One of the most important things I've learned from personal experience:
If you want to save people from a cult, you don't accuse them of the same crimes as the cult leaders.
You first understand how they are being victimized, you treat them as people, you connect with their humanity, and then and only then can you have any hope of saving them from the cult.
Remember, they have been told by people they trust YOU are the enemy. If you go in with guns blazing, you're just proving the point.
@quinnsentialOne Depends on what the cult is doing. I'm not trying to befriend them. I just want to be able to mark myself safe from them.
If the cult believes the world is flat they're just stupid, not a danger.
If the cult believes that any election that doesn't result in them winning is fraudulent and the solution is armed insurrection and murdering my friends. We have a problem.
@carver_hudson If you can't distinguish between the leaders and the victims of a dangerous cult, and can't save those people from it, you will have an even bigger problem because the cult will continue to grow in size.
The masses give them power because they take power from the masses.
We need to give the power back to the masses so they don't feel powerless enough to be preyed on.