Don't Call it a Cult: The Shocking Story of Keith Raniere
and the Women of NXIVM by Sarah Berman shows us the formula for
creating a cult. Sleep and food
deprivation; complete surrender of personal possession and money; a cohesive atmosphere
swaddled in a self-help and religious ethos; long group sessions involving
confessions of flaws and traumas; forced detachment from friends and family. NXIVM did all this, and it is hardly surprising that toward the end Keith Raniere
created a group of women he could personally emotionally, cognitively, and
sexually manipulate.
Berman’s book is scary because of what happens, but also
because of how it happens. The
indoctrination is gradual, and before the people in NXIVM know they are trapped
it is too late. It is amazing how our
social impulses can be perverted by unscrupulous, immoral people.
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