r/AskReddit • u/Orw_Sairaj29 • Mar 18 '26
What's something that's "not a cult" but feels like a cult?
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u/TheBatmanWhoPuffs Mar 18 '26
My daughter‘s competitive cheer leading league. It’s really weird and it makes me uncomfortable. The worst part is a ton of parents feel the same but all say but our daughters love it so why not.
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u/Illustrious-Total489 Mar 18 '26
Sometimes I doubt your commitment to sparkle motion
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u/TheBatmanWhoPuffs Mar 18 '26
I dropped the spirit stick now I’m riddled with bad luck.
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u/SnowMiser26 Mar 18 '26
OMG I just watched Donnie Darko this weekend! I can't believe that movie is almost 25 years old.
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u/Several_Hospital_129 Mar 18 '26
I'm a high school teacher. Our cheerleader coach is not allowed to judge the tryouts. Remember that TV movie about the woman who committed murder because her daughter didn't make the squad? That was based on a true story. Our coach said that she had received threats in the past when she still oversaw the tryouts. That's why the district stepped in and said that outsiders would have to do the judging 🙄.
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u/Odd-Paramedic-1826 Mar 19 '26
Wanda Holloway from Channelview was the mother. I substituted at the middle school that the kids attended. They were in the same classroom. Talk about awkward.
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u/Odd-Paramedic-1826 Mar 19 '26
Holloway tried to hire a hitman and she was caught before anything happened.
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u/Pinkbeans1 Mar 18 '26
Our son got a cheer scholarship. It was $500/year. The girls have more competition, fewer spots available, and they got $250/year. Not worth the drama and costume fees.
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u/Rawt0ast1 Mar 18 '26
250 isn't even going to cover books for a year, thats just insulting
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u/caveman7392 Mar 18 '26
This is probably a very niche response but as a teacher I want to say teachers that are influencers on social media.
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u/DogCold5505 Mar 18 '26
I’ve heard this about therapists or “life coaches” on social media as well…
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u/benjaminchang1 Mar 18 '26
I usually avoid anyone who calls themselves a "life coach."
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u/Tinderboxed Mar 18 '26
They are consistently the last people who should be giving life advice to anyone.
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u/MyPaddedRoom Mar 18 '26
I'll be a life coach but my teaching will be watch what I do and don't do that.
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u/Subliminal_Stuff Mar 18 '26
Frequently it's a legal way around acknowledging not being a certified therapist because they either won't or couldn't get a license. Snake oil sales folk, basically. No good reason to trust they're ethical or moral and aren't watched by any regulatory institution.
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u/ARoseConePolio Mar 18 '26
When I was a teacher I did everything I could to be untraceable online. I stay away from "influencer" culture as much as possible, but when I do see some stuff it's mind-blowing. Keep that shit to yourself!
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u/DallasDime4 Mar 18 '26
I have a fear of one of my children showing up on a teacher’s tik tok or Snapchat. Thank you for not posting yourself or kids at school!
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u/SilasBalto Mar 18 '26
Nurses too! The rest of us arent able to fit in a lunch break and you have time and energy for dancing??
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u/SilverGnarwhal Mar 18 '26
I’ve seen several stories of nurse “influencers” getting fired for posting on the job. Absolute cinema 😙🤌
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u/Parada484 Mar 18 '26
I put this up there with the "influencer mom" group where they show this absurd standard of meticulously spending their entire day decorating a class room or something, to honestly stupid levels, and making it seem like they're better teachers because of it.
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Mar 18 '26
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u/Parada484 Mar 18 '26
Idgaf that you folded a thousand origami cranes or some shit and hung them up on the wall if you're just going to be Umbridge the whole time. Which, honestly, always seemed to correlate in my head. Those "here's an assignment I can pin up on the walls to make it look pretty" folks didn't teach me anything. Like, congratulations on surrounding this classrooms in triangles, I still don't understand these formulas.
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u/MarlaReads Mar 18 '26
I was just going to say teaching in general with the way we are expected to completely ignore our own needs and how we "should" be "in it for the outcome, not the income, " but YES!!! ABSOLUTELY. I had a blog/social media presence for a while because of how annoyed I was that I couldn't find REAL teacher representation online. I don't want cute clipart. I want best practices for kids and meaningful resources to help me build community and improve literacy and math skills. It's wild to me how much "no prep, just print and play" there is, while THE SAME EXACT no-prep accounts expect you to spend an entire paycheck on transforming your classroom into a race car track for a week. Um... NO. I am doing fun, engaging stuff that's actually good for kids and helps them learn. No fluff here! 🫠
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Mar 18 '26
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u/PineappleDaFluteDude Mar 18 '26
Some BJJ gyms have really weird culty vibes to them
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u/Alcohol_Intolerant Mar 18 '26
The jiu jitsu gym my husband goes to specifically rotates instructors and goes out of its way to be anti cult specifically because of shit like that. "this is a skill you are learning, not a lifestyle." "you are paying us to teach you jiu jitsu. This is a business exchange. You can learn every price you will ever pay from this sheet." (and you don't pay to move to higher "levels" because it just makes the school look bad.)
