Are You In A Cult

Cult Escape. It is the personal story of a boy born into a tyrannical religious Exclusive Brethren cult in England, and the tormenting journey of planning the escape to eventual freedom. The price of freedom was to be cut off from all his friends and family who were forbidden from having any contact with him. Now, after escaping, what does a 22 year old boy, who had been hidden in a box like a coiled spring do, when suddenly he finds he can explore all his fantasies with no religious restraint? Like the proverbial kid in the sweetshop, he goes wild. He loses his virginity within days, goes evil by buying the forbidden TV, radio, video and 'fills his boots' experimenting with the 'big bad world'. That boy was me.Cult Escape has three sections; IN, OUT and SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT. The story starts with being born into the cult, the lifestyle, the rules, the coercion, the confessions, the disciplining, and the separation from the evil world. The IN chapters cover how it felt having to grow up in a strict religious cult, the laws we were all under, the difficulties of school life, the challenges of work life, and the coping mechanisms for 'us young ones' during the excruciating boredom of eleven meetings every single week! One of my distractions was, believe it or not; I ate myself. I still have the scars. In that particular chapter called Funny Memories..."...Such was the dry monotony for most of us young ones, we were always on the lookout for anything to break the boredom. The following are a few memories and funnies of such happenings, which though may sound ridiculously insignificant to you, were some of the highlights of our life of conformity, restrictions, rules and regulations.Here you will read about Sandy Huckley's buns, the fate of all those who watched Charles marry Diana, the passage we could look up and the Yawn Show. Yes, all weird stuff, the things intelligent people can get up to when they allow a man they call The Universal Leader to control their hair length, their shaving habits, their house drains and convince them it would be wicked to have a cup of tea with their neighbour."The OUT chapters describe the new and exciting world I was now free to explore, how my head got free from the cult indoctrination, how my beliefs changed and three major healing experiences that I hope will help many who read this book.The controversial SHAKE IT ALL ABOUT chapters examine serious issues that seek to position religious controlling cults under the scrutiny of the public eye. Though religious cults are legal, how does society really feel about the splitting up of families, coercive indoctrination and brainwashing? What actually defines a cult? Why do they all believe they are the 'right' church? How can a person successfully leave a cult, even if they were born into it? Can anything be done to stop the control and abuse that goes on today? I believe that there is something the government can do and I make a legislation proposal in the penultimate chapter called The Religious Warning. Finally, the Conclusion which I offer for due consideration. In the words of Paul McCartney, 'There must be an answer, Let It Be'. What will be the next big cult story to hit the news? Another suicide cult? Another family separation story? A friend of mine once testified in court that the cult he had been a member of had not informed him of his mother's death, till three months after she was buried. The judge put his head in his hands and shook his head in disbelief. Something needs to be done about this. Let's get on with it.John Spinks

Are you in a cult? If you think the answer is no, the next question is, are you sure? Understanding the trademarks of a cult, or of any abusive and overly controlling religion or other such group, can help someone on the inside know when it might be time to leave. Recognizing an abusive group for what it is can also help those who have already left break away mentally and emotionally, releasing the stranglehold that group has on them. Knowing the identifying factors of a cult can also help former members, or anyone on the outside, reach those in that group so they can finally be free. This short but informative book discusses common cult trademarks, including leaders who act like they're the adult while treating members as children, extremes in their requirements and punishments, the loaded language of cults, when the cult leader can do no wrong, and how cults often manipulate the emotions of their followers.

The author of the widely praised Wordslut analyzes the social science of cult influence: how cultish groups from Jonestown and Scientology to SoulCycle and social media gurus use language as the ultimate form of power. What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . . Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day. Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.

