#cult conditioning type stuff

[kideternity]

If you aren’t stupid you go to hell is the message I'm getting from this episode of Digimon

[hauntedraggedyanne]

Turning positive traits negative

here are some options you can use to make more complex, real characters

—Optimistic

Refuses to get serious about certain subjects, mocks those who don’t always share their positive viewpoints, says stuff like “if you’re depressed, just be happy 😃”

—Neat

Can’t handle their space being in any other condition, very preoccupied with how they appear rather than how they behave, can’t hold back their tongue if there’s a sock out of place in a friend’s bedroom

—Open

Some things don’t need to be said. They say those things. Every other sentence.

—Effective

Very mission oriented not ‘care about people’s feelings’ oriented. One of those co-workers who makes everyone look bad because they come in early and stay late so everyone kind of already doesn’t like them.

—Leadership

Doesn’t let anyone else take the wheel, as well as controlling when the situation doesn’t require it. Also could be someone who demands praise for their work as well as always being seen as number 1 (could be a cult leader).

—Honest

The type who tells the truth when you show off a new outfit and you ask for their opinion. Believes that fact is greater than feelings and it will get many people mad very, very quickly.

-Wholesome/innocent

Drags other people down to make them feel ‘dirty’ because of the life they lead. Knows that asking people about certain subject matters may make them uncomfortable, but does it anyways to show off just how 🧚🏻‍♀️💕pure🧚🏻‍♀️💕 they are. If you’re struggling with this, watch a bit of those tradwives videos (keep in mind, not the normal ones minding their own business.)

—Imaginative

Comes up with the WORST, most horrific, terrible fates for everyone. Gets really defensive/rude over their work. Thinks that they’re the next big thing in whatever field they’re working in.

—Selfless

Instantly throws themselves in front of danger and doesn’t think about the consequences of their own actions. Could fall victim to situations where they’re forced to take the fall every time while someone else walks right over them.

—Confidence

Can lead to selfishness, over abundance of pride, stubbornness and unwilling to admit wrong doings/beliefs/actions.

—Extroversion

Unable to understand proper boundaries that others have set, tries to bring people out of their comfort zone even when unnecessary, rude.

—Intelligence

One of those nerds that every class has that reminds the teacher of the homework, looks down on those less intelligent and doesn’t care of the social/economical/personal reasons as to why they don’t share the same intellect, prideful.

—Kindness

Nativity, allows the wrong people to walk free, toxic positivity, doesn’t want to understand how some people may just be evil, leading the team into multiple dangerous, avoidable situations.

—Romantic

‘Doesn’t take no for an answer’, makes people uncomfortable, overwhelms people with fantasies of romantic dinners/adventures despite it still being the first date, moves too fast for their love interest.

[theinfernalcollective]

also stuff i forgot to mention maybe

most severe abuse victim circles specify the type of abuse/trauma instead of RAMCOA, idk why RAMCOA is now circulated as a popular topic/term, it kind of personally makes me uncomfortable that this information is known by lots of people, i dont like people knowing about severe abuse because that makes me and others like me more vulnerable if they know how we operate somewhat. but thats me personally! idk

its rare for abusers to be self aware like this, its not IMPOSSIBLE but rare

separate abusers and abuser groups arent all unifiedly connected to eachother from around the world, may or may not have clarified this idk i forgot. just incase. (aka: this is not a "elites/cults controlling the world/abusing children/whatever" type antisemitic conspiracy type deal)

they will also often justify child abuse, same as any other abuser

ritual abuse means ritualistic, as in repeatedly-occuring in the same way ocd has rituals. but also ritual abuse as in religious rituals under religious abuse are a... thing, theyre more often christian than satanic though and not what anyone thinks when they think religious ritual LOL. again, legitimate abuse is heavily removed from pop culture scifi occult satanic ritual abuse conspiratorial bullshit, and more realistic/down to earth

there is not one unified plan/instruction, "ramcoa carrds" describing stuff like programs list, "alpha," "beta", whatever, thats just describing trauma + fear + conditioned responses, its not like abusers have a guide book or they actually use this terminology or they know of all this stuff, its just words to describe a specific phenomenon, "alpha" = conditioned response and compulsion to obey abusers etc. "delta" = an implemented conditioned response related to fight response. "beta" = S/A type conditioning. "zeta" = desensitization, normalization, justification, "liking" of abuse/viewing it as good. ETC. its just conditioning + specific beliefs "implanted" (abused into) them. "theta" = religious abuse conditioning. "omega" = sui/SH conditioning. and so on. Some are rare though. and there are other "programs" (which is to describe specific conditioned responses/implanted beliefs due to trauma/abuse, etc) that are just... specific to your own case?

most/99% of cults do not do this kind of conditioning/programming, its very rare, dont get me wrong

.

[chronicbeans]

Just Stuff About Wally's Voice Actor in my Story (I saw someone say they were starting to like them so I decided to write this)

I kinda dropped a bucket of paint on their head so here's my apology for their new concussion/other possible damage. Get well soon, Wally VA!

🎙️ If people haven't noticed, already, I have written it so that most characters are gender neutral and don't have names. That's because I like to give the reader as much imagination as they want when it comes to stories about pre-existing fandoms, plus characters like puppeteers, producers and such might be introduced into the cannon story. I figured it would make sense to keep them as kinda mysterious figures. So, everything in this post is just for my little story I have going on and how I imagine them. Two main things are that, in story, I am always going to try to keep them nameless and genderless, just because I feel that is the most interesting part of their mystery, but this post will be what I imagine when I write. If you want me to use this specific version of them, just let me know by referring to Wally's voice actor by the name I use in this post. OwO

🎙️ Some basic information is that Wally's voice actor is a man named Caesar Jones. He's in his late middle ages and has two kids. He has arthritis, although, the doctor's haven't figured out exactly what type it is, yet. His wife divorced and left the family on good terms, and they still keep in contact.

