(Archive) Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism with Amanda Montell

Welcome to an archive episode!Check out our new website: morbidlycuriousbookclub.comEarly and ad-free for Patreon members: https://www.patreon.com/cw/TheMorbidlyCuriousBookClubIn 2024, I launched this podcast to delve deeper into our book club's nonfiction selections by engaging directly with the authors, the experts behind these compelling works. However, the book club has been around since 2021...so there are some 'archive' picks that we need to discuss!In January of 2022, we read CULTISH: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell a,nd it has become a staple in the MCBC, our Bible...if you will.About the book: What makes “cults” so intriguing and frightening? What makes them powerful? The reason why so many of us binge Manson documentaries by the dozen and fall down rabbit holes researching suburban moms gone QAnon is because we’re looking for a satisfying explanation for what causes people to join—and more importantly, stay in—extreme groups. We secretly want to know: could it happen to me? Amanda Montell’s argument is that, on some level, it already has . . .Our culture tends to provide pretty flimsy answers to questions of cult influence, mostly having to do with vague talk of “brainwashing.” But the true answer has nothing to do with freaky mind-control wizardry or Kool-Aid. In Cultish, Montell argues that the key to manufacturing intense ideology, community, and us/them attitudes all comes down to language. In both positive ways and shadowy ones, cultish language is something we hear—and are influenced by—every single day. Through juicy storytelling and cutting original research, Montell exposes the verbal elements that make a wide spectrum of communities “cultish,” revealing how they affect followers of groups as notorious as Heaven’s Gate, but also how they pervade our modern start-ups, Peloton leaderboards, and Instagram feeds. Incisive and darkly funny, this enrapturing take on the curious social science of power and belief will make you hear the fanatical language of “cultish” everywhere.About Amanda: Her nonfiction books include Wordslut and the New York Times bestsellers Cultish and The Age of Magical Overthinking. Translated into over fifteen languages, Amanda’s books have been praised by publications including The Atlantic, The Economist, and NPR and spotlit as monthly selections by Barnes & Noble and the Dylan Mulvaney Book Club. Amanda’s podcasts Sounds Like A Cult and Magical Overthinkers have been downloaded over 40 million times and praised by The New York Times, Vulture, and Esquire. Sounds Like A Cult won the 2023 iHeart Radio Award for Best Emerging Podcast.Amanda’s writing has been published in The New York Times, The Guardian, and Harper’s Bazaar, among others. Speaking about her work, Amanda has appeared in documentaries including Netflix’s “How to Become A Cult Leader” and HBO’s “Breath of Fire.” She holds a degree in linguistics from NYU and lives in Southern California, where she is at work on her debut novel, Where to Put Your Tongue (Simon & Schuster, 2028).Find Amanda on Instagram @amanda_montell.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy