes!!!!!!!! Being detached from reality and your emotions is not a healthy way to live and I don’t want people like that in positions of power and authority. EMPATHY! COMPASSION! These are the things Anakin embodies that the Jedi largely discard in favor of being cold and distant. The only Jedi who don’t are rebellious af. Qui-Gon (who is still problematic but at least he fucking cares), Obi-wan (was never a fucking golden boy, he almost wasn’t a Jedi and contemplated leaving on MULTIPLE occasions!), Quinlan Voss (no explanation needed here, man wasn’t even raised in the temple), Aayla Secura (Quinlan’s Padawan and the only Jedi we ever see actually contemplating the morality of the Clone War and having a discussion about it and actually LISTENING to what a non-Jedi has to say), Ahsoka (again no explanation needed, she fucking left and didn’t look back), Cal Kestis (has multiple crises about Jedi philosophy throughout the games and eventually decides Fuck It and becomes a much better and less confused person for it)… I could go on but you get the picture right?! You do get this? The Jedi Order was a toxic environment that messed people up so badly and never acknowledged their own flaws until it literally killed them all. Every single tragedy that happened to the Jedi was a direct consequence of their actions and literally all of their biggest enemies originated from within their own ranks!

At least Palpatine was decent enough to put literal red flags all over the Temple when he went and made it his palace!!! Because you know… he turned the Jedi temple into a palace with minimal cosmetic changes and that should REALLY tell you something!

[fdelopera]

Me: "Stop reblogging scammers who are catfishing as Gazan civilians, and donate to Anera and Doctors Without Borders instead, because they are actually on the ground helping the Gazan people."

Hamasnik cult member antipalestine-bigotry: "uR a BiGoT iF yOu DoN't ReBlOg GoFuNdMe ScAmMerS!!!!!111!!"

.

BE SO FOR REAL RIGHT NOW.

You Hamasniks are DEPRAVED. You are guilt tripping each other into reblogging obvious catfishing scammers, and some of you are obviously donating to these scammers' gofundmes, AND BY DOING SO YOU ARE LETTING THESE SCAMMERS STEAL YOUR MONEY THAT SHOULD GO TO HELP THE GAZAN PEOPLE.

You are so committed to your USELESS virtue signaling that you are willing to STEAL FROM GAZAN CIVILIANS.

You are STEALING from the Palestinian people and trying to make yourselves look virtuous for doing it.

You are a VILE, DISGUSTING BIGOT. You are actively HARMING the Palestinian people.

I suggest that you change your blog name to "Palestine-Bigotry" because you are obviously so BIGOTED against the Palestinian people, and you view Palestinians with such contempt, that you are willing to STEAL from them to stroke your own depraved ego.

Get the fuck away from my blog, you bigot.

[blueiight]

Claudia has a fully fledged coming of age story and character arc: she has multiple love interests, multiple tiers of conflict within herself, between the world around her, the family she was adopted into, trying to find a place for herself whether its within the family as their daughter, then their sister, then another vampire in Daciana, the collective of the coven, and finally, with a companion Madeleine .. idk where theres this idea that she was “fridged” just bc her adopted parents realize they treated her bad

[quacaserous]

OUGH ok hear me out. varys’ (game of thrones) “a very small man can cast a very large shadow” monologue/riddle but durgetash. smth smth durge acting as not only enver’s lover but also a mentor/advisor of sorts

[furiousgoldfish]

Abusive parents sometimes want to control your appearance so you look less individualistic, and more like them. The reasoning behind is that they are constantly aware that they need to keep up public appearances. Even if they keep you in complete poverty, servitude, violence and blackmail, the public can't be seeing that. So if your appearance differs from theirs too much, that is a threat to them.

They'll want you to look in unity with the rest of the family, even if you're everything but. That extends past your appearance; abusive parents attempt to control your entire identity.

If they're in a certain political circle, they expect you to be in it, if they belong to a certain religion, they expect it from you too, if they subscribe to certain ideas and beliefs to how a person needs to be, they expect you to share all of those beliefs. They need everything that makes you unique and different, to be completely erased and assimilated into their way of thinking, their way of behaving. So that there's no difference visible to the outside world, between them and you, even if you know in private, that there's a world of differences.

Controlling your identity and appearance extends to your social circle too; if you have friends who are not like them, they will devalue and degrade your friends, in front of you, and act like those people are worthless. They'll expect you to keep a social circle of only people in the family and people they approve of. They'll want to control who you come in contact, and from where you get your information, opinions and worldviews; nothing but the same worldview and opinion is ever allowed. They want you contained in that bubble of people who think, believe, and behave like them. Nothing individual, different or opposing.