🎙️ He is very protective over Wally because they created him. He is scared that, once someone else is puppeteering Wally and (eventually) voicing him, the character of Wally will change and become unrecognizable to him. No one knows Wally better than his creator. At least, that's what Caesar thinks. It's actually the only reason why he doesn't like the reader in the story.

🎙️ He is a smoker, but makes sure to always go outside to smoke. Even when he is in an area that allows him to smoke inside, he goes outside. He has even gone outside in borderline blizzard conditions. Ever since he had his two kids, he makes sure to keep them safe. What started the habit of him going outside was when one of his kids started coughing from the smoke.

🎙️ He uses a wheelchair when at home. He doesn't need it all the time, but he uses it at home so he can give his knees and ankles a break after work. He bought it with his own money, as a "self-birthday-gift", AKA he bought himself a gift for his birthday. He also believes it will help slow down any joint damage he might have from his arthritis. A part of the reason for the contract the boss made between Caesar and the reader, the one that keeps them both updated on the other's health in emergencies, is that Caesar will stay home on days where his pain is especially bad. So, in those cases, he sometimes has the reader visit his house to rehearse for episode recordings.

🎙️ He doesn't know it, but he actually has a mixture of both arthritis and carpal tunnel in both wrists. He got diagnosed with arthritis and just assumes that the numbness and carpal tunnel symptoms are from the arthritis.

🎙️ Some aspects of himself have made it into Wally. For one, both Wally and Caesar have a deep desire to preserve the wonder and imagination of children. Caesar believes that wonder is what makes a person special, because it fuels the imagination. Nobody really imagines things the same way, right? Wally believes that, too.

🎙️ Caesar is interested in cults, especially religious ones. He, himself, is religious. He isn't extremely so, only really doing the bare minimum of his religion's practices, which is exactly why these cults intrigue him. He couldn't imagine bringing any of his beliefs to such a severe degree. The thought scares him. Wally, in a way, also has that trait. Except Wally is more like a little cultist, himself! With no knowledge on what a 'religion' is, though, he has unknowingly turned to you as the core of his belief. All of the obsessive, worshipping, and overall cult like behavior that Caesar researched about went straight into Wally.

🎙️ He is actually a very progressive person for his time. He doesn't care what gender or sexuality identify as, nor does he care about your racial background. As long as you respect him, he will respect you. If you interest him and he wants to get to know you better, he will approach and talk to you. It is all the same to him. People are people.

🎙️ He's a hard cookie to kill, so he probably survived that paint can. I always imagined that it hit the back of his head, which is where the part of the brain that controls sight is. He probably has some damage there, which can cause hallucinations.

[ganondorf]

out of genuine curiosity, why does RAMCOA not exist? i know you mentioned its linked to satanic panic but abuse at the hands of cults are very real and it feels more like that? idk

like you said here, the source of RAMCOA is linked to satanic panic, NWO shit, which both are inherently antisemitic. cult abuse, religious abuse, trafficking, and organized abuse are very real things, obviously. ritual abuse, as in abuse that occurs in a ritualized manner (ie a kid being assaulted on the same day every month), is even a viable concept, although there's been no actual documentation of that happening (but theoretically not impossible to have doled out). RAMCOA is not

for further context RAMCOA is literally just the re-branded name for SRA (satanic ritual abuse). there is no separating RAMCOA from that no matter how much people try to insist otherwise. the very basis of RAMCOA's existence is satanic panic and antisemitism. the foundation of both RAMCOA and SRA are found within antisemitic illuminati books and have no clinical or legal evidence to back their claims. the chairman of RAMCOA SIG is literally a conspiracy theorist and believed preschools were building underground tunnels for satanic cults. a majority of patients treated by RAMCOA therapists have sued for medical malpractice and abuse done to them by these therapists, and many therapists who propose ritual abuse as a key part to their treatment of dissociative and trauma-based disorders have been disbarred for their actions

so for starters, "mind control" is a hazy concept. there's no proof of it actually being a thing that exists. as another example, one of the biggest criticisms of the BITE model is its reliance on the idea of "mind control." and what i've seen other people describe as "mind control" is just gaslighting + conditioning, which ARE very real things. but what RAMCOA refers to as mind control is literally just like MKUltra type shit

there is genuinely no evidence for the existence of "programming." the human brain is not a computer, it is too complex and people are too varied to be able to manipulate so precisely. conditioning is real, but programming is not. as far as i've been able to find all the programming stuff comes from straight up conspiracy theories

moreover, there has yet to be a single case of RAMCOA that ended up having any ground in reality. like not even "yea the cult existed but they didn't do that" like i mean absolutely zero evidence of these cults ever existing in the first place

now i do think that people BELIEVE they went through RAMCOA because they were actively coached to believe in it. but ultimately it just ends up being gaslighting and conditioning mixed with religious fervor. and i think some of it is also just delusion, as someone who is schizophrenic

[swordfright]

but i do think it was grooming???? cdream was only obsessed with ctommy its very clear so its no manic episode or anything. he wanted ctommy to be his toy that's all he cared about, the rest was just lies to make himself look better.

there are two definitions of grooming that i’m familiar with. the first is more generally the act of manipulating a vulnerable person (usually perpetrated by an authority figure of some kind) over a long period of time, conditioning them to think/act a certain way, and oftentimes in ways that are ultimately harmful. this is what cults do. the second definition, which I’ve heard more frequently, is that this manipulation necessarily involves an element of sexual coercion.

if you’re talking about the first definition, then i agree that this interpretation makes sense based on what we see on-screen in the story. some of the isolation tactics c!dream uses on c!tommy remind me of isolation tactics used by cults, and this is true regardless of c!dream’s potential motives at the time. but if you’re talking about the second definition then i strongly disagree - i don’t think there’s any evidence to support the idea that any kind of csa happened during exile.

i’m aware that this is a popular fan interpretation of exile and that’s fine, i’m a horror writer and it would be hypocritical of me to take issue with an entire sub-type of dsmp horror. but frankly, it’s not an interpretation i subscribe to. that stuff is way way way too dark for me personally. i am not interested in consuming or discussing that kind of content.

