Science & Technology
How to Spot a Cult | Sarah Edmondson | TED
Nobody joins a cult on purpose, says Sarah Edmondson, a former member of the infamous Nxivm cult and one of the three whistleblowers that led to its downfall. She explains how she got ensnared in this highly manipulative group — and then escaped it — and shares red flags to help you distinguish between a…
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@jeffmilligan
April 5, 2024 at 12:56 pm
Sounds a lot like Diversity Equity and Inclusion.
@sachamm
April 5, 2024 at 2:10 pm
🤣 someone’s been brainwashed
@leveljoe
April 5, 2024 at 3:32 pm
They even have a private flag to symbolize their group think.
“If you don’t vote for me, you’re not you.”
@mikejettusa
April 5, 2024 at 1:17 pm
Beautiful message and beautiful person. She could just go on with her life, but decided to share her experience with the hopes of helping others learn from her mistakes. ❤
@RupertFear
April 5, 2024 at 1:20 pm
Its headed by the pope
@nancyott7486
April 5, 2024 at 1:22 pm
Loved this topic! Jesus First! No other idols.
@BrianMcInnis87
April 5, 2024 at 1:53 pm
From the Latin cultus: ‘worship’. If it involves worship, it’s a cult. The end.
@leveljoe
April 5, 2024 at 3:16 pm
That’s only one small part of it.
It’s more about total control through small moves.
It involves removing opposition, silencing free will, ” us versus them” mentality, group over individual mentality, exclusive societies, social identity, identifying dangers that don’t exist….
Politics
Science
Religion
A cult tells you that you are at your best when you are around those in your cult, because those other people are dangerous.
They tap into a fear we are born with.
“Only we can be right.”
“Others should be punished.”
@mkhud50n
April 5, 2024 at 1:55 pm
They don’t listen to outside opinions, use the exact same language, believe they own the truth, wear masks, imbibe in chemical concoctions as salvation…
Basically a modern democrat.
@Lolcoca
April 5, 2024 at 2:03 pm
I am neutral as a person.
I respect all kinds of religions and any ideology, politics, concepts or philosophy or thoughts.
However, what interests me is to know how this person perceives this thought and another person thinks in another way.
I also noticed that some brains of certains humans work in a way where there are certain people who like to believe in something. Which is understandable.
But there is a difference to be curious to understand how it works those different perceptions but not believe in it. And it’s completely two different things.
Some believe in Buddha, others in spiritualism or meditations, pop psychology, therapy, others in God or many gods, or philosophers, or guru, etc.
I think any thought, ideology or concept or religion is good for that person as long as he or she applies all this in his or her lifestyle and not to others. As long as the person don’t impose (indirectly) or use that to control others.
@alswjd4406
April 5, 2024 at 2:39 pm
I feel you. Thank you for your bravery, Sarah. We all make mistakes and from our mistakes we acknowledge something then now you see? It was a hard journey but this has become your way to change the world into a better place 🧡🙏🏻😚🌿🌎🦋💕
@alswjd4406
April 5, 2024 at 2:40 pm
Everything has happened for us❤
@educocult
April 5, 2024 at 2:46 pm
Such a GREAT Talk by an AWESOME Cult Fighter!
@LE-pq3lu
April 5, 2024 at 2:50 pm
Thank you ❤
@killerquack9760
April 5, 2024 at 3:00 pm
Buy those hats, trading cards, flags and bible 😂
@leveljoe
April 5, 2024 at 3:16 pm
It’s more about total control through small moves.
It involves removing opposition, silencing free will, ” us versus them” mentality, group over individual mentality, exclusive societies, social identity, identifying dangers that don’t exist….
Politics
Science
Religion
A cult tells you that you are at your best when you are around those in your cult, because those other people are dangerous.
They tap into a fear we are born with.
“Only we can be right.”
“Others should be punished.”
@WolcottOakTree
April 5, 2024 at 4:20 pm
A lot of work environments seem a little cultish.
@denz4133
April 5, 2024 at 4:44 pm
Realize YOU are susceptible to manipulation!
@danwohlslagel1277
April 5, 2024 at 4:49 pm
Ritualistic guilt and shame about the “Sins of the Past” ( which can never be resolved / abated )
“Struggle Sessions” where targets are shamed / harassed / bullied into rejecting their existing world view- and then converting to a new world view.
Forcing targets to surrender their personal psychological boundaries through required virtue-signalling.
Forcing targets to surrender any form of critical thinking and accept “Victim vs Oppressor” narratives without question.
