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A review by robotswithpersonality
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
hopeful
informative
While I picked this up primarily for the focus on language, what really grabbed me was the effort the author went to to temper the black-and-white, moralizing interpretations and usage of words like cult and cult followers, detailing the dangers of those assumptions. While she starts with the most destructive and dangerous examples of cults and language used in such, over the book the author builds up evidence for the important distinction between the presence of cultish language and the oversimplification that it will always lead to dramatically negative outcomes. Alongside this are surprising conclusions from research on qualities more likely to leave one more susceptible to cult rhetoric, i.e. it's not whom you'd first assume.
Impressively smooth reading experience, just enough history on whichever cult or cultural phenomenon is the basis to provide context for the linguistic analysis being discussed.
It's helpful to see multiple exemplars of the similarities in how use of language seduces, isolates, converts, coerces, and stops questioning in the toxic and dangerous types of cult, even when the code words per cult are different, it reinforces and clarifies for the reader the 🚩 difference between a relatively benign sales pitch or spiritual practice and something darker, feeding someone else's power, wealth and ambition.
What stood out most here is what I already loathed as the diet culture trump card: The insistence that if you're not gaining the promised result it's your fault, not a failure of the cult/lifestyle movement/fitness plan/nutrition regimen. AKA total responsibility-dodging BS that points out how completely fake their whole system is.
The latter section feels particularly relevant, addressing cult language in the 21st century, online in social media.
This book has since spawned a podcast called Sounds Like a Cult, and I can't wait to dive in.
I will also definitely be picking up Montell's other book, Word Slut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language.
⚠️Suicide, abuse, SA
Impressively smooth reading experience, just enough history on whichever cult or cultural phenomenon is the basis to provide context for the linguistic analysis being discussed.
It's helpful to see multiple exemplars of the similarities in how use of language seduces, isolates, converts, coerces, and stops questioning in the toxic and dangerous types of cult, even when the code words per cult are different, it reinforces and clarifies for the reader the 🚩 difference between a relatively benign sales pitch or spiritual practice and something darker, feeding someone else's power, wealth and ambition.
What stood out most here is what I already loathed as the diet culture trump card: The insistence that if you're not gaining the promised result it's your fault, not a failure of the cult/lifestyle movement/fitness plan/nutrition regimen. AKA total responsibility-dodging BS that points out how completely fake their whole system is.
The latter section feels particularly relevant, addressing cult language in the 21st century, online in social media.
This book has since spawned a podcast called Sounds Like a Cult, and I can't wait to dive in.
I will also definitely be picking up Montell's other book, Word Slut: A Feminist Guide to Taking Back the English Language.
⚠️Suicide, abuse, SA