It’s an interesting piece, and I think it’s intended to be satirical (and done rather well). But, I grew up in an actual cult. The comments here to the effect of “everything’s a cult” and “startups are cults” and “HN is a cult” - oh gosh. Nothing could be further from the truth. HN is not a cult, folks. I’m glad people can make those jokes though, because I immediately know they didn’t experience what I did. They hav…
Do you think that any of these things have cult-like tendencies, or is it a completely distinct phenomenon? It seems like people can go down a rabbit hole to varying degrees. I know I have that tendency. I went down the Scott Adams rabbit hole and allowed him to convince me of some silly things, but I had enough self-awareness not to get too sucked in. And it seems like QAnon is a much more extreme version of the same thing. You grew up in a cult, so I'm guessing you didn't have the same transformative experience of a new recruit. I could see the evidence that QAnon people were posting on Twitter for their beliefs, the apparent predictions and signs in what the president was saying or posting on Twitter. And because of my mental health history, I know the feeling of seeing something really convincing like that, and feeling the ground drop out from under you, and your whole world suddenly change (even if I snap out of it later). I can see behind the curtain, I know something about the nature of reality that everyone would think is ridiculous because they just haven't seen it yet. I always imagined that this is how a cult gets a new recruit.
I don't know if QAnon has the radical separation aspect where you can't be friends with former members if you leave. But QAnon is certainly something bad. Does it have aspects of a cult, to you? Is there such a thing as varying degrees, even if it's not a real cult until it reaches the threshold?