@user-sk7zc1fc5u
April 5, 2024 at 6:13 pm
I was in a cult for 39 years. Upon leaving I lost all my friends and I haven’t seen or talked to my daughter in 8 years. No pictures of grand kids. I was a member of the most powerful cult in the world and by far the wealthiest, over $250 billion. And this cult is still thriving.
@musicmaven3149
April 5, 2024 at 8:46 pm
Congratulations on getting yourself out. Must have been terrifying and heart wrenching. Hopefully your daughter and grandkids see through the haze and take the steps to join you someday 💛
@user-sk7zc1fc5u
April 5, 2024 at 9:19 pm
@@musicmaven3149 You can’t imagine how strong the pull is. My wife died earlier than she should have, due partly I think from being a grandmother who could no longer show people pictures of her grandkids. There are online transition sites by the dozens with stories just like mine. I was a strong believer and a leader for a long time. I thought it was the only true way to God and heaven. I used to be a strong Christian, but no more. There are so many things that in earlier times a person was told that his throat would be cut and I believed all that. It begins with seeing something I needed and gradually I and my wife were hooked. But then came the internet and the information highway. And this group has over 6 million people in America. My family look down on me as a member of Satan’s church.
@attilahorvath8152
April 5, 2024 at 6:21 pm
congrats & kudos <8)
@SEANALPURVIS
April 5, 2024 at 6:32 pm
I watched the documentary that you were in and I was very proud of you for what you did. I’m glad I found this Ted talk today. Reminder to all the commenters religion of any type is man-made. A relationship with a higher power is what you seek
@khairulnaeim756
April 5, 2024 at 6:58 pm
Simply just ask them… 😶
@jeffruebens8355
April 5, 2024 at 7:01 pm
It is a cult if you do not belong, all of your groups are a religion, brave, honest and helpful, except when they are not, then you blame the individuals and not the group environment that helped make them evil.
@MCFCTheMadHatter
April 5, 2024 at 7:04 pm
I find it so tragically ironic it’s almost comical that TED publishes a speaker discussing the signs & flags of a cult when their organization has been completely indoctrinated by the cult that is the woke. If you need evidence, just read about what TED Talks did to invited guest Coleman Hughes – it was an absolute disgrace.
Ps. I fully expect them to shadow ban or delete this comment.
@FueledbyJohn
April 5, 2024 at 7:36 pm
This was an invaluable talk thank you.
@puppypersonLOTR
April 5, 2024 at 7:51 pm
Love to you Sarah as well as Nippy and the boys!! Love the podcast. Thank you for all you have done for the world! ❤❤❤
@totalhorse6987
April 5, 2024 at 7:51 pm
Beware the narcissists, and never go to church.
@chrisgillings537
April 5, 2024 at 9:07 pm
Notice how members of maga are the first to vehemently deny they are members of a cult😂😂😂
@Sarcastic_01ladki
April 6, 2024 at 3:36 am
I’m Indian…!
@thanhn6170
April 6, 2024 at 4:08 am
I was in somewhat a cult before. So I know she’s really brave when she stands there talking about her experience. She tries her best to protect others and fixes her mistakes. I hope things go well for everyone.
@nattosanto6033
April 6, 2024 at 7:47 am
not too good as a speaker, the tips are not all that convincing, basically all religions are cults
@user-vd4bg9rc8k
April 6, 2024 at 8:19 am
Repent and trust on to Jesus and he will give you discernment. 🙏
@user-vd4bg9rc8k
April 6, 2024 at 8:26 am
Mormons, Jehovahs come to mind when I hear the word cults. 😎
@user-vd4bg9rc8k
April 6, 2024 at 8:32 am
One should be concerned about after this life on earth. Everyone wants to go to a place of rest in a paradise called heaven. There is only one road to get there and is thru Christ Jesus as He said I am the, the truth and the way and no one comes to the Father except by Me. 😎🙏
@user-vd4bg9rc8k
April 6, 2024 at 8:36 am
Correction on the words of Jesus it should read I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except by Me.
@genevalawrence801
April 6, 2024 at 11:24 am
There is a book called Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell. It’s a fascinating read about how cults and cult-like groups use language to draw people in and to exercise control. The author also looks at how much modern marketing uses the language of cults to create brand loyalty.
