#cult deprogramming

[intoxicatinginsanity]

Y’all my cousin joined a fucking cult and I am so fucking worried 🙃! Anyone on here have any experiences with a Christianity group called “Young Life”? If so how did you get out? And what do I need to look out for further. She’s been with them for less than a month or so according to my grandmother and we just found out earlier last week that’s she’s already be baptized by this cult’s head “pastor”. My grandmother is a god fearing Christian and even she is concerned.

[poetbutterkristenmitchell]

understanding my role in the suffering I have caused myself and others has helped rebuild a bridge to finding out who I am in this world.

[littleapocalypsekitten]

I could not go to work this morning because the door seals on my car were frozen shut. Partner got to work just fine, apparently, my old car has a bit of a defect - I tried all of the doors (very willing to clamber over seats to get in the driver's seat if need be), but nothing budged. I even tried pouring hot water in the jams. My area does not always get Arctic conditions, but this week, it did and we have no garage. I was actually quite toasty in the layers I dressed in, but my car is a wimp. I wound up having to call out today and had it arranged to come in on one of my originally-scheduled days off later this week. I am wondering if God might have been saving me, just a little bit. You see, I've got a co-worker in my department, an older guy, who's MAGA and a Musk-fan. He doesn't work closely with me on my specific task - I am partnered with others (cut fruit in a produce department), but he's in and out with stocking things on the floor. He's not my manager, but he comes in, converses as he gets things. I actually like him a lot because he's friendly and helpful. He's hardworking and a great co-worker. But, GOD, I wish he would stop bringing up politics when he comes to the back room. He doesn't do it every day, but he does it sometimes. I have expressed (to others) that I feel it inappropriate to have political discussions at work. We're just in a damn grocery store, we're supposed to just do our jobs and not get into anything contentious. Talking about the weather or pets or food or the poor quality of the watermelons we get in winter is fair game, but he's very into just going on about politics and world events sometimes in a way that I know he's getting all his news from FOX. He seems to be particularly afraid of immigrants (despite us having had a guy working with us for a while, but he was from the Netherlands, so he was probably "okay"). I wonder if he would have come in today talking about the innagurpeachment (er, wishful thinking, inauguration) and / or complaining about people accusing poor baby genius Elon of the Sieg Hiel when it was "something else!!!" That is, I wonder if God in their infinite kindness to me was sparing me from dealing with uncomfortable conversations at work (when I would have just. wanted. to. dismember. cantelopes. goddamitt). I am very low on the totem-pole there (a part-timer who has the job as a Disability supplement) and I'm already in hot water for a few things (had to call out earlier this week from being stomach sick and it's actually somewhat frequent, I wonder if I have something serious wrong with me), so I'm kind of... quiet... most of the time. I need the money. People on tumblr and online in general are talking about screaming and shouting and protesting, not everyone has the luxury at every turn. That said, earlier conversation had me standing up (pre-election) as a Kamala-voter. I gave him my reasons. I've done a mild crit of Elon (said that I think a lot of his inventions are actually from working with teams / his employees). He knows a bit where I stand. So, my tactic with this situation is the "continue to show that someone who disagrees with him is actually human." Be that friendly co-worker as he is friendly to me. I feel like "light gets in the cracks" sometimes. I'm not in the business of de-programming, but I have heard that it is where it starts - treating your adversary as a human being, try little tiny bits of conversation to undermine what they're into, little facts they can't turn away from. If the shit really hits the fan and we hit all out war, make this guy realize he's gonna have to kill some people he actually likes.

[mithraeris]

Bhaal, Lolth... the Absolute. They do not have followers - they only have victims, and they reward devotion with death - Minthara party dialogue

Spiders are Lolth's creatures - as was I. Her cult controlled me just as the Absolute did. Not a pleasant memory at all. - Minthara during love test

Without Lolth or the Absolute, I am free for the first time. Some may call it exile, I call it independence. - Minthara during love test

[i-am-most-certainly-not-regina]

Ok but some of the lyrics to "What Was I Made For?" (Barbie, 2023) fits the feelings of Mormon deprograming from a girl's perspective extremely well.

(I say girl here because while I'm trans it's important to recognize that my deprogramming comes from a place of being forced into mormon woman gender roles from birth and therefore aligns more with an exmormon woman's experience than an exmormon man's thank you for understanding :D)

[diningwiththeasquiths]

Need something like this to happen 😂

[busket]

severance was pitched to me as "sci fi workplace story where the employees have different memories between their job and personal life, they just switch to a different persona at work" and that's interesting and was enough to make me wanna watch but if I had been told it was about deprogramming from a cult, and seeking the difficult truth of how you have been used i would have sat my ass down and watched it IMMEDIATELY because that is my very favorite trope

[falafels]

on my thea muldani triplet bullshit once again

[megandzane]

We already knew a lot of this, via Oprah and Harry’s book, but the fact that so much BS was decided back in 2017. It’s nothing Meghan did. They genuinely didn’t think she was worthy of protection or the same treatment. And I think we all know the reason for the massive change in precedent.

