Here is a recent episode of The 1A with Joshua Johnson, well worth a listen: What’s The Deal With Cults from September 17, 2019.
Being brainwashed, gaslighted, fooled; many can relate to getting into manipulative, sticky, tangled relationships…and the near impossibility of escape once stuck. It’s only once you are finally out, you see how you got you in the mess in the first place.
Often, there is someone charismatic behind it all who manipulated your good-will and ideals: the reason so many hi-IQ types get sucked in is just because they are so smart; they are thrilled to meet other smart, idealistic people and find it easy to believe that good people can do good things together.
This is absolutely true. Unless one of those “good people” is a wolf in sheep’s clothing, which is what you have in a cult. One rotten apple, as they say. Though in this case, the apple rots from above: because the rot, in a cult, starts at the guy at the top.
What’s The Deal With Cults from September 17, 2019
https://the1a.org/audio/#/shows/2019-09-17/whats-the-deal-with-cults/118819/@00:00