It’s very much like how people have created cults, slowly pushing the boundaries people will accept, while also claiming to be the authority of everything and accept no blame. And people crave a sense of belonging, and community. By the time people find out they are following a monster they are so far down the wrong path they feel trapped and it’s the path of least resistance to just go with it. Also an example is made of anyone trying to rock the boat.
Was an episode of The Dollop (podcast) about a teacher that created a cult of his students to show them this exact scenario (how everyday Germans got behind Hitler). I’ll look it up later if nobody beats me to it before then.
Edit - nevermind found it faster than I thought I would.
It’s not just like how people created cults, it’s the exact same recipe. They are cults. I have a friend who is obsessed with true crime podcasts about cults, like, listened to the final recordings of the Jonestown massacre where you can hear people dying from cyanide poisoning in the background obsessed, and he was recently telling me how both Trump and Hitler’s speeches sound exactly like Jim Jones.
That was a good watch. Wasn’t planning on taking nearly an hour and a half out of my day on a random video, but it was super interesting so I couldn’t stop!
I also find the stories of people that have attempted to go undercover to document and eventually report out the inner works of a cult, only to be sucked in and disavow their prior life.
Your comment just reminded me of this episode of the YouTube series “A Very Special Episode”.
crave a sense of belonging, and community
this goes for brand fanbois too-- i’m in another thread full of people frothing at the mouth because i had the gall to point out how some report the company published didn’t make them particularly special within the industry. it’s sad seeing grown ass adults whiteknighting for a corporation, of all things
