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A review by spatterson12
Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell
4.0
I haven’t wanted to highlight so many sections of a book since grad school (don’t worry, I didn’t, yet).
Montell was on the BTI5 podcast in the fall and listening to her discuss this book and her personal connection to cults was so intriguing and sent me on the hunt to order this.
“ …because speech is the first thing we’re willing to change about ourselves…and also the last thing we let go. With words we breathe reality into being.”
The book is divided into parts, ranging from how language is used in religious organizations to fitness boutiques. This book could easily have expanded across 600+ pages, but she finds a way to narrow it to less than 300 (the GR count for the hardback is off).
Not all cults or cult language is bad. She makes a point to identify ritual time. If a person isn’t able to leave the language behind after the set ritual time, the time dedicated to the activity or group, then that’s when the language can become negative. When it infiltrates every moment of your life and not just an established 50 minutes or however long.
I’ll include one last quote from an interviewee that stuck out: “Being in a top management position, if you’re not careful, you go into an echo chamber. People are going to tell you what you want to hear, so you start to get away with madness. And madness becomes institutionalized very quickly.”
Montell was on the BTI5 podcast in the fall and listening to her discuss this book and her personal connection to cults was so intriguing and sent me on the hunt to order this.
“ …because speech is the first thing we’re willing to change about ourselves…and also the last thing we let go. With words we breathe reality into being.”
The book is divided into parts, ranging from how language is used in religious organizations to fitness boutiques. This book could easily have expanded across 600+ pages, but she finds a way to narrow it to less than 300 (the GR count for the hardback is off).
Not all cults or cult language is bad. She makes a point to identify ritual time. If a person isn’t able to leave the language behind after the set ritual time, the time dedicated to the activity or group, then that’s when the language can become negative. When it infiltrates every moment of your life and not just an established 50 minutes or however long.
I’ll include one last quote from an interviewee that stuck out: “Being in a top management position, if you’re not careful, you go into an echo chamber. People are going to tell you what you want to hear, so you start to get away with madness. And madness becomes institutionalized very quickly.”