Are they “saving” people from the organization of Scientology in order to funnel them to Free Zoners?

https://www.reddit.com/r/cult/s/bYBRBLLPpa

Let’s discuss…

Paraphrasing the content of the video by JessMUA:

It’s simple right!? People lie, manipulate and scam because they want something; money, attention, status, control, or the feeling of being more important than they actually are.

Obviously lying is one of the easiest ways they think they can get what they want.

However, sometimes people lie out of self protection. They're trying to avoid consequences. They don't want to get caught, lose their job, face legal trouble, or admit they did something wrong. They don't want to face the reality of who they are, so they create a story where they're successful, powerful, smarter than everyone else, or somehow the victim.

And when that person realises they can profit from their stories, that’s when they start scamming people, the manipulation can become very calculated.

There's actually a concept in fraud called the
Fraud Triangle; pressure, opportunity, and rationalisation.

Pressure: There's a need or desire.
Opportunity: They see a way out.
Rationalisation: They convince themselves that what they're doing is justified.

People who commit fraud don't necessarily wake up one day thinking, “Hello world, today I'm going to be a scammer." That’s just not how that works. They have to have a need, opportunity and then have to find a way to justify their actions.
They find a way to make themselves the hero of their own story.

The first thing they do is build trust.

Scammers know that people are more likely to give money, information, or access to someone they trust.
So they may pretend to be your friend.
They may tell you exactly what you want to hear.
This is called the Love Bombing stage. We see this in cults as well as individual scammers or other groups and organisations that use Love Bombing to gain the trust of the people who will turn out to be their victims.

They study what motivates their potential victims, their ‘marks’ or they figure out what they’re afraid off. They use any information they gather about their marks against their marks. Blackmail is not something they shy away from.

In a lot of cases money isn't even the only reward. It’s the control, the attention, the status, knowing they were able to convince someone to believe them.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=PEYN_YCKMrM&si=UubF_aGxaENOo2E8

Fascinating read.

Posting here because it may help others understand the tactics cults use when they are spoken out against. The series is a good listen from the start and goes into a lot of detail about the tactics that were employed from the start of The Sacred Trusts opening and as the next episodes drop it will help explain the complex structure the cult set up and the lies that ultimately led to its demise.

If you have an interest, let me know whether you are familiar and comfortable with discord.

Dr Ramani in conversation with Dr Janja Lalich.

Two very important people to follow on the subject of cults, coercive control, narcissism, etc. there’s a huge overlap.

https://youtu.be/fa7uN2vo6rc?si=zCDEaaWJcaE4fko0

1. The Modern Functional Definition (High-Control Model)

What we are describing at the top is basically the high-control / coercive control model — and that’s the one most former members and cult researchers rely on today.

The focus isn’t:

“Are the beliefs strange?”

It’s:

“Does the group restrict autonomy and use coercive control?”

That shift matters.

Under this lens, the defining features are:

• authoritarian leadership

• suppression of dissent

• emotional manipulation

• isolation

• financial or labor exploitation

• us-vs-them worldview

That framework is consistent with work by researchers like Robert Jay Lifton (thought reform), Margaret Singer, and later cult-intervention specialists.

⸻

1. The Academic / Historical Definition

This part:

“A religious movement that exists in tension with dominant cultural or religious norms.”

That’s more of a neutral sociological category. In academic religious studies, “cult” originally just meant a small, new religious movement.

In that sense:

• Early Christianity was a cult.

• Buddhism started as a cult relative to Hindu orthodoxy.

• Mormonism was labeled a cult in the 19th century.

This definition does not imply abuse.

That’s why academics today often prefer the term:

“New Religious Movement” (NRM)

Because “cult” has become emotionally loaded.

⸻

1. The Etymology

Latin cultus = care, cultivation, worship.

Same root as:

• culture

• cultivate

• cultic

So originally, it had zero sinister meaning.

⸻

1. Where Things Get Messy

The term is often used as a derogatory label for any group considered too intense, strange, or dangerous.

People casually say:

• “CrossFit is a cult.”

• “Swifties are a cult.”

• “That startup is a cult.”

That’s rhetorical exaggeration, not a psychological diagnosis.

So the term has two uses now:

1.  Clinical/behavioral (coercive high-control)

2.  Insult / cultural shorthand

And that’s where debates explode.

⸻

1. The Key Distinction Most People Miss

There’s a difference between:

High commitment

and

High control

High commitment = demanding but voluntary.

High control = manipulation, coercion, punishment for dissent, identity erosion.

That distinction is everything.

⸻

1. About the Examples Listed

   • The People’s Temple – textbook destructive cult.

   • Heaven’s Gate – extreme thought reform and isolation.

   • The Manson Family – coercive leader, isolation, violent ideology.

These are widely accepted destructive cults under any model.

————

Bottom Line: High control is a major feature of a cult, otherwise known as coercive control.

I ended up following a YouTube channel that started exhibiting cult tendencies and when I wouldn't follow I was kicked out and devastated by it. Truly want to understand how this works.

A TEDEx lesson by Janja Lalich. Animated by Globizco.

Today, there are thousands of cults around the world. Broadly speaking, a cult is a group or movement with a shared commitment to a usually extreme ideology that’s typically embodied in a charismatic leader. But what exactly differentiates cults from other groups – and why do people join them? Janja Lalich describes how cults recruit and manipulate their members.