[olderthannetfic]

Are age gaps always a bad thing? Is it possible to be at a different 'level' from someone else your own literal age?

I'm 21 but I really don't feel it. Many of my friends are very mature and know what they're doing with their lives but I don't. I feel several years behind everyone else and, in terms of experience, I am. I got out of a cult that forbade a lot of normal teen stuff and tried to have more experiences, then covid hit and my pre-existing health condition-having self avoided people like the plague. I worry that by the time I feel ready for a relationship, everyone my age will be too far ahead of me.

One of my friends is 19. They dated a 17 year old. This is the kinda relationship antis start shit over when it's fictional. I think it's probably fine - I can believe that a 17yo is a bit more mature and a 19yo is a bit more immature. But some of my friends seem bothered by it so I'm not sure what I should think.

What is normal and okay?

--

Many people feel out of step with their supposed peers. Age gaps aren't inherently bad, but I don't necessarily think they're the answer to feeling out of step.

What is normal and okay are relationships that are healthy for the people involved. These are relationships that respect boundaries and provide support and positive feelings for both/all parties. That's how you judge health, not absolute metrics like age.

I'm sorry I can't give you a clear-cut rule. I know how difficult it is to just "trust your gut" if your instincts were honed in a cult. Your internal compass is all wonky. (You'd be surprised how many people I know who were raised in cults.)

17 and 19 is commonplace. It's only in the rarefied atmosphere of tumblr and such that people think it's a problem. I have no idea if your friends' relationship is healthy or not without knowing them.

For you at 21, I get feeling behind, but I wouldn't go for someone significantly younger, personally. If you're in college, dating another college student makes sense, but I wouldn't date anyone not yet in college.

Instead, I would look for other people who also feel out of step. Hell, I might look for someone older who's gone through what you're going through. It's not only cults that do it: an illness or a tragedy in the family can put people "behind" in similar ways. Neurotic perfectionist types also just tend to feel behind because they think they should have it all figured out by now.

But nobody actually has it figured out. Sorry.

It's fine to go sow some wild oats and recreate some of the teen experiences that you missed, but don't imagine that even people with "regular" adolescences all had the Hollywood version of everything. Sometimes, you imagine you're missing out on a lot more than you actually are. It's not about the experiences: it's about your feelings of incompleteness. Sometimes, you fix it by going out and getting those experiences. Sometimes, you fix it by working on the feeling themselves.

I do think there can be ages where it feels like everyone else is getting married and doesn't want to go out partying or like everyone settled down before you and nobody worth having is left when you want to settle down yourself, but that shit tends to be in your late 30s, and it's still a mistake to take a general tendency as a rule for your own life. Plenty of individual people settle down or still want to party at any age.

21 is a tough age because every year or two feels like a huge gap. But even by 25 and certainly by 30, it stops being like that. There just isn't that much difference between a bunch of adult coworkers. I know plenty of people who got together with somebody 20 years older but who was a hobby or work peer. And sure, occasionally, it's some old person creeping on nubile young things because they're a jackass, but just as often, it's reasonable adults connecting because they have things in common.

Most people's 40s are a fuckton better than their 20s, no matter what media tells you. Tumblr is full of people wondering when the lies on TV will come true in their 20-something lives. The pandemic derailed so many people's plans too. You're much less alone than it feels.

It's normal to feel at sea in a world that's on fire. Give it a couple of years, dude. Nobody has it figured out anyway, but especially nobody has it figured out in 2022.

[waddei]

(Same person as the one that asked about the commission) Thank for for answering our ask and sorry about that 😅 again we knew it had nothing to do with you and maybe we shouldn't have sent our ask in the first place but we were worried they were the commissioner. Thank for for confirming they are not. And sorry we didn't realize the one sorta callout post you made was the same person. And thank for for saying you do not support the transid and transramcoa despite not knowing much about either. We wanted to send this ask just to inform a little if curious. Transid stands for "trans-identify" It is an umbrella terms for things like transrace, transabled, transage. They are people that feel they have dysphoria similar to how as transmale or woman might have dysphoria about their body, but the transid has it for something like race, age, or disability. An example would be a white man claiming to have dysphoria and that he is actually a black man and saying he is transblack. Or someone who is able bodied saying they feel like they are meant to have/wish they had Hemiplegia or any other debilitating condition and then use a wheel chair and claim they are transabled. Trans-ramcoa is a type of trans-DID where someone says they feel dysphoria about and wish they were a Dissociative system and chose to identify as one when they are not. Transramcoa is specifically wishing you had gone through extreme and intense childhood torture and cult practices. The transid community is very harmful and is even filled with people who are saying basically they want to transition into an abuser. They unfortunately take up space in many of the DID and other community tags and spread misinformation. As with all things they have their way to justify it for themselves, but it all just comes across as very privileged, entitled, and downright rude and disrespectful. thank you again for your time.

oh I've heard of the transid thing under a different name before, mostly white kpopers calling themselves transkorean on TikTok and shit it's very weird

thank you for the info in the other stuff, and no need to apologize About anything ^^ considering the kinda person were talking about I think the nerves are understandable

[pin-crusher2000]

Future DC video games.

