#bite model

[weemietime]

Okay okay, I’d like to preface this by saying that I’m already deeply ashamed and embarrassed of myself for my behaviour and all, so if you think I don’t feel guilty and am bandwagoning, I’m not, I’m genuinely upset about what I did and there’s no one who could possibly hate myself more than me. And also, I’m not Jewish myself, but you could probably tell by what I’m about to say next.

So I was one of the many people who was a radical supporter of whatever has become of the pro Palestine movement (yes, I know, embarrassing behaviour) and I was perpetuating a lot of antisemitic things and would get super defensive about it because I truly didn’t think that what I was saying and/or doing was antisemitism and I also thought that I was genuinely helping people by being so… radical about things. A few months ago, I took a break from social media and on that break I sort of realised how much I don’t know about the harmful radical movement I was supporting and the Jewish and Israeli people that I was actually hurting by not listening to, and I truly am sorry and I do wish to become an ally, a good ally at that, but I do wonder if I’ve done too much damage already, I probably have. So yeah, I guess I was just wondering how I could possibly do better. I probably shouldn’t even be asking you this, you can totally block me if you want, I swear I’m not trolling or anything, but yeahhhh

The best thing that you can do for yourself and your community is to be honest about your perspective! How it happened, how you got radicalized, the things you said and why you said them. Some people won't be ready to forgive you and that's ultimately their prerogative. But people like you are the reason I am here, because I believe it is possible to form a bridge between our people and find a way to dialogue and call people back in from the extremism they've been indoctrinated into.

I'm fairly open about my history on here, but when I was a child I got indoctrinated into a violent gang. I adopted a lot of extreme beliefs and engaged in horrible, violent acts both under duress and of my own volition. So when I talk about indoctrination I am talking about something I have personal experience with. The people who I victimized to this day probably still have legitimate hate for me, and that's their right. I don't need to convince them I'm a good person or a changed person or whatever, you can't really undo harm or make up for harm like that, that's not how it works.

Once you put that out there, that's it. But at the same time, kind acts and good acts stand on their own, too. So I try and do outreach like this, to share my perspectives, to educate people on how extremism and radicalism and appetitive aggression work because I can't fix what I broke. All I can do is serve as a warning beacon for others going down a bad path, and I don't have any ability to know if that makes me a cosmically good or bad person.

Baruch dayen ha'emet. It's what we say when people die: G-d is the true judge. Only G-d knows those answers and I just have to have faith that G-d will judge me with compassion and understanding, and allow me to state my case. It's an ongoing conversation, you aren't ever just one thing or another thing. You grow, and learn, and that slowly changes the landscape.

I hope this helps in some manner! And I appreciate you sending this, we need to keep these avenues open, we have to build these bridges or else nothing will change. It's that simple.

[creature-wizard]

So I find that using the BITE model for cults is a lot more useful when discussing what a cult actually is with folks who either use it too much or not appropriately, but there's some wild shit the author, Hassan, has said--including calling/implying being trans is a cult and being weirdly panicky about erotic hypnosis (and just, imo as a recreational hypnotist, way overstating the power of hypnosis), claiming Trump was hypnotizing people, etc--do you know of any alternate resources for cult/high control group awareness to recommend or read that aren't by him? And/or how would you approach his work, if you're aware of his claims?

Unfortunately, I don't know of any alternatives right now.

My personal feelings the BITE model is that it can be an okay starting point for someone who suspects they're in a cult. It's not a great tool for diagnosing potential cults, because some of the items on it are so vague (for example, "a. Adopting the group’s ‘map of reality’ as reality") that they could be used to demonize any other political, spiritual, or cultural group as a cult. And like all other checklists that lack nuanced elaboration, it generally just lends itself to reductive thinking that can lead you to false conclusions, or be used for malicious applications.

[pb36cyan]

Remember kids, cults BITE.

B- Behaviour control. What are you allowed to do? Wear? Eat? Are you banned from certain public spaces by the doctrine? How often must you pray or otherwise perform rites? Are you required to pay tithes or make tribute of your earnings in some way? Do you live on "holy ground" with other followers? Are possessions controlled?