@gajayjay
April 6, 2024 at 11:45 am
Israel
@dabadaba530
April 6, 2024 at 3:35 pm
No, in our current sick society we allow parents to force any child into any religious cult of their choosing from birth which includes genital mutilation on boys and girls among other horrors
@pepidubosc250
April 6, 2024 at 3:52 pm
Girl likes being congratulated and applauded every 2 minutes by now saying everything she did to scam all people around her…
@GaiaCarney
April 7, 2024 at 5:05 am
I found this to be pretty extemporaneous & low content for a TED talk.
@sharkulashairstylist5505
April 6, 2024 at 5:14 pm
Wrong people are looking for belonging and cults offer that in spades. this is dumb on its face.
If you don’t think people looking to become terrorists for trump are already there you’re a fool. Hate begets hate. you can find it wherever you look.
What do you hate? there is an internet cult for it.
@Yurii_riccio
April 6, 2024 at 5:43 pm
✌Once an acquaintance invited me to a lecture at a life insurance company. An acquaintance has already drawn his relatives into this “pyramid”. It was as if the lecture was specially for me. Everyone sat modestly and obediently, except me.) It seems that I disturbed their plans with my awkward questions (at first I was shy, afraid to ask). After that, I gained respect from the director of the company and noticed even more desire to recruit me, but our paths did not cross again. More knowledge means fewer vulnerabilities. Knowledge is power! 🙏Thank you all
@riseoftheinfinite8800
April 6, 2024 at 6:40 pm
Society is the cult
@aufaniyukzanali696
April 6, 2024 at 7:14 pm
sounds like another cult to me…
@fortynine3225
April 6, 2024 at 8:41 pm
Why just not stick with sekt? You know..like a state that is in control of right and wrong, what is real and what is not.? Democracy? Any other political system out there?They all do that thing.. When there are absolute truths claims by a group or a group forces its absolute truths upon you we are dealing with a sekt. Keywords are here absolute truths and groups. SO what this lady is talking about that is a sekt within a sekt really…long way to go i guess…
@user-no5hf9lm1d
April 6, 2024 at 9:33 pm
Sometimes people don’t know it’s occult, like church!
@daspicsman
April 7, 2024 at 12:11 am
Even Ferris Bueller had a cult following. Just about anything can be turned into a cult when you turn everything else off and focus only on this.
@numbercruncher6242
April 7, 2024 at 6:37 am
Unfortunately, humans are suggestible and none of us come into this world as anything but highly suggestible individuals. What is never called a cult is the predominant cult we are immersed in. Families are cults. Religions are cults. Philosophies are cults. In a world where we need to be highly critical there is hardly even room for a personal relationship if we are true to that principle. There are no answers, because there are no questions. We would first have to be convinced of the validity of a question. We get our cues by the universality of our behaviors. If we were not so mimetically predisposed to do pattern recognition we could be free of a lot of things. In the end we are all told how to think, because we do not know how to. Choose your cults wisely is about all you can do. You’re probably on the right path if you are always wandering and not following someone’s predetermine path for you. It’s the experience of finding what works for you that gives you your bearings, until it doesn’t work for you any more. The reason why we have popular myths about dying and being born again is because that’s what we end up doing many times over in our lives. Adaptation is our friend.
@JokerInk-CustomBuilds
April 7, 2024 at 8:53 am
How to avoid joining a cult?
-whenever someone claims to have all the answers you call them a liar and leave!😂
@user-sk7zc1fc5u
April 8, 2024 at 8:05 am
Sounds like evangelical Christianity.
@JokerInk-CustomBuilds
April 8, 2024 at 1:15 pm
@@user-sk7zc1fc5u those were the ones I left. LOLOL
@oliviao2238
April 7, 2024 at 10:31 am
Really, TED, you need commercials. They hurt the viewing experience of individuals like me who want to learn something.
@jerrypeal653
April 7, 2024 at 11:23 am
Oh a democrat
@jaymacpherson8167
April 7, 2024 at 3:44 pm
“Any group can become culty.” I quit a group in 1980. In 2012, I realized I had been in a cult. The group was…
Martial arts training. The cost was very low. But when our Shihon had me meet in private and beat me, causing hip to knee hematomas in both legs, I got out. I missed it so much that after 6 months, I returned…until I made a request that was not honored. So I left for good.
@SusynStecchi
April 7, 2024 at 3:50 pm
Thank you for being so courageous to speak out. Sounds like a description of MAGA. Stay unculty.❤
@DrSabriBebawi
April 7, 2024 at 9:09 pm
An excellent and timely lecture. All Trump Republicans should watch it
@rashadkhan_189
April 7, 2024 at 11:17 pm
PTI cult is joining the cult on purpose to harm Pakistan.