Here’s some video game ideas that Warner bros & DC can make:

Animal Man: The Dreaded Red: A third person psychological horror game using influences from Alan Wake 2 & stealth games like metal gear, (based on new 52 issues) you play a Buddy Baker (animal man; can use hero outfits as a optional costume) searching for answers for his unique powers & save his children from a evil cult that make sacrifices for “The Red.” (Plus terrifying creatures that were shown in the new 52 series) Buddy uses a hunting rifle & pistol (rifle was something he use for hunting back during new earth days) plus use his Red abilities to help him, like using a red version of eagle vision from assassins creed or using a bear form to knock away a large group of enemies.

(Two different versions of the next game)

Version 1-Superman: Project Parasite: A open world (metropolis only) third person beat em up where you play as the superfamily; SuperBoy Conner Kent, SuperBoy Jon Kent, NightWing Chris Kent, SuperGirl Kara Danvers, & the Super-Twins (where you earn them middle to late game or early access for preorder) fighting against massive hordes of parasites (based on the Superman 2023 series) with the final boss being a corrupted Superman with a massive pink arm & purple eyes, fused together by the main Parasite villain. Gameplay is from the undefeated fan made Superman game on YouTube & a little bit of the Arkham games, with each member having a unique super move like NightWing summoning the Nightwing entity to shoot out blue flames that burns enemies overtime.

Version 2: a left 4 dead/World War Z type of game with guns (with some influences from the Suicide squad game) (yeah that’s it XD most people would definitely chose version 1 😅)

DLC for both would include: Metallo robots (cyborg Superman as final boss) Blue Earth group (Sister Shadow green flame demon as final boss) & lobo “clones” with brainiac as the final boss.

Teen/Young Titans game: a third person action game based on the guardians of the galaxy game & the nostalgic 2003 teen titans game where you play as the teenage/children heroes (Teen is the main game & my group is DLC) based on the plot of the suicide squad game where brainiac captures the league (& kid brainiac teen titans for the dlc) you play as Robin (FireWing/NightStar) as the main character(s) while controlling the others in specific conditions. Similar to the huddle up mechanic from guardians game (which is titans together when activated & titans go when “winning the mini game”) you get boosts in damage & stuff.

[saruin]

Okay okay! So I love that Ciel is a fellow Aries XD

So my questions for the day are, was he born in the cult or indoctrinated later on in life? What led him to discovering that if was a cult? What happened to his momma? Also does he have a job currently?

That's all! Ty for answering if you do and I hope u have a great day!!

Oh i love this cause it forces me to think about things I wouldn't have before!

this is the first screenshot I took of him:

*Answering under the cut cause I got swept up in the lore <3

He wasn't born into the organization per se but his mother (whose name is Celeste) was a part of it for a long time and when she became pregnant with him she got so ill she decided not to be an active member but still helped them passively by gathering information and keeping an ear to the ground regarding any devious magical activities. (A note here to say that his mother understood the 'cult' as it was presented: a religious sect who demonized the worship of anything occult in nature, everything bad was blamed on magic) As a direct result, Ciel was taught certain knowledge of occult and magical studies. After she had Ciel, Celeste took work as an assistant chef in a common restaurant that was frequented by many different types of people so she came by lots of good information. However soon after, she discovered the main chef was a female minotaur: i.e. a magical creature, who she should have turned in immediately, but she took pity on the woman. The minotaur, Valérie, was vibrant and friendly and a lovely woman who wanted nothing more than to pursue her life long passion while providing for her 4 little ones. Ciel's mother kept Valérie a secret and even became good friends with the woman... until the organization found out. Prolonged interaction with a magical entity of any kind is strictly prohibited within the cult so she was punished for keeping "something as dangerous as a minotaur a secret so close to the public". The only thing Ciel knew from that time was that his mother took pity on a dangerous creature that "without provication took the lives of 22 innocent people, including his mother". He was not told that those other 21 people were also employees of the restaurant as well as spouses and family members who were not related to the establishment.

Ciel did not learn the entire truth of his mother's death until shortly before he left the group. He was taken in by an important member of the cult (not the leader though eventually the man that took him in would come to power) Ciel was about 9 at the time and that is when he started to be groomed and conditioned into absolute loyalty, not towards the man that 'adopted' him, but towards his daughter, Reinne (pronounced rey-na). She would be the man's successor and needed a loyal knight who would help her reach her goals. Nearly 20 years of service, blindly (no pun intended) following the orders of the woman whose father order his mother killed and it was broken by the truth finally revealed. I think he's always known that the organization was shady cause he was forced to do some really messed up stuff but he was conditioned for so long and at such a young age he simply learned to ignore it. It's not right and he doesn't consider himself a 'good' person, Ciel doesn't even make apologies for the things that he has done because he did have a choice in the end and he chose to follow orders.

As of right now he is currently unemployed and bumming it up with Zimri. I suppose if he did have a job it would be making sure the demon Zimri merged with doesn't change him or get out of hand. But since he's 100% completely blind now, there's not much he can do, he still has his weapon an it still has ice magic but I doubt he'd use it again -> too many bad memories associated with it.

[stephenjaymorrisblog]

Suckers, Morons, and Other Types of

Trump Supporters

Stephen Jay Morris

6/2/2024

©Scientific morality.

            America may be the greatest country in the world, but its patriots are the dumbest people in the universe! What did P.T. Barnum say? “No man ever went broke overestimating the ignorance of the American Public.” Trump may be the first canonized patron saint of the Protestant Church. He became the first convicted felon, former president in the history of the USA; and what do his supporters do? Send him money! Lots of money!! One of them posted on X that he’d canceled his vacation and sent the money to Trump to help fight his legal battles. Five thousand dollars!

