A bit ago, I started seeing this woman with a (please don't hate me) shrill voice and glasses. She calls herself the "Knitting Cult Lady," and she does exactly that—knit while talking about cults. I've seen several videos of hers, and I even went so far back to find an old talk she gave about growing up in the Children of God and later studying cults academically.
While I don't deny this woman's personal experience and the dedication she had to studying how cults work, there's a very noticeable salesman streak that I cannot jive with. In nearly every single video, she is holding up her book(s), referring to her book, etc., pitching to the audience. Rather than meaningfully expanding on what she has already written, providing more depth and analysis, she repeats what she has already written, sometimes reading from the book(s) directly. Additionally, she has begun advertising a podcast, calling herself something to the effect of a "cult watch-woman."
My fear is that she is creating her own ecosystem, safe from outside tainting from the naysayers and critics. She has gathered her following, she has her trusted audience, and now she will make sure that they are fed a constant stream of her content and ideas, which are often presented in a harsh (and you might say paranoid) manner. This is not unlike what Rush Limbaugh and company did for radio audiences in its heyday. It is also not unlike a digital cult, itself.
As always, I'm open to criticism, but these are just my concerns based off what I have, myself, observed. I can't say I fully trust this "scholar of cults," and I wanted to see if anyone else had the same impression. (I also wasn't exactly sure where else to post this, sorry.)
by Express_Hedgehog2265
2 Comments
I mean I don’t know who you’re talking about but it makes sense. There are grifters all over the place trying to sell books and courses and everything else
Redditor discovers capitalism, more at 11.