[zzzeek]

There's lots and lots written about cults and cult leaders, which is worth reading, such as Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steven Hassan, or if you prefer a more traditional take, "Thought Reform and the Psychology of Totalism" by Robert Jay Lifton. Or any of other dozens of good authoritative takes on the subject by people who have spent their careers formally studying such phenomena, which can draw lines between all kinds of different groups and political movements that actually have lots in common.

What's wrong with this blog post is that the author does not seem to have read any books at all on the subject, which IMO is fairly irresponsible considering how much there is to read about it and how critical it is that "cult behavior" is widely understood in order for society to progress. Seems to be off the cuff musings about the topic, alarmingly even considering that some "cult leaders" are "good" (no) or that they can be "reformed" (irrelevant, but also REALLY doubtful considering what it means to be a cult leader; cult leaders generally remain such leaders well after they've been sentenced to prison for decades, their followers show up to visit, etc., there is no "reform" here, sorry), and overall a lot of muddy, uninformed and made-up thinking that will only get more people into cults.

[dnissley]

This post is about "cult leader personalities", not literal "cult leaders".

I imagine we've all had the experience of meeting such magnetic personalities, but probably only a tiny percentage have met an actual cult leader.

[zzzeek]

use a different word then

[matchapples]

> What's wrong with this blog post is that the author does not seem to have read any books at all on the subject,

Lol and you didn't read the blog post apparently

[zzzeek]

lol I read the whole post and it does not refer to any research or books for its assertions

[Lammy]

Cult leader behavior: belief that no field of study matters until one's own attention is turned to it :)

[throwaway81523]

Also known as physicist behaviour, heh. https://xkcd.com/793/

[jasmer]

The author is on point, and he didn't say 'cult leaders' are good, he said that people with that personality type can be, which of course they can.

I think that most of our 'great leaders' (good one's) that we look up to, flirt with this mindset for periods of time in their lives.

Not all cult leaders maintain their disposition after being arrested.

The author was fairly concise actually in identifying core attributes, and especially with the meta cognition bit.

[JieJie]

I've known a few of these guys (usually guys, but not always), and I agree they are a very generic type. I also think they can be tremendously beneficial to society as well, even if they aren't to the individuals in their lives. (Steve-Jobs-types, etc.)

I still find them fascinating, because they tend to exist in interesting environments. It's like going to Africa, but not wanting to see any lions.

[maCDzP]

Thank you for the book recommendations!

If you wouldn’t mind sharing what you found most interesting while reading the books you mentioned.

[zzzeek]

well of course that people can be made to fully believe in things that are demonstrably false. That's like no big deal today as we see it everywhere, but back in 1987 when "Dianetics" was on TV all the time including a whole list of completely false claims, I needed some help to understand exactly what that was about and how indeed maybe I didn't need to throw my life away at the local Scientology center as that book would have you believe. As a young absolute literalist, I needed some help to learn that people can be made to think basically anything, so if someone is claiming to you, "I can levitate - no really, I can float around the room" - they are likely incorrect (yet still saying those words that are easily disproven).