Newsletter: The Cult Tactic In Your Local Library

How Information Control Shapes Everything From Book Bans to Political Movements

This week’s livestream will take place on Wednesday, Oct. 29th from 2:00-3:00 p.m. EDT. Join us with your questions! You can see last week’s recording here if you missed it.

I would like to share with you something concerning what is happening right NOW.

Public librarians are facing death threats for refusing to remove books from the children’s section because of accusations that they are shelving “obscene” materials. These books are not pornography. These are not dangerous material. These are books about families that look different from the protesters’ families. Books that tell the truth about American history.

Yet crowds outside libraries are screaming, threatening staff members, and filing lawsuits.

This is not a new tactic. This is the “I” in the BITE Model^© for Information Control.

And if you’ve been in a destructive cult group, or if you’re watching a loved one fall deeper into one, you already know exactly what I’m talking about.

Control the information, and you control the person.

This week, I’m seeing this pattern everywhere. In libraries, in political movements, in the cults making headlines. So I want to connect the dots for you, because understanding how information control works is the first step to resisting it.

Why Information Control Matters to YOU

If you’re a cult survivor, you remember the cult rules about information:

• Don’t read “apostate” material

• Don’t Google the leader’s name + controversy

• Don’t talk to former members

• Don’t consume “outside” media

• Only trust “approved” sources

If you have a loved one in MAGA or another high-control cult, you’re seeing it now from your loved ones.

• “Don’t trust mainstream media.”

• “Do your own research” (but only on approved sites)

• “Everyone else is lying.”

• Instant dismissal of contradictory information as “fake news”

If you’re a mental health professional, you’re encountering clients who…

• Can’t distinguish reliable sources from propaganda

• Have been taught that questioning equals betrayal

• Feel paralyzed when faced with conflicting information

• Experience cognitive dissonance, but lack the tools to process it

This is why I wrote about book bans in my latest Psychology Today article, “How Book Bans Control Information and Why They Backfire.”

I analyze the new documentary The Librarians, where public librarians have become first responders in the fight for democracy and the First Amendment. They’re fighting information control, the same tactic every authoritarian movement uses.

Children have the right to learn about complex topics in a safe and educational environment. When we restrict information, we’re priming them for authoritarian control later in life.

Read the full Psychology Today article here

Information Control is the Key

If you’re trying to help someone recognize information control patterns, or if you’re recovering from them yourself, these guides remain relevant to you. Those who are paid subscribers to my Substack can read more about this subject in these blog posts:

The Trump Regime is Canceling Higher Education for Supposedly Being Too ‘Woke’

I break down the systematic dismantling of higher education institutions and what this means for:

• Information access across society

• Critical thinking skills in the next generation

• Academic freedom and research independence

• Long-term authoritarian control strategies

Cancel Culture is Bad for Everyone

A nuanced look at how BOTH the right and left use information restriction tactics, and why it backfires. This includes:

• Why “canceling” often strengthens the canceled person’s influence

• How to distinguish legitimate accountability from authoritarian control

• The psychological impact of public shaming vs. private correction

• Strategies for having productive conversations instead of shutdowns

These are practical guides for understanding the information control happening all around us.

If you’re a paid subscriber, you can access both articles now!

Not a paid subscriber yet? Join hundreds of others in our recovery community!

Podcast This Week: “Leaving the Truman Show of Scientology” with Tory Christman

This week on Cults, Culture & Coercion, I spoke with Tory “Magoo” Christman, who survived 30 years in Scientology, having reached OT7 (nearly the highest level!).

Scientology is a MASTER of “Information Control.” They:

• Monitor all media consumption

• Ban the internet for members

• Declare anyone who spreads “entheta” (negative information) as suppressive

• Track every book, every conversation, every thought

Tory describes what it was like living in a Truman Show scenario, where you think you’re free, but every piece of information you receive is filtered, curated, and controlled.

If you’re trying to understand how your loved one can be “smart” yet believe obviously false things, this episode explains it.

Listen on Apple | Spotify | Watch on YouTube

Or read the full blog post version: Leaving the Truman Show of Scientology

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In the News This Week: LA Times Investigation

The LA Times published an investigation into “His Way Spirit Led Assemblies,” a Southern California cult that:

• Controlled members’ finances

• Isolated families from outside contact

• Used “spiritual authority” to manipulate major life decisions

• Covered up abuse allegations

Sometimes families feel crazy for suspecting their loved one’s “church” is actually a cult. You’re not crazy. Journalists are investigating these groups. Experts are speaking out. Your instincts are right.

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Understanding Modern Information Control

Cults are becoming increasingly adept at information control than ever before.

Last Thursday’s livestream (watch the replay here) featured a conversation with Jim Bennett and Ian Wilks, hosts of “Inside Out with Jim Bennett and Ian Wilks,” where we unpacked a wealth of helpful information about the Mormon Church.

Check out our livestream and discover how the LDS Church uses “soft power” through social media:

• Training Mormon influencers in “spiritual” content creation

• Using aspirational lifestyle content to recruit (happy families, clean living, community)

• Creating a curated information ecosystem where questioning is invisible

• Building an army of everyday believers who spread the message “authentically”

This is information control for the Instagram age.

The result? Young people scrolling TikTok see endless “perfect Mormon families” and “ex-Mormon regret stories”.

If your teen is suddenly interested in Mormonism after following certain influencers, this conversation will help you understand what’s happening.

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Fourth-Generation Psychological Warfare

My interview with James Scaminaci III, PhD, is scheduled to be published next week. You won’t want to miss this one, as Scaminaci, a former Naval intelligence officer and expert on Russian psychological warfare, will be speaking on how people in the United States are increasingly:

• Facing a “crisis of legitimacy”

• Distrust all institutions

• Believe “both sides” are equally corrupt

• Give up on democracy entirely

• Accept authoritarian “solutions”

Paid subscribers will get the complete analysis of:

• How to identify psychological warfare tactics in real time

• What foreign adversaries want you to believe (and why)

• How to maintain critical thinking in an information war

• Protecting your family from manipulation

Join Our Community Fighting Information Control

This is what you get as a paid subscriber:

• Analysis of authoritarian political tactics as they happen

• Practical guides that remain relevant for years

• Monthly Q&A access to ask about your specific situation

• Community of hundreds of survivors, family members, and professionals

• Tools and frameworks you can use immediately

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What You Can Do This Week

1. Read one piece of information you’d normally avoid

• If you’re liberal, read a conservative source

• If you’re conservative, read a liberal source

• Practice tolerating cognitive dissonance

2. Ask someone: “Where did you hear that?”

• Not accusatory! Be genuinely curious about their opinion

• Helps both of you evaluate sources

• Opens dialogue about information literacy

3. Share this newsletter with one person

• Librarians

• Teachers

• Parents with teens

• Anyone dealing with a conspiracy-minded family

Whether it’s book bans in libraries, information bubbles in political movements, or controlled media in recognized cults, it’s all the same tactic with the same goal. Authoritarians want to control access to information and control thoughts.

However.. Information control backfires.

Banned books get read more.

Censored information spreads faster.

Silenced voices get louder.

You’re part of this fight just by reading this newsletter, by asking questions, by refusing to accept information restriction.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for thinking critically.

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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!

With the onslaught of Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs, including ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and others, Freedom of Mind® has registered itself as a trademark and has a trade-mark for BITE Model of Authoritarian Control™, a copyright for The BITE Model^© and Influence Continuum^©.