Reddit reviews The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society
We found 4 Reddit comments about The Wrong Way Home: Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society. Here are the top ones, ranked by their Reddit score.
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>You are all woefully misinformed about politics, from where I stand not a single one of you so far has expressed even the slightest understanding of how the political machine works
No, we are not "all" woefully misinformed about politics. Many of us (myself included) have been researching candidates & voting for the best-qualified ones since the early 80's. I've even gotten out & gone door-to-door to garner votes for a few candidates.
However, one thing we ALL understand (at one level or another), is how pathologically narcissistic cult leaders function - & what they do in terms of damaging & destroying peoples' lives.
The USA has just elected the worst pathologically narcissistic, compulsive liar in the race. Now the rest of the USA will find out what it's like being in a cult, even tho it will be more of a cult of personality than a religious cult.
But all cults function on similar principles, using similar methods of control & manipulation.
Once again I would recommend that everyone read "The Wrong Way Home - Uncovering the Patterns of Cult Behavior in American Society" by Arthur J. Deikman, M.D.
https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Way-Home-Uncovering-Patterns/dp/0807029157
This book confirms what I've long suspected - & have stated, that cults draw people in & remain hidden in plain sight because cults exaggerate & abuse normal human interactions & systems in order to gain high levels of control over their victims.
On the other hand, the surest way to expose & destroy a pathological narcissist is to give them enough rope to hang themselves, with a disinterested or even hostile audience ready to rip them apart for every mistake. The pathological narcissist's lies will mount up as he/she struggles to maintain that illusion that he/she is in full control - and better yet, that they're "perfect" - as the cracks widen & the walls begin to fall.
Oh, this video, it's been a while since I've touched on this one. I've already touched on this video a few times before since it came out, it's missing many things and makes broad accusations against, and using simplifications of systems that are more complex than the weather to justify it.
Look, this conversation is going to be pointless, I know it, and I suspect you know it given your name. You have bought into ideas and shaped your identity around them, asking you to let go of those ideas is like asking you to jump your ship in the open ocean during a hurricane, hoping that someone else will pick you up rather than just staying with the boat you have. I can't change your mind, even if we knew each other as best friends and you trusted me implicitly, it would take me months and months of talking to you, showing you evidence, and even then it might not work.
The best thing I can do for you is to give you a list of books to read, and hope you read them, which I'll do while I explain where each of them fit in Badmouse's video.
>Black Book's Estimations
This estimation is an average between other estimations. It's difficult to really understand this number until you start looking at the error bars. Democide under communism has been estimated by many different people, but the range of these numbers is from 40 Million, which is accounting basically for the minimum Stalin killed, and the minimum that Mao killed, which is 28 and 5 million respectively, and then adding bits and pieces from the other regimes. Adding other events, like the Cambodia Killing Fields, North Korea, and many African countries, can put this number well above 100 million, and if we take the highest estimations and assume they're correct, the total number comes out to be just under 260 million. This number could be further inflated, as if killing anywhere between 40-260 million people needed an inflation, to something much higher given that communistic regimes often start wars and turn their countries into meat grinders for the conflict.
>That's not real socialism
At this point if you think that your ideas have nothing to do with theirs then there's no saving this conversation. That would be like a young fascist, wanting to bring about the perfect form of government, claiming that Hitler was really a socialist, or a capitalist, and had nothing to do with fascism. Sometimes people go so far off the reservation that you just can't reason with them because their morality is orange (as in the fruit) and blue. instead of right and wrong. All I can say is read The Gulag Archipelago, Solzhenitsyn spends three books explaining why the USSR, one of the two big serious offenders, was socialist, and why it went down the way it did. If it's too much for you, listen to the audio book.
Peterson isn't wrong when he says the thinking is that the person apologizing for socialism and it's regimes assumes they could have done it better, Lenin, Stalin, and Mao were in the right place and did the worst thing possible and so it's blamed on them, that's why is wasn't socialist. But that assumes that there could be a person who could do it right, and given that there isn't a ready example given, it's assumed the person apologizing is making that claim.