They want you to have no place, no identity and no way to belong to any other people but them. They want you to feel like you're nothing without them, nothing in the outside world, like you have no place but inside of their house, doing what you're told. If you do manage to find your identity and beliefs elsewhere, this will be discouraged, degraded and you'll be expected to get rid of it, or even forbidden to participate in it.

This, again, is a cult tactic of control and escape sabotage. Restrictions on who you're allowed to be, how you're allowed to look, where you're allowed to make connections and what information and people you're allowed to be exposed to, that's something cults do to keep you indoctrinated. They don't want you getting any outside information, or to associate yourself with anyone who could make you doubt their methods. If you're the only one who has doubts, they can silence you. This is much more difficult to do if you have others backing you up, confirming that the methods are wrong, bizarre, traumatic.

If your family has attempted to control your appearance, identity and social circle, it's possible they're trying to keep you contained the same way a cult prevents a person from leaving; taking away their identity outside the group. Parents will do this to keep their children submissive and too scared to escape, too doubtful that they could be anyone who isn't completely defined by the parent's point of view. If this was done to you and you found it hard to imagine your place in the world, to figure out your identity and to find your own social circle, it was on purpose. They worked hard to make it extremely, extremely difficult for you.

[deservedgrace]

I think one of the more insidious beliefs I had to deconstruct imo is that "negative" emotions, especially anger, are sinful/bad. It's not beneficial to believe any emotions are inherently evil and need to be avoided at all costs, but anger specifically gives information about mistreatment, injustice, boundaries being crossed, disrespect, etc. People that are dissociated from their anger are that much easier to control. It's much easier to get away with harming people that struggle to identify when they're being harmed, and who can easily be called "sinful" when they do identify it.

[seaside-hysteria]

If there’s one thing Adaine and Kristen are probably great at, it’s casually saying the most batshit and concerning things from their childhood in random conversations

[unwelcome-ozian]

 Manipulation—The Puppeteer’s Strings

According to research, manipulation of beliefs and emotions forms a core aspect of cult dynamics, enabling leaders to exert control over their followers. For this, cults employ various tactics, exploiting vulnerabilities and creating a psychological environment conducive to indoctrination and obedience. Examples include:

Hypnosis and trance, which involve altering consciousness to deepen relaxation and enhance focus. Cult leaders use hypnosis to instill ideologies advantageous to them into members’ minds, taking advantage of their vulnerability and effectively coercing alignment with their agenda.

Fear-mongering is another common tactic employed to instill irrational fears and maintain obedience. This may include portraying outsiders as dangerous, spreading apocalyptic prophecies or creating a sense of impending doom if members were to leave or defy the group. For instance, a report by the American Psychological Association, highlights how Jim Jones of the People’s Temple coerced obedience by collecting written confessions from followers, then publicly shaming or subjecting them to their deepest fears if they disobeyed.

Thought reform, also known as brainwashing or mind control, is a systematic process used by cults to reshape members’ beliefs, attitudes and identities to align with the group’s ideology. It employs techniques like information control, thought-stopping and manipulation of language and symbols to induce compliance. Cult leaders censor dissenting viewpoints, promote a distorted narrative and use relentless repetition and peer pressure to shape members’ thoughts and to erode critical thinking, fostering dependency on the group for guidance and validation.

[sufferu]

Out of the blue question but in BTZ how does Anastasia feel about what Julius did to Subaru? Would she have preferred if Subaru came to her camp instead?

She’s SO mad, oh my god. The first scene of BTZ II is basically her dragging him off by the ear so she can yell at him for being an absolute DUNCE. She knows damn well why he did it but holy SHIT was it a bad move. Because YEAH. She DOES want Subaru in her Camp, especially because at first she’s completely under the impression that her Camp is the only one that went back in time, and she doesn’t trust ANY of these people to keep Subaru safe — especially not Emilia. And Julius just completely demolished any sort of proposal she could have made to convince Emilia that entrusting Subaru to her Camp’s care, specifically, would be a good idea.

Her anger is drastically cooled by the revelation that actually the other Camps DO remember those three years, and then by Crusch being the one who ultimately takes Subaru in as a guest. And also because even if he’s not in HER Camp, Crusch has agreed to work with her and her Iron Fang, so she also has eyes and ears in place to help keep him safe. But she’s still pretty mad at Julius for a WHILE, and he really can’t blame her.