            Then there is the religious factor—the docile followers of Christianity in small town America. The pastor behind the pulpit, the direct line from God, that his flock believes, unquestionably, everything he says. The pastor who gets visited from God, every night, and receives instructions directly from Him. If you dare to question his word, you are a demon from hell trying to sabotage the word of God! Would that be me? I am from hell, otherwise known as East Hollywood. Nah!

            People who are brainwashed, particularly those in cults, have minds impervious to truth. You can show them factual evidence, photos, recordings, documents, and they still don’t believe that which is real. What can you do about it? Not much. Truth be known, Trump donated millions to the White protestant church with the proviso, “Tell them God sent me.” His suckers believed it, hook, line, and sinker! I’ve said it a million times before: that is why conservatives are anti-public education. They’d rather your children sit in a Christian classroom, watching Prager U videos; that or adhere to home schooling. Yeah, that is a rich concept. Having stupid parents teaching their naive children to be ignorant, like they are! Keep them stupid, Jesus! That’s the stuff! What is so hilarious is that Trump tells them, right to their faces, that they are idiots. And they think he’s correct! This is the relationship between the oppressors and the oppressed. The oppressor metes out punishment while the meek assumes masochistic pleasure from the master’s whip. Deep down, however, they don’t enjoy getting whipped; they are conditioned to be masochistic. When you substitute normal sex with violence, you get one decadent, fucked up society!

            Now, this thing that progressives and liberals are whining about, losing our Democracy to Fascists, I beg the question: Did we ever have democracy? Ask the Native Americans. Ask the former slaves. Ask the women who were told to shut up. Ask the workers who got shot by anti-union thugs while picketing their factory. Ask the victims of Gay bashing. Ask millions of victims. Fuck you! America did have its victims.

            Now, my main message here is: I am from the far, extreme, fringe, hard core left. Some pea brain righties think that equates to communists. That shows what ignoramuses they all are! As an anarchist, I ask: do you really think that we, on the extreme left, would cry ugly on the chance that Trump gets elected? On the contrary, we would celebrate by smoking pounds of weed! You just don’t get it! The sad fact is that Trump had four fucking years to establish a fascist state. Did he? Hell, no! Will he succeed next time around? No. Never. He is too stupid to conceive of the essence of a fascist state, let alone create one. He is a slave to his overblown ego. He would never garner the support of the U.S. military or the American people to actualize it.

            If you don’t vote for Biden, the lesser of the two evils, then fascism will certainly be worse under Trump. Biden fascism will be a moderate fascism. But go ahead, vote for a third-party candidate, or vote for Trump. See what happens.

            Now something unforeseen could occur before election day. One objective factor for your consideration is that average life expectancy for a man is 72 to 74 years. Both candidates are way past that range. There is that. Then, there is the mid-east crisis. That could devolve into the Third World War. And let’s not forget the Climate Crisis, which is rapidly escalating as you read this. Tornadoes could wipe out Texas, a flood could bury Florida beneath the sea. Let’s not ignore the possibility of assassinations, or a viral pandemic, either of which may cancel the election.

Hopefully nothing catastrophic will happen and all will proceed as normal. Biden gets re-elected and then dies of natural causes during his term; Vice President Kamala Harris becomes the first woman to become president.

So, over the next few months, enjoy life. Go on vacation instead of giving your hard-earned vacation money to a candidate.

[whumpshaped]

Hi! Feel free to ignore this if you don't want to answer (I promise I won't be offended if that's something that worries you), but you mentioned maybe writing cult whump and I was wondering if you had any resources for that that you could share? Like, cult mindset, leaving cults, anything really. No worries if you don't or just don't want to answer, you just seemed like someone to ask! I'm doing my own research as well but it's tricky.

- @pigeonwhumps

hi friend! i love that this is my legacy now but also i wanna clarify for everyone reading that i am not an authority on this at all, i have never been in a cult, etc etc. that being said, these are the kind of stuff i watched and read about:

literally any cult documentary i can find on youtube or anywhere. ex-member testimonies, documentaries on the people who are still living in it, etc. i watched several documentaries on the amish, i watched ex jehovah's witnesses testimonies, i watched one documentary about gwen shamblin, even the ones that are about mlm's because honestly? it illustrates stuff quite well sometimes. even people breaking down why and how the protag was indoctrinated in midsommar.

(some i have been recommended but haven't watched yet: shiny happy people, keep sweet: pray and obey

the ones i watched about the amish/mennonites: breaking the silence, meet the mennonites, why i left the amish, inside the community, the amish way of life

the one about gwen shamblin and the remnant fellowship: the millionaire preacher with a weight loss cult

i can't find that one jehovah's witness testimony i watched but here's the other video i watched about them so far: escaping jehovah's wittnesses

one i watched about nuns that illustrates leaving everything behind and uniformity and a huge emphasis on religion: what's life like as a nun?)

here's the bite model for assessing whether someone is or has been in a cult, basically gives you a checklist. i won't talk about how i would go about building a fantasy cult or anything because i think this draws attention to both the main and minor points of it. but do be cautious because some of the points get very intense.

the story i want to write is about being indoctrinated, so my main points will be an emotionally vulnerable protag and a cult that promises something good. something they want. conditional love, forgiveness they have to work hard for, community, rigid structure, self-sufficiency aka isolation, someone dubious to follow and listen to.

but if you were to write about someone born into a cult and wanting to escape or even just navigate it, common themes will be a relatively happy childhood when they don't know any better, The Realisation, and then the stage when they want to leave but don't know where to go because all their friends and family are in the cult. plus, do they want to leave? maybe they should just work harder, no? but then there's the possibility of being kicked out and shunned so the decision is made for them, which is even scarier and extremely painful.

