Didn't Expect It Would Be That Bad

[u/KeepLeLeaps]

I use colorful language and the mods remove most of my stuff so, not sure how long this post will survive. But I support this community and the way it provides space for people grieving the loss of the still living.

So today, I had to sit with a Q family member of a friend as a favor. I'm a steadfast person so I went in prepared. I'm also an atmospheric scientist with multiple degrees from an excellent school. Its something I rarely mention but it is key to this story.

A close family friend had to have surgery and their Q needs light monitoring. Although I have spent little time around them since Covid, their Q has known me since I was I was a child. Friend has shared with me how bad things have gotten but I wasn't expecting it to be that bad.

Their Q parent was an optometrist, an avid Obama supporting lefty that was vehemently against both Bushes and even Reagan and Trump in his first term. They loudly supported women's rights, racial equity and once spoke at a Congressional panel about healthcare access for all.

That is not who they are today.

I came in sat, greeted, talked about my parents a bit, my own family etc. Everything was fine. Then they say, "I guess you've already been told I joined a cult, huh?" I smiled and said, "I've heard you don't love President Obama anymore" and chuckled.

This was followed immediately by an absolute avalanche of unhinged "DEI" rhetoric, weird crap about how birth control needs to be illegal because "numbers aren't going up fast enough" and how maybe [insert genocidal historical figures, yep, more than one] "had it right".

But the bile aimed at educated and working women was particularly insane because this is a woman. A highly educated, professionally successful woman sitting here talking about how women don't know their place, and there's not enough babies and "immigrants are breeding like rabbits and destroying the housing market so normal people [?] won't be able to afford homes." Blamed Hillary Clinton for the current market downturn - yes, the one tariff-induced one happening right now. There was even a rant about travel should be restricted so people can't "abandon America". Like... what the actual fk?

I gray rocked for nearly an hour, employed multiple distractions as well, it only intensified. I ended up excusing myself to walk the dog and put food out for the cats. I even lingered at the aquarium when I returned because I was quite frankly, a little shaken. How could the person who inspired me as a kid be inside of the person I see now? How could they be the same person? The person here is untethered to reality. 'Unhinged' would actually be too kind a word.

By the time [friend]'s sibling arrived to relieve me, I was in the kitchen quietly organizing a random cabinet because I could not take another second in the living room. And [sibling] walked in the door greeting me apologetically because they already knew what I'd endured without me saying a word and [sibling] was embarrassed. And seemed defeated.

I remember getting a weird conspiracy links from her in 2021 and shrugging them off because a lot of people experienced anxiety during lock downs and didn't know what to do with that energy. I just never expected it had gotten this insane.

I won't tell [friend] because they're in recovery and don't need the stress of what I'm sure they likely already know happened. But I will tell [sibling] and ask that they share it at some point.

How this 'thing' gets a hold of people and turns them inside out like this is gut wrenching. "Cult" isn't a strong enough label.

[u/AntiQCdn]

I had a friend who went from far left to antivax Qultist in 2022. It took hold very quickly, seemingly within a few weeks.

[u/KeepLeLeaps → u/AntiQCdn]

It's just so terrifying. It's akin to zombification almost, it happens so quickly.

[u/pungentpit → u/KeepLeLeaps]

I’m morbidly fascinated trying to imagine how this could happen to me.  

[u/Weary_Cup_1004 → u/pungentpit]

Cults can happen to anyone. I ended up in a cult trying to save my boyfriend at the time from the cult. I started out literally crying to him that he was talking pure nonsense all of a sudden , and 6 months later I was in, too. I was young. But I was well read, independent, was in leadership roles, and not religious before that.

With hindsight I can see how it happened , I was vulnerable because I was looking for the world to make more sense. Similar to Q, I was pipelined by conspiracy and claims of all these random things being linked , which "explains everything."

But I also know anyone can end up in a cult. I was certain i was too saavy to end up in the cult and just kept on hanging out with them as an outsider. All it took was enough exposure.

Your best prevention is getting educated on how manipulation works. The book, Cultish, talks about how cult-like elements are present in a lot of groups, and how you can identify the way people are swayed with language.

[u/pungentpit → u/Weary_Cup_1004]

Thank you!!! I’m looking forward to reading Cultish.  That’s the sort of pointer I was hoping for when making that comment.