I recently watched TFU. I've yet to watch the Mother God one. There are so many! I watched the LulaRoe one, NXIVM, part of Wild Wild Country, Nicole Daedone/OM, Gwen Shamblin, Teal Swan, Bikram... I am sure I am forgetting a few. So it's intriguing to me to ponder the gap between true "cult" and high power group. The point about linguistics is a good reminder. And yes I wish more of these shows, or maybe there needs to be one show/doc that connects the dots/offers us more what modern day things like wellness language, the right's attack on abortion and trans people, mothers/marriage/care work etc. have in common with cultist language- I see how othering these shows are, like I get a rush watching it, thinking "Oh I'm so glad that's not me. It's so crazy that so and so lost 20 years of her life to Keith Raniere" while also being self reflective enough to know I've definitely bought into some extremely problematic rhetoric having lived in west coast hippie communities that are rife with New Age (just another iteration of monotheism if you ask me- sub universe for god). I have Montell's book- but haven't read it yet. I also really appreciate the work the guys at the Conspirtuality podcast are doing about the intersection of conspiracy thinking/new ageism/wellness and cult like tactics.
Yes it’s the othering of it that gets me (and ofc I participate in it too), and also would love to see far more exploration of the cultish, high control aspects of American political groups (beyond just QAnon) and misogyny. I feel like there’s a lot to dig into in terms of how everyday power and rhetoric primes us all to be vulnerable to these more extreme gurus.
Great suggestion to "connect the dots". I also would like to see more exploration of the rise of Zoom cults during the pandemic and the aftermath. As I watched Escaping Twin Flames (I watched after reading this newsletter, thank you for the rec!), I kept wondering why these women did not just leave the Zoom meeting. My idea of "cult" comes from the Waco/David Koresh style cult where members are essentially imprisoned (in-person) against their will. But these women were just on Zoom meetings. And yet, they described an intense level of fear and intimidation so extreme as though they were held against their will in a physical "in-person" space.
I also found that so fascinating! I think the mechanisms of control and exploitation of vulnerable folks are the same as what happens in person— but the digital element definitely made me curious about exactly how these groups build such deep connections with their followers and it was really under-explored in both the documentaries on TFU.
The TFU doc was fucking NUTS. Thanks for writing about this truly bizarre cult. Also, that screen grab of one of Jeff’s cringiest lines is perfect. 🤘🏽
So cringe!
I recently watched TFU. I've yet to watch the Mother God one. There are so many! I watched the LulaRoe one, NXIVM, part of Wild Wild Country, Nicole Daedone/OM, Gwen Shamblin, Teal Swan, Bikram... I am sure I am forgetting a few. So it's intriguing to me to ponder the gap between true "cult" and high power group. The point about linguistics is a good reminder. And yes I wish more of these shows, or maybe there needs to be one show/doc that connects the dots/offers us more what modern day things like wellness language, the right's attack on abortion and trans people, mothers/marriage/care work etc. have in common with cultist language- I see how othering these shows are, like I get a rush watching it, thinking "Oh I'm so glad that's not me. It's so crazy that so and so lost 20 years of her life to Keith Raniere" while also being self reflective enough to know I've definitely bought into some extremely problematic rhetoric having lived in west coast hippie communities that are rife with New Age (just another iteration of monotheism if you ask me- sub universe for god). I have Montell's book- but haven't read it yet. I also really appreciate the work the guys at the Conspirtuality podcast are doing about the intersection of conspiracy thinking/new ageism/wellness and cult like tactics.
Yes it’s the othering of it that gets me (and ofc I participate in it too), and also would love to see far more exploration of the cultish, high control aspects of American political groups (beyond just QAnon) and misogyny. I feel like there’s a lot to dig into in terms of how everyday power and rhetoric primes us all to be vulnerable to these more extreme gurus.
Also Cultish is great!
Great suggestion to "connect the dots". I also would like to see more exploration of the rise of Zoom cults during the pandemic and the aftermath. As I watched Escaping Twin Flames (I watched after reading this newsletter, thank you for the rec!), I kept wondering why these women did not just leave the Zoom meeting. My idea of "cult" comes from the Waco/David Koresh style cult where members are essentially imprisoned (in-person) against their will. But these women were just on Zoom meetings. And yet, they described an intense level of fear and intimidation so extreme as though they were held against their will in a physical "in-person" space.
I also found that so fascinating! I think the mechanisms of control and exploitation of vulnerable folks are the same as what happens in person— but the digital element definitely made me curious about exactly how these groups build such deep connections with their followers and it was really under-explored in both the documentaries on TFU.
I just started Mother God last night, after watching BOTH TFU docs. I love this breakdown of how gender essentialism fits in each.
The groups definitely speak to each other in a lot of ways.