I- Information control. What are you allowed to know? What questions can you ask? Are you allowed to poke at flaws in the doctrine? Are you allowed to consume media from outside of the group? Can you bring in outside knowledge, or is it deemed forbidden?

T- Thought control. Can you think critically of the doctrine? What are you shamed for believing? What are you encouraged in believing? Again, can you poke at flaws in the doctrine without being punished? How often do you use thought-stopping techniques like chants, songs, or group prayer?

E- Emotional Control. What do you feel about the doctrine/group? Are these feelings considered "correct"? Does going against the group in a harmless way fill you with crushing guilt and shame? Is moral weight placed on emotional responses?

[unwelcome-ozian]

i hope your doing well, i’ve come to see if you could possibly help me understand things in my system. i think i may be programmed but it was incomplete, script wise possibly alice in wonderland or may chronicles of narnia (specifically lion witch and the wardrobe) im 19 if that helps at all. key landmarks in the innerworld that im aware of are: some form of castle esc structure, forest, and what i believe to be is a sort of military esc camp? its all blurry and hard for me to describe but the castle like structure and forest are the most prevalent ones that i see. i grew up in the mormon church and my father & some other family members were apart of the us army before i was born and while i was growing up (father was in until i was maybe 10 or so? im unsure but my parents also got divorced when i was young anyway so along with the lack of memories from that time and that i didnt see him often its hard to tell).

apologies if this is hard to understand, very scatter brained and thinking about this all makes me dissociate and dizzy, but i tried to put key parts in here. thank you for reading and for helping survivors understand things.

I’m doing alright. Thank you.

Traditionally one script is used in programming. If multiple scripts are used this can lead to confusion in the system with roles and mapping.

Numerous systems have castles, forests and other locations. One thing that may help is symbols, phrases, and names of alters.

Here’s a link to some information: Assessing the Mormon Church Using Steven Hassan’s BITE Model for Cults

Take Care,

Oz

[tellurian-in-aristasia]

Your humble editress is usually quick to say "No, of course Aristasia wasn't a cult!", usually. But sometimes, I feel as if perhaps it was a bit too close to being a cult for comfort. It definitely varied from what you normally might think of as a cult, in that they didn't really recruit, and they usually played all their weird cards first thing, right out on the table. They didn't keep their strange secrets until after you were already invested in them, they wanted everyone to know, right up front, that they were aliens in exile. But maybe not in so many words. They were, of course, very happy to cozy up to girls who shared their interest, and see who were willing to to play their game (see Operation Roriita and their Femmekin/Otherkin blogging), but once they hooked you with their weird ideas, they didn't seem to want anything from you beyond your willingness to engage in long-term life theatre with them. Of course, it's also apparently true that certain girls, with certain positions of power, have allegedly used their spiritual and social power to act out what seems like obvious kinks (viewing it from this century, with what we understand now about kinks, even if it is just a bongo Tellurian's understanding) against seemingly unwilling members of their community who apparently were willing to subject themselves to such treatment because they apparently were lead to believe it was done for spiritual reasons. Maybe it was printed in bongo tabloids, but the events certainly seemed to transpire, one way or another.

To make a long post even longer, I would like to go through many of these and speak a little about my thoughts on them.

