"That was an entertaining story. I especially like the part, about four minutes in, when he texts his Grandma to tell her that it's a cult, and her response was something like, "yeah, well, you're the one who introduced me to it, and now you're on some, I don't have time for this? Well I don't have time for it either. What about that presentation we're supposed to be working on?"
Aside from being unexpected and comical, her response highlights a very real stumbling block for people trying to leave the cult: How do you explain your change of heart to those people to whom you preached so fervently before, and especially those you actually managed to enroll? That kind of self-imposed social pressure is very much built into the system as a way to keep people on the hook because all of the embarrassing and remorseful feelings you already had about your affiliation with the group are now being routed through someone else. No doubt, the group might even try to use that person directly to keep you from fleeing.
Luckily grandma was down with leaving, and only gave him a little sass for his troubles, but I'm sure it gets far more complicated in some cases. Based on his comments in the second half of the video, about how the group clearly pursues people who are "going through something", it's clear he understands the mechanisms at work."
Someone on SGIwhistleblowers commented:
ReplyDelete"That was an entertaining story. I especially like the part, about four minutes in, when he texts his Grandma to tell her that it's a cult, and her response was something like, "yeah, well, you're the one who introduced me to it, and now you're on some, I don't have time for this? Well I don't have time for it either. What about that presentation we're supposed to be working on?"
Aside from being unexpected and comical, her response highlights a very real stumbling block for people trying to leave the cult: How do you explain your change of heart to those people to whom you preached so fervently before, and especially those you actually managed to enroll?
That kind of self-imposed social pressure is very much built into the system as a way to keep people on the hook because all of the embarrassing and remorseful feelings you already had about your affiliation with the group are now being routed through someone else. No doubt, the group might even try to use that person directly to keep you from fleeing.
Luckily grandma was down with leaving, and only gave him a little sass for his troubles, but I'm sure it gets far more complicated in some cases. Based on his comments in the second half of the video, about how the group clearly pursues people who are "going through something", it's clear he understands the mechanisms at work."