Complexity bias and cults

This week Celine and Stephen review, and do a cult reading of the 1999 movie, Fight Club, directed by David Fincher and starring Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, Helena Bonham Carter and Meat Loaf. If you haven't seen the film, it's violent but it covers big subjects including masculinity, capitalism and mental illness and importantly for us cult dynamics and coercive control.  Become a patron for just $1:50 for early access and exclusive content https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts   External Links Fight Club IMDB Page https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0137523/ Cinema Therapy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWDeRcXevic

16 Apr 202255min

Author, Mary Mahoney talks about her 31 years in the Children of God. She tells Celine and Stephen about her life as a young woman, believing she was called by God to missionary service, her travels around the world and her efforts to obey increasingly dark and exploitative demands by the Group. She explains the implications of leader David Berg's bizarre doctrine on the 'law of love', the use of sex to recruit known as 'flirty fishing' and the demands of 'sharing' within the commune. She also discusses the experience of having children and raising them within the group. Mary is a wonderful guest and her story is sometimes difficult to hear but her resilience is truly inspirational.  Mary's Book, Abnormal Normal, My Life in the Children of God https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/54177523-abnormal-normal Mary's Blog on Medium https://medium.com/@mary-mahoney Become a patron for just £1 ($1:50) https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts Episode Index https://www.evilsheep.co.uk/whatshouldithinkabout

9 Apr 20221h 9min

As if this world isn't confusing enough, today Celine and Stephen explore virtual worlds and our seemingly unavoidable destiny with them. From Zoom to Second Life, from Virtual Reality to Web 3.0, NFTs, Crypto and even whether we are already living in a simulated reality! On top of all of that Stephen explains what actors named Chris have to do with Non Fungible Tokens! Oh and Virtual Cults.. Become a patron for just £1 ($1:50) https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts

5 Apr 20221h 5min

Becky Armstrong-Corbett is a qualified psychotherapist and solution focused clinical hypnotherapist. Raised as a Jehovah's Witness she was sexually abused by a member of the congregation as a child and has since  worked to raise awareness of neglectful practices within this and other organizations. She contributed to the work of the Inquiry Into Child Sex Abuse in the UK and has appeared on a number of news programmes and media to talk about this important subject. Becky talks to us about this and how she has made a life for herself outside the group becoming a professional psychotherapist and hypnotherapist. Becky also explains what hypnotherapy is and how it works. Become a Patron - Just a single tier at £1 ($1:50) https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts   Becky's Website https://beckycorbett.com/   Becky's YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=becky+armstrong-corbett

2 Apr 20221h 1min

Today Celine and Stephen decide to take a sober and even-handed approach to the question of how we should research and talk about High Control Groups or Cults, and then find themselves getting all worked up! The term 'New Religious Movements' is seen as a more appropriate and less prejudicial label than the word cult, should we be using it? Are anti-cult activists getting in the way of proper sociological research? Is brainwashing not really a thing? Are ex members unreliable sources of data and should they be sidelined in favour of more sober rational and objective opinions? Becoming a patron costs just $1:50 and gives you early access to many episodes and exclusive content.  https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts   References used on this episode Barker, E. (2012). New religious movements: their incidence and significance (pp. 33-50). Routledge. http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/11887/1/__libfile_REPOSITORY_Content_Barker%2C%20E_New%20religious%20movements_Barker_New%20religious%20movements_2013.pdf   Zablocki, B. (1997). The blacklisting of a concept: The strange history of the brainwashing conjecture in the sociology of religion. Nova Religio, 1(1), 96-121. https://doi.org/10.1525/nr.1997.1.1.96   Academics who ignore defectors as ‘apostates’ will never see Scientology for what it is by Chris Shelton. https://tonyortega.org/2021/10/02/academics-who-ignore-defectors-as-apostates-will-never-see-scientology-for-what-it-is/

29 Mars 20221h 1min

Daniel O'Brien is an educator, musician and ex Jehovah's Witness elder. He talks to Stephen about his experience being recruited into the organization and his tough journey out. He also talks about his upcoming lecture at the 2022 International Cultic Studies Association Conference.  Daniel's Essay - Are Religious people happier? https://t.co/yUMEX7zTnv   International Cultic Studies Association Conference 2022 For more information of to book a ticket https://whova.com/web/icsaa_202207/   To become a patron of "What should I think about...?"  https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts

27 Mars 20221h 17min

As it's Stephen's birthday today , 'birthdays' is the theme of this week's chat. As a Jehovah's Witness child, birthday celebrations were something alien to Stephen and so Celine and her dad try to work out why JWs really don't celebrate them. Stephen finds a paper that provides some of the history and the sociological context and he then demonstrates his slow decent into grumpy old man by having a rant about Discord, mid life crises and MAMILs. Paper discussed: Shoham, H. (2021). It is about time: Birthdays as modern rites of temporality. Time & Society, 30(1), 78-99. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0961463X20955094 Become a patron for early and exclusive content for just $1:50 per month - our only tier of support. https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts

23 Mars 202256min

Ashlen talks about her experience as a born-in member of a small Christian Fundamentalist group called the Churches of Christ, and her work now as the Director of Events at the International Cultic Studies Association. Ashlen also discusses her own research and her studies with the University of Salford on the psychology of coercive control. Such an interesting discussion. Why not become a patron for just £1 ($1:50)  https://www.patreon.com/whatshouldithinkabout/posts   Ashlen's recent presentation can be found here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q09fB4YGIlw&t=1145s

19 Mars 20221h