As for Harry, it’s hard to say if things would be different if he married a white British woman or stayed in line bc from what I’m learning it truly sounds like there’s been so much weird othering.

[gilasaurus]

old sketch of my ship #myship . im obsessed with their noses <-normal guy saying

[91625]

No, because that literally never happened.

Hey, remember when one of the two Presidential candidates tried to overthrow the lawful government of the United States and install himself as dictator in contravention of the voters?

Well, I'm sure Biden must have done... something that bad, or else why would people be so angry at him?

One of the weird things that doesn't fit to me is people explaining that it doesn't matter that Trump tried to overthrow the government, and install himself as dictator, because really the President isn't that important and his advisors prevent him from doing anything too crazy.

But also, Biden can't be president because the President is really powerful and we can't rely on his advisors to blunt bad decision-making, if the President can't make good decisions it's a deal-breaker.

If we're the victim of a terrorist attack and Trump orders the military to, I don't know, nuke Iran, his advisors will ignore him and do what's best for the country.

But if we're the victim of that same teroris attack and Biden just sounds confused then his advisors will somehow... Be unable to help? Like they'd somehow be energized if Biden says "Nuke Iran" and they'd go off and do something really useful but if he just asks them to use their best judgement they'll be crippled?

I genuinely do not understand how that is supposed to work.

The other idea that doesn't fit is,

"Biden is bad at projecting strength, and Trump is good at it. So the obvious play is for Biden and the Democrats to do the exact opposite of what Trump would do, it's the only way to look as strong as Trump. Fold like a cheap card table and change your entire party strategy the second the media criticize you, that's the lesson on how to be as successful as Trump."

I just don't think that's the total slam dunk obvious strategy a lot of you people seem to.

Anyway yeah remember when only one of the candidates tried to install himself as dictator of the USA?

[reflections-in-a-critical-eye]

Iam waiting for tkkrs to turn on him when he reveals his real partner. He has to some day, doesn't he? Let's see then.

Girl, the Jennie Kim erasure!

[trudemaethien]

YES

*so here’s the thing—i grew up in a (small and unknown) cult as a child/teen and part of why the clones resonate so strongly with me is because of that fact*

Very briefly touching on the most prominent points i notice over and over:

1. the isolation: Geographically (uncharted planet), socially (they are Other from trainers or cloners), individually (contained in armor, sleep in single pods)

2. the control of information: communications and travel stringently restricted.

3. the indoctrination: standardized education and training, propaganda about themselves, the Jedi, the Republic, and along with the above point, no way to verify or compare what they’re learning to any other sources.

4. the charismatic leader (Jango Fett as the Prime was not well-liked but there are still strong parallels)

5. even after they leave Kamino, sending them off to war is analogous to sending cultists out as “missionaries” which is less about converting people (winning the war) and more about cementing their Otherness from the rest of the world(s). The clones’ ultimate purpose is to die, and they have to face that fact constantly.

If you’re interested in reading more about cults and cult deprogramming, the BITE Model for Authoritarian Control is a good place to start. Please note, not all aspects have to be present for something to be a cult, and cult thinking is more popular than one would expect.

No one is immune to propaganda, and I do include myself in that, gotta stay humble or that’ll be how it gets ya. However, based on my hard-won life experience, I tend to recognize the propaganda and nope away more often than not… I hope!

Idk something about the clones gives off 'cult survivor' vibes sometimes.

[theater-of-delirium]

The world is not more chaotic, more corrupt, or more violent than it was in the “good old days.” The world is not more dangerous, more hostile, or more hopeless than it ever was…

…it is merely more televised.

A thousand identities are consumed; a thousand vicariously-lived moments are experienced each day.

So goes the algorithm; but you can develop your own code instead.

In the abyss of creation—in the magician’s black Triangle of Arte—you may find a reflection, or an expression, of inner essence and personal ethos—free from the meddling influence of the predatory programmers of false human identities.

In the silence, in the obsidian mirror that appears when you turn off the TV.

[lichfucker]

[image description expanded from alt text: a digital painting of Idona Noci, a ttrpg character, from the chest up. Noci is pale and middle-aged, with grey eyes and shaggy brown hair just above shoulder-length. he's wearing a green coat with a high neck and spiky bronze shoulder pauldrons. they're looking up with a worried expression on their face, lit by a bright chartreuse light. the portrait is highly stylized, painted with chunky shapes and streaky shading, in a color palette that emphasizes green and bronze tones. end id]

ill-reputed and worthy.

@army-of-bee-assassins

[m-a-k-k-u]

I can't wait for this fucking election to be over.