This week, we’re diving deep into the mind games with Harvard professor and author Rebecca Lemov, because if you’ve ever wondered whether brainwashing is real, the answer is a very unsettling yes.

In Part 1 of our convo, we’re cracking open the origins of brainwashing—from communist re-education camps to the electric shock labs of the Milgram experiment—and asking why we still can’t seem to prove it in court. Rebecca's new book, The Instability of Truth, peels back the layers of mind control and thought reform, including what went down with Patty Hearst, why Stockholm Syndrome isn’t what you think it is, and how emotional trauma becomes the secret sauce in cult programming.

We also get personal. NXIVM, anyone? The parallels between modern-day cults and Maoist “unity-criticism-unity” techniques are downright eerie... and maybe uncomfortably familiar.

From groupthink to gaslighting to re-grounding in a new belief system, this episode might just mess with your head a little (in a good way).

Trigger warning: once you see the matrix, it’s hard to unsee it. Find more about Rebecca Lemov and The Instability of Truth at rebeccalemov.com.

Also… let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS: 

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Amphibian.Media

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Associate producers: Amanda Zaremba and Matt Stroud of Amphibian.Media  

Audio production: Red Caiman Studios

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin