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It happens so often, it’s a cliché. A woman, looking for community, a boost in income, and a way to get out of the house, will be approached by a friend or acquaintance offering a “business opportunity.” Swayed with tales of posh retreats to exotic locations and an easy, fun way to make extra cash, she signs on. She will be love-bombed by dozens of new friends. She will be reassured and comforted when (inevitably) she doesn’t make the sales she thought she would. She will be welcomed into a sisterhood of fellow sales “representatives.”
She will NOT be given accurate information or informed consent.
In this week’s article for our paid subscribers, How MLMs Exploit Women’s Work: leaving an MLM costs women more than money, we’ll be doing a deep dive into how these commercial cults deliberately target women, how they leach money from families, and how the normal, healthy desire for community and connection is exploited to take money from the women at the bottom of the organization - often working-class mothers - and gives it to the already wealthy owners at the top of the pyramid.
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This week’s livestream will take place on Wednesday, September 16th, at 2 pm EDT. With the midterms approaching, we will be discussing Trump’s latest power plays, including his shocking “pledge of allegiance” to HIM, another false promise to pay people $5k to vote GOP (if they win), how AI doesn’t need regulation, and the Supreme Court voting 7-2 against Trump on his attempt to change the rules of mail-in voting for states. I love answering your questions.
Last Friday, we livestreamed in memory of the 25th anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attack. So, this Friday, September 18th, at 2 pm, my guest will be Lance Christie. Lance is a former member turned whistleblower of the authoritarian cult, the Exclusive Brethren, a splinter group of the Plymouth Brethren. They are a billion-dollar authoritarian cult connected to the Cult of Trump and working with neo nazis to interfere with politicians in Australia and probably elsewhere around the world.
If you missed last week’s livestreams, you can see them here:
Rewriting Reality: How the Trump White House is Weaponizing AI Slop
9/11 to Now: How Conspiracy Theorists Took Advantage of a National Tragedy
With all of the bizarre ego trips and cult-leader-like behavior coming from Donald Trump, applauded by his sycophantic staff, the term “cult of Trump” has been gaining traction. Matthew Rozsa of AlterNet has published an article, Trump’s MAGA backers fool themselves to save pride: right-wing research, which quotes me and cites my books, Cult of Trump and Combating Cult Mind Control. The article discusses how Trump supporters are using an ecosystem of biased information to validate their belief in the president.
In this week’s episode of my Cults, Culture & Coercion podcast, Who Gains From The “Inevitability” of AI?, I talk with Oxford professor and AI ethicist Carissa Véliz on how AI prediction is a tool of authoritarian control. We also talked about the importance of privacy and the dangers of digital surveillance that is being pushed on us. She reminds us we are human and we can resist - read a paper book!
Catch the full episode here: Listen on Apple | Spotify | Watch on YouTube
You can also read my accompanying Substack article about our conversation here.
Next week’s episode will feature business Professor William Keep, an expert on MLMs and crypto. We will discuss how financial deception works, why it can be so difficult to recognize from inside, and what happens when businesses gain influence over the institutions meant to protect us.
Remember, check with legitimate state election officials that you are registered and request a mail-in ballot if you wish. Be sure that your neighbors and everyone you know is registered to vote and able to do so! We must defeat MAGA in the coming elections!
As always, please let us know what you think about these pieces or what you’d like to see us discuss in the future. Thanks so much!
Dr. Hasan: I have long admired your work and the extraordinary contribution you have made to our understanding of cults and undue influence. Thank you for drawing attention to the particular ways MLMs recruit and retain women in this article. My doctoral research examined cult recruitment rhetoric targeting women, and from that work I developed the TRAP Framework: Transfer Blame, Require Perfection, Amplify Labor, and Police Emotion. I would be honored if you visited my Substack, The Algorithm Ate My Rhetoric, where I’m sharing this work: aiatemyrhetoric.substack.com.