>Deaths
This assumes these problems could have been stopped, which Badmouse does not know that, and neither do you. You don't know how to run an economy, and the people who have tried killed millions of their own people trying.
Getting a burger in your house on a plate is much harder than you think. Multiple people are needed and multiple steps have to go correctly: The beef farmer has to have a good stock of cows, the wheat farmer has to have a good crop, the lettuce and tomato farmers need to have a good crop, the wine maker needs to have good vinegar for things like mustard, the baker needs to be on time, needs to have sleep, needs to eat, and needs to make good bread on time, then the butcher needs to not waste the meat by making bad cuts, or know when the meat is spoiled, then needs to make a good grind for the burger, keep the grinder clean and so on. Then the cook needs to know how to cook, needs his sleep, his own food, and the spices to make the burger right, a grill to cook it on, oil to make sure he doesn't make a mess. Then the manager of the restaurant needs to make sure he watches out for people lagging on safety, ensure orders are correct, disputes with customers are resolved, fills in for the cooks when the cook is sick or needs help, order the buns and meat and condiments for the burger so that the cook has the things he needs to make the burger. Then the driver need to know where to take the burger, need to know how to drive in any conditions, need to have insurance, need to have food, sleep, and so on, and lastly, they need to know how to treat the customer.
And that's not even half the steps, and accounting for most of the usual scenarios, and that's just one burger, the steps for more complicated things that make that process possible, like Mack Trucks, are even more complex.
Anyone who claims that they have the answer on how to distribute wealth has no idea what they're talking about. These systems are incredibly complex and is the equivalent of a retarded child wanting to drive the helicopter. I'm sorry little Timmy but Collins here spent 5 years just getting his license and has been flying since '72, you barely know how to tie your shoes, let alone how to fly this thing.
Taking on Crusades like this is historically bound to end in failure. Yes, horrible things happen, I know you think you can save them but you really can't. The best thing we can do is to keep what little patch of street we have clean. The moral pleading is there to manipulate people into dismissing those who have looked at the process and come out of it saying "we're literally doing all we can, things have gotten amazingly better, what are you complaining about?"
When the doctor says "you have cancer, and with any luck you'll have a few more years to live with little to no pain if we work on it." you don't stand up and scream "You're just dismissing the problem! you're benefiting off my suffering! You're wrong! I could be a better doctor!" You sit there and accept that even if this person is wrong, he's probably not that far off from the truth, and at the very least you got back what little time you could.
I'm not going to go into a comment chain with you, I might answer a few questions, but I've done that too many times with people to want to really get into one right now. It's a waste of time, and you're better off reading the books that I provided and having an open mind instead of this reactionary, socialist insistence that there must be a better way.
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> I know many people here have lost friends to this kinda of bullshit, but I still think that I can help him. I just need to know a good way to go about it.
What you need are resources for deprogramming people from a cult. These people are just as bad as fucking Scientologists.
https://www.amazon.com/Wrong-Way-Home-Uncovering-Patterns/dp/0807029157
Some really good advice can be found in that book but it's expensive as fuck. That said, here's what I would do; if someone I cared about was falling into that life, I would at first passionately plead with them, after getting them alone. I would lay everything out and tell them just how scared I am for their future and yes even their life. I would beg them, literally beg them on hands and knees, to turn back, because I don't want to see them hurt, or watch them hurt anyone else. I would drag anybody else in his social circle who agrees with me along to do the exact same thing. I'd essentially hold an intervention.
If that didn't work...I'm reluctant to say what I might do over the internet at that point, but I might try and deal with the problem at the source, which is this new cult he's found himself in.
Remember, these people are not just some benign political group with some weird, or bad, ideas; they are actually a cult, just like Scientology or the KKK, and they are no less dangerous to the human psyche and the human body.
If someone I cared about was being taken in by Scientologists or the KKK, and I couldn't reason with my friend, I'd go after the enemy, in whatever way I thought would make them back off.
You're not just in danger of losing a friend over this; your friend is in danger of experiencing a great deal of psychological and possibly physical harm that he may never recover from.