for life outside the cult, there are organisations that try to help former cult members, a lot of times comprising of other former cult members who have escaped and understand the struggle. one thing the guy in breaking the silence highlights is not trying to tell fresh escapees what to do and how to do it. they just escaped a cult! they don't wanna be told what to do anymore!

also there will be the obvious struggles, like loss of community, feeling isolated again, trying to build relationships with people that just don't get it and that you don't get, having missed out on a traditional childhood and being unable to relate etc., but there will also be strange struggles like the amish guy mentions of like... going into a clothing store for the first time in his life after years and years and years of having all his clothes custom made by his mother. he didn't know his size, didn't know the types of jeans, but the most startling realisation was that there was a women's section. it didn't even cross his mind! girls and women never wore pants in his community! how can he even tell which ones are girl jeans? he didn't want to embarrass himself, so he just left.

sooooo...... i think that's it for my info and sources? oh, and clearly i like to immerse myself in the source material, like the bible. it's very interesting to see which sections have been taken out of context and amplified for different denominations/cults. i can see what parts the amish read aloud, i can see which parts they don't. i can see where they get some of the rules, but i can also see how they're disproved in the same book by the same god and why they don't really want their children and people to read the entirety of it. in one community, the rule was that everyone had to read the bible in german - while at the same time they stopped teaching german in their schools.

OKAY now i'm really done. again please take everything with a grain of salt :) the closest i've ever gotten to a real cult irl was through my classmate and ex-boyfriend who was a member of the faith church (which might be an exclusively hungarian thing? hitgyülekezet for any hungarians reading lol) and who just said the most bonkers shit and really messed me up. but that's it. everything else is through documentaries and stuff. but i hope this helps anyway :)

[theinfernalcollective]

i know its easy to dismiss and maybe hard to understand especially if people are unclear but please hear me out.

actual programming is less "intentionally forcing someone to have DID"

and more

abusers severely, knowingly & intentionally and in a calculated manner abusing/torturing/traumatizing a child

putting them in specific conditions [abuse/trauma/disorganized attachment/not allowing any coping mechanisms/etc]

with the intention of the child developing a certain reaction / behave like they want / controlling them

which may involve dissociating/developing dissociated parts - all criteria of the above make it more likely for children to develop dissociated parts and cling to dissociation as a coping mechanism

having dissociated parts (is/may be) advantageous to abusers who are self-aware at least of some level of their behavior, responses, and triggers, even if theyre unaware of the precise science/medical terminology behind it, because abusers love vulnerable children and the behavior is still there, the fear/trauma response is still there, its still able to be manipulated/used to their advantage and abusers can pick that up.

these types of abusers will manipulate / use their victim's fear and trauma response against them and intentionally implement triggers (via, again, calculated forms of abuse) since they are at least on some level self-aware of their behavior and cause-and-effect, thus, "cues" are a word for triggers specific to this response. this is how actual, within the context of trauma, "mind control" works and is what people mean when they say these things

"programming" stemming from "ritual abuse, mind control, organized abuse" is literally just an extreme form of conditioning + noticing (or intentionally implementing via calculated abuse and fear) triggers. legitimate "mind control" is literally just abusers using the body's (fear/trauma/dissociative/etc) reaction against their victims.

when people say "mind control" they are not refering to the stuff you see on tv/scifi, i do not say this to mean "secretly scifi shit is actually real wooo," or even "the elite is abusing children in secret/underground cult connected to and controlling everything" whatever antisemitic nonsense- in the context of trauma-based mind control, its a word to describe this specific phenomenon related to fear/trauma responses that... also uses a pop culture scifi word. i dont think people who are not victims or clinicians who specialize in this kind of, obscure, abuse therapy, are supposed to know about it, because of the strange wording only makes sense if you have context to what it actually means.

there are some occurrences that may look similar to above: A) victims of abuse may believe their abusers are more powerful than they are, or believe bigoted or conspiratorial nonsense their abuser may feed/tell/lie to them, and B) some people in a position of power and wealth may engage in abuse and use their status against victims. this just happens in general though not just this kind of severe abuse.

i think people use "forced to" because if theyre in this situation/with their particular body-brain response (dissociation), they feel that is has been forced upon them (the abuse, the reaction, their body's reaction-- i guess it kind of is, in a way-- their abuse made them this way and forced them to have this disorder) so it just feels forced upon, maybe they dont realize that particular wording is kind of odd since their case is not always THE case. its like the lottery of severe abuse outcomes, except it fucking sucks!

you know how children get unintentionally abused/traumatized and (may) develop DID? this is the same thing only the abusers are more self aware lol

i say "actual" programming, cuz (Apparently... i dont use the app i just see from other sources) some kids yap about this on tiktok, lie, say theyve been programmed and act like its mechanical or scifi or otherwise talk about things they clearly do not know about and make themselves look foolish.

its definitely a real phenomenon, just hard to understand, pretty obscure terminology with unclear meaning associated with conspiracy theorists or scifi/pop culture tropes (it got changed to OEA, organized extreme abuse, due to this and clarity) and kids and random conspiracy theorists on the net just like to lie so that doesnt help

its not mechanical or scifi, just the wording is kinda strange and does not elucidate on what it actually is from terminology alone and its pretty obscure, "programming" describes specific conditioning from self-aware abuse and exploiting and using the childs trauma+fear responses to their advantage. most people within severe abuse circles just specify.

i would give specific examples to make it even more clear that this is just super simple with weird wording but i dont want my or others stories getting butchered, used, whatever lol

hope this helps !!!

