Cult expert Steven Hassan interviewed on Podcast

[Coldwinterskies]

Cult Expert Steven Hassan was interviewed on a podcast run by ex-Jehovah's Witnesses recently

 

For those who are not familiar with Hassan's work, he used to be involved in the Moonies (explained here for younguns/non-Americans) and was a "model member" for a while. Eventually, his family staged an intervention to get him out of the cult. Since then, he has worked on educating the public about how cults brainwash people and how to help loved ones who are trapped inside cults.

 

While obviously the focus of JW Podcast is on the Jehovah's Witnesses, his comments apply to a lot of groups. Since a lot of the fundies we follow have a lot of cult-like tendencies (I literally do consider Steve Maxwell to be using cult mind control techniques on his family, as you can see from this page that explains more about cult criteria), I thought some of you might find what he has to say interesting. It helps explain how people get mixed up in these groups, why they find it hard to leave, and how we can help people escape.

 

His comments around 28 minutes in about how cults expect children to behave like little adults and use fear/violence to control them definitely rings true of the "blanket training" stuff I think.

[Palimpsest]

Thanks for posting this. I'll listen to it later.

{L_MESSAGE_HIDDEN}:

IMO, Steve Hassan is a good guy. He exit counseled a friend of mine when she escaped the Larouchies back in the early '90s. Yep, the Larouche Movement is a full-blown cult.

[Delilah]

I only got to listen to 20 minutes so far, but I plan to listen to the rest tomorrow. At first my American ears had trouble with the English accents, but then I got used to it. They were laughing and joking around so much at the beginning, I thought it was going to like a Ricky Gervais comedy routine, but then they got down to serious conversation.

Steven was able to get out because he had a normal, loving, and intelligent family. A lot of the fundies we talk about here don't have that resource. People who leave the cult lose everyone they love. It's so sad.

[Coldwinterskies]

Yeah, having contact with normal people makes it so much easier to escape. I think that's why so many of these cult-y groups try to demonize the outside world. One reason why I have more hope for one of the Duggars escaping than I do for the Maxwells is that the Duggar kids do have some normal relatives (like Amy) and so much public support.

[Kak]

Looks reallly interesting. Thanks for the links.