Chanting Chanting is used within the religious aspect of Aristasia/Chelouranya, but the religious side was never particularly pushed to any real degree. Instill guilt about not living up to potential This seems to be something that comes up a bit when ex-Aristasians (particularly of the Second Life era) tell their stories, and mostly it relates to feeling guilty that they're not really living a racinated life outside of the internet. No happiness outside of group The idea that the rest of the world was in an eclipse, and the world outside of Aristasian hearths was The Pit is a big one. Almost everything about the modern world was deemed disgusting. Forbid critical questions about leader The leaders (if that is what you could call Miss Martindale and Miss Langridge) had so many different personas it was almost impossible for them to have answered any critical questions about them. It's very possible that whole people have been invented, for the purpose of deflecting questions about who really founded Aristasia. Information deliberately withheld Now this is one that doesn't seem to actually have been a thing. Aristasians seemed to play all of their strange cards right at once. They wanted you to know they were aliens. If you didn't like that, you were free to leave. When, how, and with whom you have sex dictated While Aristasians generally didn't seem to care about your relationships outside of the group, it was indeed stated that if you were to be a full, inner circle, Aristasian, you were expected to give up relationships with em-ee-en. The old Artemis zines also have a lot to say about how intimacies between women shouldn't be regarded as "sex", and that "sex" should mean gender. So there is a lot of redefining what sex even entails in Aristasia, and more importantly, what is and isn't sexual. Which has lead to some behavior that is distinctly sexual in Tellurian life being regarded as nonsexual within Aristasia. This blurring of lines between sexual and non-sexual has lead to, to put it very lightly, misunderstandings. Encourage only good and proper thoughts This seems to be largely a Chelouranya idea, but encouraging their members to always be sweet and happy was important. Some emotions deemed evil See above, and also see this old Poppitops comics. Outsider vs insider doctrines Aristasians vs the rest of the world was a central theme to their lifestyle. There were a number of names for non-Aristasians, and even different Aristasian words for mundane objects. It was generally regarded by Aristasians that there was a war on, and they were fighting for the winning side. Instill fear of outside world See above. Control information at different levels within group This is something that they didn't really practice. While there was definitely the idea of inner and outer circle Aristasians, there seemed to be no secret information that would be revealed to the inner circle. New name/identity Creating a new identity was a central core of being Aristasian. If you decided to use your Tellurian name, you were at the very least encouraged to choose if you were a Blonde or a Brunette. Many Aristasians had many different names, identities, and even sexes. Distort information to make it acceptable There was a lot of information bending within Aristasia. Reading Aristasian musings often feels like it's very obvious that they're working backwards from whatever point they're trying to make to make it fit around their world views. This ranges greatly from science denial (for there's no belief in evolution in Aristasia) to their own history revision (They only ever got involved with all that Silly Monkey stuff to make money to fund their embassies, but also what they did wasn't Silly Monkey stuff anyways, because, remember, what they did wasn't sexual) Impose buddy system This one is a little bit vague, but pairing up blondes and brunettes or forming communal households was always a priority with Aristasians.

So, while it may seem like this Bingo card has a lot of marks, I still don't necessarily think that Aristasia or Chelouranya was a cult. I think that it was potentially a very toxic community, with some toxic views, run by some girls who maybe were not suited for running a community, members were free to leave if their faith in the game wavered, were not really expected to give up anything besides aesthetics, and were not actively recruited. However, I was never part of any Aristasian circles, so perhaps I'm very wrong about this.

I would like to make special note that I'm speaking strictly of the Aristasia that later transformed into Chelouranya, and not at all about the Filianic, Madrian, or Deanic religious community, which have made much effort over the decades to distance themselves from whatever Miss Martindale and Miss Langridge were doing after about 1982.

[religion-is-a-mental-illness]

“That which can be destroyed by the truth, should be.” -- P.C. Hodgell

"nO dEbAtE!!" is a giveaway.

[empyrean-thrones]

How many boxes do you think Bàsgiath ticks off on the BITE model?

[lynk-into-the-abyss]

Unlearning

I grew up in a Christian Cult. The cult I grew up in is fairly unknown, though if you drive on highways, I guarantee you've seen and passed by their churches. This Christian Cult isn't like other cults. Each church will approach it differently. And I'll explain that more in a different post at some point. But the amount of "unlearning"/deprogramming I've had to do since leaving at 17/18 years old is... quite insane. And I'm still in the process of it. My whole family, immediate and extended, are apart of this cult. The only other family member that has gotten out is my Aunt. Because both of us left, our family does everything they can to keep us apart. I was lied about her for years to keep from talking to her. We've recently started talking again. And, surprise surprise, she's the only one that is actually being helpful to me. Where the rest, would see me rot alive.

There's something called the BITE model. If you're worried about being in a cult, I encourage you to look into it. BITE stands for

B- behavior control

I- information control

T- thought control

E- emotion control

Pay attention to the groups you are in or join. It's not just Christianity that has cults. And if you find yourself in a position that you believe that you could be in a cult, look into deprogramming yourself. Question everything and don't look for the answer that the group has taught you to expect. When you find an answer, confirm that answer with multiple sources. Unlearn so you can learn better. There's hope. I promise.

[chris-in-eugene]

@jesusinstilettos I know you've shared this or something like it before, but just wanted to keep this going.

America has a weird relationship with cults where they’re terrified of small cults (or organizations they think are cults) but completely normalized massive cults that hurt many more people (eg: LDS Church, Jehovah’s Witnesses, the Amish, Scientology, most Megachurches)

[thatbitch151]

The violent realization that you relate to the cult BITE model a little Too Much and now you have to do some internal digging about that

[epitome-of-an-openbook]

If you don't think that you would fall for a cult, if you dont think that people on the forefront of social justice movements, people doing the opposite work of MAGA, can fall for cult rhetoric - I want you to look up Jim Jones and the People's Temple and then I want you to look up which people and what movements he was appealing to (here's a hint -> "In a period in which most mainline churches were white supremacist, Peoples Temple’s leadership was able to capitalize on blacks’ yearning for inclusion and cultural validation. In an era in which many Bay Area black churches were accused of bourgeois conservatism, People Temple touted the radical progressive rhetoric of black liberation struggle." source linked below)

Now, even if you don't recognize the names Jim Jones or The People's Temple, you have almost definitely heard the phrase "drank the kool-aid" which is a phrase born out of the tragedy of what happened to the members of The People's Temple.

Cult rhetoric is meant to capitalize on feelings of loneliness, abandonment, loss, and longing - and once you are in they use strategies like the BITE model (Behavior Control, Information Control, Thought Control, Emotional Control) to make it EXTREMELY difficult for you to leave.

So yeah, not only do we need to be willing to help people who are exiting cults (MAGA included) but we also need to recognize that it easily could have been us, our friends, and our allies. In times like this where a lot of us are feeling anxious, overwhelmed, and (most importantly) isolated we are extremely vulnerable to cult rhetoric as well.

And if you still struggle to help people who leave MAGA I urge you to remember that forgiveness is not the same thing as kindness or empathy. You can treat someone with kindness, understand that what they have been through is horrible and still not forgive them for what they did to you. You can point people towards resources that will help them escape the cult mentality and not forgive them for what they did to you. But choosing to make things difficult for those leaving a cult does the work of the cult leaders for them by proving to those who try to leave that they really won't be accepted anywhere else, just like they were told.

This is an interesting thing. Looks like testimonies of people who left the MAGA movement- how they got into it and why.

Leaving a cult is really hard, so I really respect the people who are speaking from this place.

[thenotsolittlemisspeculiar]

BITE Model

(Source)

[puriteenism]

Might write a fic

[umblrspectrum]

i think i read this in a fic on ao3 but i forgot which one

[spidermartini]

Steven Hassan, creator of the BITE model of cult identification/classification, speaking on his own time in a cult, as well as the characteristics of the MAGA cult.

[ereshckigal]

Friendly reminder that "satanic panic" as a term is also often used to shut down survivors of ritual abuse, please keep this in mind if you try to be sceptical, conspicary theories always have a core of truth, so if stories of child abuse are involved, it's probably true and the theories exist to make the victims stories look implausible.

But this is not my main point here. I just wanted to show you the BITE Model by Steven Hassan and how it's already prominent in social justice/cancel culture.

Many GenZers already operate like this so it is easy for abusive personalities to take advantage of them.

Here is a post about BITE in Queer Circles that explains a lot, even if you disagree with OP.

Here is an article about BITE in the anti racist woke.

Here is an article about neoliberalism (what conservatives call "cultural marxism" is also neoliberalism), the core ideology that formed the minds of GenZ and turned social movements into toxic environments.

You need to understand economics if you wanna understand why people act like they do. It's called materialism. As Marx said:

"Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people."

At this point please remember, materialism is a lense to analyse your conditions from, not a lifestyle and not an ideology you need to follow or you are an evil nazi fascist. Stay away from people and circles who act like this.

The example from the maoist commune where everyone accidental dates one person is a great example, how this opium-of-the-people stuff can look like. Most leftists don't see through this in our times.

I'm pretty sure there is happening similar stuff on the conservative side (Steven Hassan, the inventor of the BITE Model wrote a book about Trump for example). Both sides Go crazy in our times and that's the perfect breeding ground for cults.

My hypothesis is that in like 10 years gen z is gonna have a big cult boom the way the boomers did in the 70s