Reviews tagging 'Racism'

Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

61 reviews

goldkat's review

dark informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Minor: Rape, Racism, Murder, Sexual harassment, and Racial slurs

hey_al's review

funny informative medium-paced

3.5

Loved it! If you've listened to her podcast, a lot of this might sound familiar. If not, check it out. I like that she doesn't use a judgemental tone or write off all culty behavior - it's very nuanced and we are all susceptible to it. 

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicide, Emotional abuse, Sexual assault, Murder, Toxic relationship, Child abuse, and Racism

effortlesslybookishbre_'s review against another edition

challenging dark informative mysterious reflective fast-paced

Cults and Cult-like followings are ingrained into almost every part of our society, from mundane Instagram followings to the more extreme and downright dangerous cults such as Jim Jones's Jonestown and Marshall AppleWhites Heaven's Gate among many others. Cultish seeks to uncover the language and how these very prominent cults rise and maintain power over their followers. However, what this book fails to do is introduce its audience to any new ideas or way of thinking about Cults. 

This book presents ideas about cults as if they are new ideas, such as how many of their "charismatic" leaders are white males, and usually get away with their behavior on that merit alone. I felt as if the cults themselves and their fanaticism were overlooked to discuss and seemingly punch down on its followers. More focus was put on the followers of different cult-like movements (not even cults themselves in reality) Yes the followers of these movements are a key to these movements' success, but more focus was on the money they spent on brand-name clothing or how outlandish their mantras were, versus the abusive, misogynistic, and borderline racist environments the leaders and creators of these 'cults' fostered. 

I felt as if the cults themselves were mentioned but never actually talked about, especially cults that are still in existence such as The Church of Scientology. While the book's main focus is on the language these cults use, I feel as though you too need to understand what these cults are, how they operated, rose to prominence, and sometimes sustained prominence. Different cults were discussed in the text but were never given a clear or in-depth backstory, especially Scientology which is still popular among many celebrities, despite the church being accused of abusing its members, the children with the church, and covering up abuse in the church. Its new leader David Miscavige is barely even mentioned when he is at the forefront of the church's new leadership. 

This is a great read if you are new to researching cults or just want to gain a surface-level understanding of cults, cult-like followings, and the language of cult followings. However, if you already have an understanding of cults or have done research into them, this book will not tell you anything you probably don't already know. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Racism, Suicide, Body shaming, Fatphobia, and Misogyny

lemonsforyu's review

challenging informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Minor: Suicidal thoughts, Racism, Suicide attempt, Toxic relationship, Cursing, Hate crime, Pandemic/Epidemic, Bullying, Self harm, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Suicide

unluckycat13's review against another edition

informative medium-paced

4.0

This is not a true crime book, this is a sociological look at how cults and the rhetorical/linguistic techniques affect the average things in life; and when it becomes a problem. 

I'm unsure what people want in regards to intersectionality. You could probably go into depth in a lot of topics, but the author does talk about a lot of things that affect minorities of all sorts even when she's not directly shouting that group out. She does directly shout out minority groups often though.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Sexual violence, Racism, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Sexism, Religious bigotry, Addiction, Suicide, Rape, Gaslighting, Misogyny, Self harm, and Body shaming

stardustdreamer's review against another edition

informative reflective medium-paced

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Emotional abuse, Toxic relationship, Trafficking, Gaslighting, Mental illness, Classism, and Murder

Moderate: Child death, Suicide, and Racism

mi7sma's review

adventurous lighthearted fast-paced

4.0

It was a very insightful book. You know those types which you're intrinsically aware of the things being discussed but you don't actively think about when it actually happens irl. Amanda retold a very profound series of accounts from survivors of various cult groups and presented them in a very digestible manner. The premise of the entire book revolves around cult affiliation(group affiliation), human psychology, brainwashing, unjustified prejudice, glossolalia, genocide and language performativity theory. It also tells us how everyday people end up in cults just to find a meaningful connection as we(humans) are programmed to be seekers of the unknown and social communes are a way to satisfy our emotional and religious needs. The book was written in the light of the writer's father's experiences which gave it a personal and professional outlook. Overall it was a good read but it was long overdue due to uni. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cultural appropriation, Murder, Emotional abuse, and Genocide

Moderate: Confinement, Fatphobia, Physical abuse, Cursing, Mental illness, Sexual content, Body shaming, Bullying, Classism, Gaslighting, and Racism

maximauve's review

informative reflective fast-paced

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Racism, Pandemic/Epidemic, Emotional abuse, Death, Mass/school shootings, Police brutality, and Suicide

aysha_blake's review against another edition

adventurous dark informative inspiring mysterious reflective medium-paced

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Suicide, Suicide attempt, Adult/minor relationship, Toxic relationship, Sexual harassment, Rape, Pedophilia, Religious bigotry, Racism, Misogyny, Toxic friendship, Sexual assault, and Police brutality

wright_rendon_reads's review

challenging funny informative reflective medium-paced

5.0

I'm not a true crime girly, but I AM a cult girly. So when I heard about this book my interest was peaked. 

This book combines two of my special interests: language and cults. This book is split into sections covering cults and cult(ish) groups: religious groups, self-help groups, MLMs, fitness groups, and online influencers/political groups. The book doesn't claim all of these are cults but that they do use language that cult groups tend to use like thought terminating cliches and love bombing. 

This book was interesting, thought provoking, funny, and informative. I found myself turning it on even for a short drive to pick up food. (I listened to it on audiobook). I greatly enjoyed this as my last summer read before school started. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Suicide, Emotional abuse, and Sexual assault

Minor: Racial slurs, Religious bigotry, Body shaming, and Racism

These content tags are based more on frequency of mentioning rather than going into detail.