Thank you for explaining

[inklingofadream]

Your latest chapter of the cult au made me think of a question - if Gerry wasn't around to explain the fears when Jon woke up at the beginning, what would Elias have told him?

So I actually had this planned out, because I didn't know for a bit whether I was going to go with it, whether Jonah was going to get a chapter in that chunk of the fic, etc. But then I decided I hate writing lengthy exposition that's already happened in canon (and can't be easily broken up). Also this got SO long.

Jonah, given his druthers, would've combined the approach we see in canon and the approach he tries to backfill after Jon is caught post-escape. The Eye would not have been positioned as equivalent to the Web- most people in the cult don't think of it that way, either, but Gerry does for obvious reasons. Jon would've been given a view of things that positioned the Eye as above the Web, as a protective force against the Web, and a positive thing to have in his life. The Institute would've been pitched in the way that it's pitched to non-cult academics, and a bit in canon. More the kind of place that has some self-imposed responsibility to gather and neutralize the threat of Leitners, as in the complaints in MAG 4 that he thought they had mopped up all the loose Leitners.

Obviously this... wouldn't quite have worked. Assuming Gerry was kept from spilling the beans, there are some significant flaws in the approach, flaws that became part of the equation the second Jonah decided that kidnapping was the way to go. You can say that the Eye is Good and Helpful, but the first fact in Jon's head is going to be "the Eye is why they kidnapped me." I don't think Jonah would've been so ready to add the love stuff to the mix. He would've eased Jon into it with an approach borrowing more than he'd admit from fantasy stories with Chosen Ones. Jon had to be kidnapped because he's Important; the whys and hows can wait until he's adjusted a bit, or if Jonah's really lucky bought in.*

*This was literally never going to happen. University student Jon? Might've bought in in the more conventional recruitment sense. Kidnapped Jon? Is going to opt for "crazy", not "hey they have a point." And the odds are never better than 50/50, "this is weird and reminds me of my Traumatic Backstory" is just too powerful a motivator.

You may have noticed I'm only talking about the Eye and the Web. That's because the Web is only part of the conversation because Jon has past experience with it. The Eye is Special and Unique and Good. Hypothetical non-traumatized Jon is just reacting due to cultural conditioning, the same way people moralize against ugly, weird, and gross animals. It's not based in actual fact. (kidnapping is, Jon probably yells at this version of Jonah at some point, a definite Fact!) If it was up to Jonah, other Entities probably wouldn't enter the conversation until Jon's significantly bought in (or given up on arguing with him). That says the case to the point that the exception would be something like Annabelle taking Jon for a walk regardless, something unpleasant, frightening, and categorically Not Jonah's Fault. (at least as far as Jon can tell)

The eventual goal is to get Jon to comply by threat of force... just not from Jonah. The groundwork would all be based on Jon's experience with the Web. The Web is evil. The Eye is good. They both think Jon is special- if that kind of experience were common, wouldn't he have heard about it? Wouldn't there be public health campaigns about checking your child's books for bookplates? It wasn't the random chance of an uncaring universe, and it wasn't setting Jon up for a canon-style harbinger of the apocalypse. By the time he plans on Jon knowing anything like real statistics on Leitner prevalence, on how common genuine encounters of any type are, he's bought in. It's because Jon is Special. The Eye is good. The Eye wants to nurture him, because he's so Special. The Web is bad. It wanted to kill him because he's so Special. Subsequent Entities are vague "evil of all types" and properly introduced via this framing, particularly when they've had an avatar as a guest, or when things from Artefact Storage are "accidentally" where Jon will come across them.

I think it works, in so far as it makes Jon afraid. The cult kidnapped him, but besides that, they haven't really hurt him. And there's a LOT of lovebombing going on. And everyone else Jon meets agrees with Jonah's framing without reservation. I think Jon accepts the idea that this isn't good, isn't nice, but it is safe. The cult put in such hard work to keep [insert encounter here] from happening. It's just that now that Jon knows he's Special, evil forces are trying harder to hurt him. If the cult did nothing things like that would be happening almost every day. They happen once a month or so because they work SO hard to keep Jon safe.

This is what most of the cult members more or less believe, anyway. Not scaring Jon with talk of other Entities is easy to justify, and they're all appropriately horrified when he ends up having encounters anyway. They back up all the outside=danger talk because they've all either joined up in a passion, never been there, or been there after living inside the Institute for their whole life. If you throw someone that isolated and inexperienced into London, they are more likely than not to come back with "It sucked! It's so dirty! It's loud! It's dangerous! I almost got hit by a car!" etc.

The exceptions are Jonah, Gertrude, Gerry, and a little bit Michael. Michael is less agoraphobic than most of the rest, and doesn't have much experience with danger either spooky or otherwise, but isn't prone to questioning the cult without significant motivation. Gerry isn't allowed around Jon unless he can keep it to himself, and Jon isn't necessarily motivated to seek him out without Jonah getting so angry he's afraid Gerry's dead. The other two obviously keep their mouths shut, and have the ability to go into Artefact Storage when everyone's asleep and work on orchestrating their next Bad Time for Jon.

Jon doesn't entirely buy into the Eye = good no matter how long he's there, though. His own experiences are just too compelling, and he's smart enough to see how little difference there is between it and the rest. But I think he does become too fearful to try to escape eventually. He slips out and Sasha brings him back, but while he's gone the open door provides an opportunity for something terrifying but not damaging to sneak in. Suggestible witnesses swear up and down that Jonah and Gertrude weren't responsible. Do that once, and it's an obvious lie. Do it a dozen times, with just as much evidence against the truth, and it's harder to tell. Add in an unusually high rate of Web artifacts, and Jon stops caring about the truth. Either he really is in that much danger, or Jonah isn't above subtly punishing him with his worst fear. And then he's Bound and can't leave anyway. Humans will believe all kinds of weird, illogical, harmful things if they're constantly in survival mode.

