Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

This was a really intriguing read. Focusing on ???cultish??? language is a different tack from the other approaches I???ve seen other books taking, but I think this approach is way more personal because language is something we encounter everyday. We can read what people say on the internet, or we can listen to them talk, and have a variety of bells and whistles ping in our heads and tell us ???This is bullshit??? - or not, as the case may be.

One of the things I found valuable about this book was how it emphasized that it???s not education or ???smarts??? that make a person see through cultish language. In fact, in many cases it???s people who are considered smart and well-educated who are very susceptible to cultish language - and are often the hardest to shake out of it. On the sadder side of things, people who are optimistic and want to change the world are also some of the most susceptible to cult indoctrination, which just makes cults even more terrible because they take these genuinely good people and destroy them.

This book also tries to redefine some things we???ve come to associate with cults: things like brainwashing and mind control. By talking to scholars who actually study cults and cult-adjacent behaviors, the book actually points out that brainwashing and mind control just aren???t real. People can think for themselves, and are capable of resisting any kind of idea that they don???t agree with - which is also where the problem lies. If an idea is couched in the right words, or presented in the right way so as to make them agreeable to a person, then that person will be willing to adopt those ideas - even if they???re detrimental. Individual charisma certainly helps with this, but there???s also society as a whole: if a person is set up such that they come across as an authority figure to someone else, then their words will be more likely to be accepted with little to no questioning. Or for that matter, if a person is in desperate enough straits, they???ll be willing to accept a deal that they think will help them, even if it might turn out to be bad.

That being said, not all cultish language is necessarily bad. It all depends on context. For example: Alcoholics Anonymous apparently has a set of catchphrases and terms that their participants use to help them overcome their alcoholism. On the surface it can sound a little culty, but it???s being used for a good cause: to help people overcome their addiction. Similarly, a lot of marketing and advertising can use culty language, but that???s being done in a more ???neutral??? way because they???re trying to get you to buy a product or a service. If you don???t want to buy it, you can walk away, no one is going to pressure you to spend your money. Cultish language is dangerous only when it manipulates you into or encourages you to stay in a dangerous or destructive situation; or manipulates you into or encourages you to take dangerous or destructive actions (ex. the language of QAnon and Donald Trump - or, closer to home, the language used by Rodrigo Duterte and Ferdinand Marcos Jr.???s adherents).

Overall, this was a fairly fast and insightful read. By talking about ???cultish??? language, the book lays out of the case of what that language might sound and look like, and how its used in different situations. However, while learning to identify that language out in the wild is useful, the book also cautions the reader that context is always key: language that sounds cultish can be used in many different ways, ranging from good to bad. It also reminds the reader that, where anger for the use of such language is warranted, the target of that anger should always be the perpetrator/s and never the victim/s.