Amateur hour has arrived, and the audience is running the show In a hard-hitting and provocative polemic, Silicon Valley insider and pundit Andrew Keen exposes the grave consequences of today’s new participatory Web 2.0 and reveals how it threatens our values, economy, and ultimately the very innovation and creativity that forms the fabric of American achievement. Our most valued cultural institutions, Keen warns—our professional newspapers, magazines, music, and movies—are being overtaken by an avalanche of amateur, user-generated free content. Advertising revenue is being siphoned off by free classified ads on sites like Craigslist; television networks are under attack from free user-generated programming on YouTube and the like; file-sharing and digital piracy have devastated the multibillion-dollar music business and threaten to undermine our movie industry. Worse, Keen claims, our “cut-and-paste” online culture—in which intellectual property is freely swapped, downloaded, remashed, and aggregated—threatens over 200 years of copyright protection and intellectual property rights, robbing artists, authors, journalists, musicians, editors, and producers of the fruits of their creative labors. In today’s self-broadcasting culture, where amateurism is celebrated and anyone with an opinion, however ill-informed, can publish a blog, post a video on YouTube, or change an entry on Wikipedia, the distinction between trained expert and uninformed amateur becomes dangerously blurred. When anonymous bloggers and videographers, unconstrained by professional standards or editorial filters, can alter the public debate and manipulate public opinion, truth becomes a commodity to be bought, sold, packaged, and reinvented. The very anonymity that the Web 2.0 offers calls into question the reliability of the information we receive and creates an environment in which sexual predators and identity thieves can roam free. While no Luddite—Keen pioneered several Internet startups himself—he urges us to consider the consequences of blindly supporting a culture that endorses plagiarism and piracy and that fundamentally weakens traditional media and creative institutions. Offering concrete solutions on how we can reign in the free-wheeling, narcissistic atmosphere that pervades the Web, THE CULT OF THE AMATEUR is a wake-up call to each and every one of us.

As seen in the HBO docuseries THE VOW: The shocking and subversive memoir of a 12-year-NXIVM-member-turned-whistleblower, and her inspiring true story of abuse, escape, and redemption. "'Master, would you brand me? It would be an honor.' From the second I climb onto the table, acutely aware that I am lying in the sweat of my sisters, I will have blocked that out. Lying there completely naked, I am at my most vulnerable but determined to prove my strength. I try to keep my legs closed as my body wills itself to protect my most private area. . . . I tell myself: I am a warrior. I birthed a human. I can handle pain. But nothing could have ever prepared me for the feel of this fire on my skin." Scarred is Sarah Edmondson's compelling memoir of her recruitment into the NXIVM cult, the 12 years she spent within the organization (during which she enrolled over 2,000 members and entered DOS—NXIVM's "secret sisterhood"), her breaking point, and her harrowing fight to get out, to expose Keith Raniere and the leadership, to help others, and to heal. Complete with personal photographs, Scarred is also an eye-opening story about abuses of power, female trust and friendship, and how sometimes the search to be "better" can override everything else. • In the tradition of Unorthodox by Deborah Feldman, Escape by Carolyn Jessop, and Troublemaker by Leah Remini • This tell-all follows Sarah from the moment she takes her first NXIVM seminar, to the invitation she accepts from her best friend, Lauren Salzman, into DOS, to her journey toward become a key witness in the federal case against its founders • Evokes questions about friendship, ethics, good and evil, making it a brilliant selection for book clubs Audio edition read by the author.

"Are you looking for a spitirual path, but don't know which way to turn? Do you find the regular, mainstream religions a little lacking in personality? Maybe you're just not sure how to find the right charismatic leader to follow and obey. Do you believe in God, or are UFOs more your schtick? Are you interested in a community that gets around in snazzy robes, or do you prefer to travel naked on the astral plane? Which Cult Should I join? is a handy choose-your-own guidebook that will help you uncover which modern history's most (in)famous cults -- from the wacky and ininocent to the downright deadly -- is the right cult for you!" -- Back cover.

Describes some of the more notorious cults, such as the People's Temple and Aum Shinrikyo, and discusses types of cults, methods of thought control, and the recruiting and exit processes.