This is something I needed to share. It is very thought-provoking and explores some questions we need to ask ourselves.
Just over 80 years after the Holocaust, we are looking at rising fascism worldwide. Did we not learn the lessons humanity needed to learn? Social psychology has taught us much-needed knowledge about how the mind works and how good people can be deceived and programmed into a pseudo self. I learned firsthand 50 years ago how my mind could be taken over, and I could be involved with destroying democracy.
This week’s Substack article, From Creativity to Catastrophe: How Societies Shape the Human Mind, is a special guest post by my father-in-law, Dr. Zvi Bar-Yam. He escaped the Nazis as a child in Poland, got a PhD in physics, and had a distinguished career. As we face dictatorship and disruption, he reflects and encourages us to work together to a common vision that will enable us to survive and live in diversity and freedom.
Matt Stone of the Vanguard News Group has recently posted an op-ed article, Joe Rogan Built a Cult and Called It A Podcast, in which he uses my BITE Model to quantify how comedian and podcaster Joe Rogan has created an unhealthy web of influence around the followers of his podcast - many of them impressionable young men. I wrote to Matt, and he said the editor took out the BITE Model, and despite my email to the editor, I don't believe this was fixed yet.
I will be traveling this week, but my assistant and protege Jim Picariello will be filling in for the Wednesday livestream on September 23rd, at 2 pm EDT. He will be focusing on how Trump’s actions and policies align with my BITE Model.
I will be returning for the Friday Livestream on September 25th, from 2-3 pm EDT. My guest, former Jehovah’s Witness elder Isaac Carmignani, will discuss the radical change in the cult’s blood transfusion policy. I wrote a blog post about Éloïse Dupuis, a 27-year-old Canadian JW woman who died in childbirth because she refused the necessary transfusion. Bring your questions and comments!
This week’s episode of my Cults, Culture & Coercion podcast, Selling Financial Freedom, features Dr. William Keep, who has spent decades examining the business practices behind multi-level marketing (MLMs), as well as other varieties of commercial cults, including labor trafficking and cryptocurrency. We talked about what drives people into these groups and the grim financial realities of our current economy that have created fertile ground for these types of exploitative groups to thrive.
Catch the full episode here: Listen on Apple | Spotify | Watch on YouTube
You can also read my accompanying Substack article about our conversation here.
Today, MLMs were in the news: FTC Takes Historic Action Against Multilevel Marketing Operator Amway for Unfair and Deceptive Business Practices
And for more on MLMs, remember to check out last week’s article for paid subscribers, How MLMs Exploit Women’s Work.
Next week’s podcast episode will feature filmmaker Friedrich “Fritz” Moser; we will be talking about his documentary, How to Build a Truth Engine (produced by George Clooney), which unpacks why people are vulnerable to disinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories and what we can do to fight back. There are few topics more important than how to navigate the digital disinformation/ misinformation that is proliferating worldwide.
And if you’re not already a paid subscriber, please consider becoming one: when you upgrade to a paid subscription, you directly support my ongoing work, as well as receive complete access to my entire archive of articles, comprehensive guides, and exclusive interviews, such as:
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!
