A look at group psychosis, mass sociogenic illness, and the folie a plusiers with the eminent social psychiatrist Dr Steven Moffic. How groups can come to share absurd fantasies that can lead to atrocities. Recorded on 9/11 and especially relevant to the events of that day in 2001. Truth and Reconciliation and how music can help to integrate disparate communities.

links:

The Tulip Craze: 
A Smithsonian article
and an entertaining video series

Braver Angels

The Heroic Imagination project 

Coltrane Resolution

Spike's Note: I just couldn't bring myself to put in the photo I found of Louis Armstrong advertising the laxative mentioned. If you really want to see it, then search "Louis Armstrong Swiss Kriss Laxative" and you'll find it soon enough. And now *your* search history has that in it. You're welcome.

when groups go crazy - with Dr Steven Moffic

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jon atack, along with his son sam, present a series of educational podcasts on how to spot, avoid, and overcome unethical manipulation of all kinds - from destructive cults and abusive relationships, to advertising, groupthink, bullying and more. join us in our hope to create a world where people are taught from infancy to stand up for their rights, look deeper into what they're being told, and to question everything!

from time to time we will also be sharing "lighter" fare - podcasts on art, music, and literature, featuring jon's younger son dan on guitar, sam's amazing paper sculpture.

Education

Training

Language Courses

Higher Education

K-12

Educational Technology

Hoyt and Jon discuss what role a family can have in helping their loved one recover from cult involvement.

The book Jon is reading on the American Post Civil-War Reconstruction: David Blight's Race and Reunion

a downloadable infographic of Jon's questions to ask a loved one in an authoritarian group

more on Steven Hassan's Strategic Interactive Approach

cult recovery and family support - with Hoyt Richards

Jeremy seeks fundamental explanations for life and motivation. He invents a new word a day to better describe his insights. He calls himself a 'psychoproctologist' because he studies the psychology of a-holes (i.e. humans). Jeremy has a different, fascinating, and entirely non pompous view of the world. He was also the inventor of the Sherman Effect, which is the propensity to name things after ourselves.

Links:

Jeremy's linktree

audio sample of Jeremy's book

A choice selection of Jeremy's videos:
 Overcoming Science's Addiction to Unexplained Explanations

Always Feel Like a Winner Using These 6 Tricks! (cultic behavior)

Explaining The Trump Brand: The Clothes have no Emperor

King Gama's aria "If you give me your attention" in Gilbert & Sullivan's "Princess Ida

strategic gullibility and psychoproctology with Jeremy Sherman

Shawn describes himself as a sociopath. Using the renowned expert Dr Robert Hare's work, we explore the different forms of human predation that are often confused with one another. Shawn talks about a recent experience in Hawaii that has changed his view of the world.

Randy Newman's "Guilty" 

Note from Spike: If you haven't read the 1954 novel "The Bad Seed" by William March (not to be confused with the children's book (!) of the same name), or seen the 1956 movie, also of the same title, consider me grabbing your lapels and shouting: "You NEED to read the book/ see the movie NOW!!!"

psychopath, sociopath or anti-social personality? with Shawn McCraney

Gillie Jenkinson talks about her time in a Bible-based cult, her escape, her doctoral studies, and her book, which is a step-by-step guide to recovery. Gillie has been counselling former members for many years and has a practice in Hope Valley outside Sheffield in England.

Gillie's Hope Valley counselling

Spike's note: The British call them "milk teeth," Americans call them "baby teeth," but the correct, dentistry term is "deciduous teeth." You're welcome.

Walking free from the trauma of coercive cultic and spiritual abuse with Gillie Jenkinson, PhD

Joe and Jon discuss Annie Dawid's fascinating novel about Jim Jones and the Jonestown massacre. With insights into the Jones cult and its relationship to Father Divine, and other cult-related literature.
Links:
Joe's review of Paradise Undone
 Alan Scheflin's Social Influence Model
The real story behind Bird Man of Alcatraz
The Kanugu Cult Massacre (Movement for the Restoration of the Ten Commandments of God)
The Innocence Project
10cc 2nd sitting for the last supper 
SPIKE'S NOTE: YES, I have made Jon aware that Kool-Aid is still available (even in remote, exotic locations like Nottinghamshire) and is as popular as ever; I have a container of their pink lemonade gathering dust in my pantry even as I type this. I spent a reasonable hour or so doing a deep dive into flavored sugar water lore, but I could find absolutely no evidence that Kool-Aid suffered any dip in popularity due to the tragedy in Guyana. That said, if anyone can find any evidence to the contrary, please let me know. The only reason I can think of that Jon and Joe are unaware of this fact is because they live healthy lives unhindered by junk food products, whereas I have never met a Twinkie I didn't love.

when groups go crazy - with Dr Steven Moffic

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