@ShaneBro
April 8, 2024 at 5:42 am
Did she start a cult? 😁. I heard about the cult she was in. It was bad.
@cutydryver1
April 8, 2024 at 8:47 am
Koch Industries is an example of this. Lived it myself there.
@herbsierra
April 8, 2024 at 11:47 am
yep … don’t become a tool of or for the tool …
@blogz
April 8, 2024 at 12:20 pm
Cults are the source of facination. Religious, Fitnes, Buisnesses,A brand, Sports Teams or the Miletary. No matter where you are on the globe there is a cult for you.
@Echo81Rumple83
April 8, 2024 at 2:10 pm
this is why robust welfare programs need to be a thing.
@cozycomfy589
April 8, 2024 at 4:41 pm
IMO, introverts are less susceptible to cults because we don’t like to join groups.
@JimmyW00ip2
April 9, 2024 at 10:53 am
True
@sumlatinkid
April 8, 2024 at 6:12 pm
it says tedx in the background…no wonder i found it lacking
@MARIAM_M_AYOUB
April 8, 2024 at 9:07 pm
God bless your heart!
Thank you for spreading the wisdom! 🙏❤️✨
@suzannekaufmann5205
April 8, 2024 at 9:28 pm
If she had read a book called “When Religion Becomes Evil” by Charles Kimball before she ever joined in 2005 – the answers were there then. None of this is new. I am glad she got out.
@deniseek7944
April 9, 2024 at 6:34 am
Thank you for sharing your experience!! ❣️💯
@ayhay4686
April 9, 2024 at 2:04 pm
This is why the constitution was invented. So, no cult, sect, movement, or individual imposes a certain lifestyle on another free citizen. As long as you pay taxes, don’t commit crime, and have a job to secure your dignity, you get to keep your constitutional rights unless it’s a Jew who is doing the transgressions, then it doesn’t matter because they have a strong global network and lawyers.
@TimBorg
April 9, 2024 at 11:41 pm
Elon Musk is the biggest worst Cult leader and climate criminal in history of planet
@riaanwilmans
April 10, 2024 at 10:50 am
Also look at Dr. Robert J. Lifton – Eight Criteria for Thought Reform, and Dr. Margaret T. Singer – 6 Conditions for Thought Reform.
@wiedzma_nie_niewiasta
April 10, 2024 at 11:02 am
I waited a long time for this. It’s finally here! 🎉
@Darron_Matsumoto
April 10, 2024 at 11:52 am
When Cults are ran by upper middle class or rich majorities in any culture they tend to get away with crazy things for much longer than other groups.
@freeshrugs63
April 10, 2024 at 4:17 pm
I’m not sure we’re all equally vulnerable to cults. The red flags she mentioned are things that I naturally dislike and notice about new people. I like and trust most people, but I’m wary of overly friendly gestures and immediate invitations, especially if they are salespersons or salesperson-like. I can see them coming a mile away and still be friendly but disengage right away. I can’t even make myself attend church in a post-Covid small town where I have no friends and everybody attends church.
@GransomHayes_author
April 10, 2024 at 6:43 pm
The most heroic ted talk I’ve ever seen
@charitylee1767
April 10, 2024 at 7:33 pm
Sounds like World Wide group
I was a part of the company 4 months and recognized right away. I felt a lot of guilt for leaving and of course the “friends” I made no longer wanted me as a friend after. I was definitely love bombed, gaslit, they tell you it’s not Amway when it really is. I was not allowed to do special girl only groups with the diamond until I got to certain levels. They tell you meetings are more important than family because”this is for your family”
@someguynamedelan
April 10, 2024 at 7:41 pm
If the graphic design for the meditation or prayer flyer is too good, it is probably a cult. If the flyer is just from a copy machine. designed with clip art or from a mimeograph, that is probably a church. Even better, if their website design hasn’t been updated in 20 years, that is also probably a church.
@dudeamongus
April 10, 2024 at 9:10 pm
As someone who was raised in a cult there entire life and got out in my early 30’s, I believe you’ve not mentioned the most important hallmark of a cult. They will discourage any other journey. There’s is the ‘best’ way, and questioning it using logic and reason is basically not well accepted.
@erihayward1121
April 10, 2024 at 9:11 pm
I’m surprised she didn’t talk about the BITE model for measuring cult status. Definitely would recommend ❤