Newsletter - Staying Sane: Fighting Conspiracy Theories from New Zealand to Washington, DC
How can we help ourselves and our loved ones?
Hello friends,
A significant new interview has just been released: my talk with former Republican congressman Denver Riggleman on his new podcast, The Coalition of the Sane. I’m sure you’ll want to listen in.
My guest on this week’s Influence Continuum podcast is journalist Anke Richter, author of Cult Trip: Inside the World of Coercion and Control and founder of Fight Against Conspiracy Theories (FACT) in New Zealand. It’s a fascinating talk about cults, how we view them, and how to help those trapped by them come out. For more on both these stories and last week’s poll results, be sure to scroll down below!
As many of you know, Denver Riggleman, a former Mormon, represented Virginia’s Fifth Congressional District as a Republican from 2019-2020, and he served as a senior technical advisor for the House Select Committee to Investigate the January 6th Attack on the US Capitol. On this podcast, we spoke about Ginni Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, whom I met at a cult survivor support group in the 80s - and was disappointed to see that she is now donating money to another, even more dangerous, cult now.
Anke Richter co-founded FACT (Fight Against Conspiracy Theories) and is organizing the first cult awareness conference in Australia, DECULT. Anke’s bestseller “Cult Trip: Inside the World of Coercion & control” is about her ten-year investigation into sex cults –from tantra yoga to the Human Potential Movement to fundamentalist Christianity. She is a voice against cults, conspiracies, and undue influence in New Zealand and is working to harness efforts worldwide to fight disinformation and radicalization, especially online.
Listen to the podcast, below:
Poll results are in!
Here are the results of the poll:
“The Cult of Donald Trump” garnered the most votes, with “Preventing Cult Involvement” taking a strong second. “Specific Groups” and “Cults in Popular Culture tied for third, and “Human Trafficking” came in fourth. We also had one vote for “Other” on more information about therapists who create false memories in their clients.
Thanks to all who weighed in; this information helps us in creating more quality content for you.
As always, feel free to let us know what you think about these pieces, or what you’d like to see us talk about in the future. Thanks so much!
Foundational Course for Clinicians and Others
This course will help mental health professionals understand cults, brainwashing, thought reform, mind control, and undue influence. It will teach them how people can be programmed into a destructive authoritarian cult and inform them on undue influence and destructive cults. Additionally, they will learn how to recognize patients in need, several approaches that work, and guidelines when working with those affected by destructive cults.