[changeling-fae]

alone, desire, & guilt!

Thanks, definitely doing this for Nym. Going to put under the cut ‘cuz it’s dark. TW for past child abuse, implied past CSA, suicidal mentions, and drug abuse.

alone: How does your OC deal with loneliness? Have they ever been completely alone before? How do they act when there's no one around to see them?

Oh boy, before the start of the game she was dealing with such loneliness and major depression that she had many suicidal ideations. That’s essentially what had her returning to the Devil’s Den to see Raphael so often.

After the woman she had feelings for got her own life together and met someone, Nym kept coming back to Raphael for lanceboard, wine, and philosophical discussions. She was seriously contemplating just letting him have her soul on the condition that he devour it so she doesn’t ever have to exist again.

Before she met him, she dealt with her loneliness through sex and ONS. She also did a lot of drugs to get high. Basically anything that would distract that gaping void inside her where she felt numb and in pain (both mental and physical).

She kept herself busy through her job as an entertainer or through the cult stuff with Bhaal. She just did what the cult wanted but at least it kept her distracted (and I headcanon the white dragonborn Durge also existed and was the leader at the time before she and Orin shanked him).

She’s felt and has been alone since her father’s death as a child. The man who bought her from the debt collector kept her hidden beneath his estate and she lived in a cell for 4 years in utter darkness before she escaped and was found by the cult.

If no one is around, she just gets high and stares into the middle distant for hours. Sometimes she’ll even cry before she pulls herself together and continues forward with whatever people want from her.

desire: What's one thing your OC wants more than anything in the world? Are they open with that desire?Why or why not? What would they do to fulfill it?

To not feel so dead inside, to stop feeling both numb and in constant agony of her existence. Before the events of the game, she really thought about just surrendering to Raphael (she was aware he wanted her soul, this is before he’s canonically obsessed with Tav/Durge though so was just viewing her like another client). Some part of her clung to life though, which is why she never went through it but also she hadn’t been back to see him after she and Gortash stole the crown through his home.

She never hid that desire around Raphael though and he was well aware that he just had to patient (initially). Fate had other plans though.

Now however, her desire is to live and to heal. She has kids to look after, she finds love with Astarion, and she has a new type of relationship with Raphael. She’s ready to move forward and start anew.

guilt: What is your OC guilty about? How do they handle their guilt? Do they try to avoid guilt, or do they accept it?

She has major survivors guilt for one thing. Her father (her favorite person) had died protecting her. She also feels some guilt (though she buries it) over killing the kids of the man who held her captive. When she escaped, she was in a blood rage and murdered every soul in the estate, including his kids. She was still a kid herself (14) but it haunts her a bit.

She’s got a soft spot for kids and giving her Durge lifestyle, doesn’t feel good whenever kids get caught in the crossfire, or making kids into orphans. But that’s what drugs and compartmentalizing is for.

When she murders Quil in the game, she’s not entirely sure what happened and feels a measure of guilt there and tried to hide evidence of her involvement. She didn’t hide the body but she washed the blood off of herself and told the group (technically truthfully) that she didn’t see anything that night when they ask her if she was involved.

She’s very good at mental compartmentalization overall though.

[anotherdayforchaosfay]

I need to share my Pride parade story with y'all because it's that dumb. You'll understand in a moment.

It was nearly 20 years ago and my first Pride event. I hate parades. Loathe them. They're too loud, make for lots of trash, crowds, too many odors, and just all around unpleasant. But! I decided that since a friend is on one of the floats, I'll show up to support them.

There's a group of people walking around, handing out pamphlets. These things are full of Evangelist cult Christian mythology. Y'all know the type. Well! One woman, maybe in her 70s, approaches me and demands I wear a hat because my hair color is inappropriate and is making her grandson very uncomfortable. She points out a young man, about my age (I was 23), who is holding his coat directly in front of him and trying very hard not to look embarrassed.

I asked her why tf she thinks it's appropriate to tell me, a complete stranger, to cover my hair.

It's because I'm a redhead and not doing the decent thing and covering my hair. She goes on this rant about red hair being temptation (a lot of people have a redhead kink) and needs to be covered. She told me I must cover it with a hat if I'm not going to cover it with a more correct hair color (she insisted on brown hair because black hair is also bad).

I started laugh un-fucking-controllably. Her grandson is hiding a raging erection with his coat because he has a redhead kink. His Bible-humping family have clearly never explain sex stuff to him, like how to get a boner under control when in a public setting.

I was attending the parade with a couple friends because my husband had to work that day. One of them was getting drinks for us, the other was chatting it up with a leather dude (those two are now a very happy married gay couple). The latter heard me laughing because I squeak loudly instead of snorting when it gets really bad. Like at that moment. This old woman is getting angry, starts telling me I need to attend her church to mend my wicked ways, and that I absolutely must cover my hair because I'm luring good honest men into a life of sin.

The leather dude sneaks around behind her and is chatting it up with the now humiliated young man. I'm assuming he's explaining how to lose the boner without rubbing it out. Then he waves at someone and a couple of other leather dudes come around and gently escort the woman away, and I'm directed into an air conditioned building so I can take a hit off my inhaler and cool down.

This was the first nor last time I've had to deal with people like her (anti-redhead) and her grandson (redhead kink). It's really fucking stupid and irritating, but this time it was hilarious. I've made a point of having my hair out whenever I attend any sort of Pride thing...I just don't go to the parades because It's Too Much.

I hope this brought you a good chuckle.