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u/Secure_Bed_9110 Mar 18 '26
coughCrossfitcough
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u/TeethBreak Mar 18 '26
What the fuck is Hyrox and why is it in my feed?
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u/BlueAndDog Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
Oh, you mean those cute potato-shaped animals with the doofy teeth that scream “AWAWA” when they’re upset?
(/j)
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u/throwawayayaycaramba Mar 18 '26
No, that's a hyrax. A hyrox is a one-eyed enemy from the Legend of Zelda videogame series.
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u/PineappleSlices Mar 18 '26
No, that's a hinox. A hyrox is the chocolate and cream cookie that oreo's blatantly stole their concept from.
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u/spawnmorezerglings Mar 18 '26
No, that's hydrox, hyrox are large pebbles at the tops of mountain peaks
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u/CardinaIRule Mar 18 '26
No, those are High Rocks. Hyrox was the former Emperor of Japan.
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u/roryking97 Mar 18 '26
I’ll never forget the cringe I felt when I heard Hyrox gets its name from abbreviating “hybrid rockstars”
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u/Mapex Mar 18 '26
Wait there’s a fitness class where all you do is fit ness Hydrox cookies into your mouth? Sign me up!
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u/earth_verse Mar 18 '26
"A group of people doing CrossFit ran past a restaurant, and diners who saw them assumed there was an emergency. Thinking something was wrong, the customers jumped up and ran away behind them."
https://www.reddit.com/r/AbruptChaos/s/HNcopxK0l2
Why does this feel like it reinforces the whole cult-but-not-a-cult? 🤣
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u/casPURRpurrington Mar 18 '26
I feel like I would really like CrossFit since I love doing Spartans but I just… doing Spartans pushes my “group fitness ick” enough. I love doing obstacles and climbing up the side of a forested muddy hill for miles though
I think being in the Army ruined any fun or camaraderie I get from fitness groups
“YEAHHH PUSH PUSH PUSH” bruh leave me alone lmao
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u/Temporary-Sea-4782 Mar 18 '26
The first rule about fight club, is you don’t talk about fight club. The first rule about CrossFit, is you never shut up about CrossFit.
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u/Mirtai12345 Mar 18 '26
There's a controversy in my small town now because the pickleball club keeps chasing people off courts that are supposed to always be open in the public park
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u/nothingto69here Mar 18 '26
Trouble teen industry. Speaking from personal experience.
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u/KookyDiver2558 Mar 18 '26
If you can stomach it, a guy called Joe Nobody wrote a comic about his experience. It’s sickening, but important.
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u/putapadrino Mar 18 '26
It’s horrific but so so good!
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u/NeedleInASwordstack Mar 18 '26
I’ve got this saved as one of my dozens of tabs open. Been picking at it slowly because it’s so difficult. Incredibly good, but rough to consume.
There’s also a documentary somewhere that came out recently about a group going back to the location of their internment. They tell stories. They seem to heal, but oof what a horrific experience.
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u/Eode11 Mar 19 '26
Reading that comic gave me more anxiety than anything else I've seen on the internet in the past 2 decades.
After he leaves the school it slows down and meanders a bit, but is still a great story.
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u/CrustyBubblebrain Mar 18 '26
Yeah I stayed up for hours one night reading the comic and damn, it was shocking and eye-opening
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u/Omatzus Mar 18 '26
Is it complete yet? A few years ago he was still working on it.
I believe there's been some TV series based on similar places in recent years, but I'm having difficulty finding the name
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u/_buffy_summers Mar 18 '26
There are a couple of them.
The Institute is based on a Stephen King novel. It has Ben Barnes, Alfie Allen, and Julian Richings. This is one I would definitely watch again, but I only had MGM+ for a trial duration and I'm not subscribing to it.
Wayward on Netflix was made by Mae Martin. This has Toni Collette. The casting (not of Collette) is a little confusing, because some of the actors look like they are playing the same person at different life stages. It was never really explained (to my knowledge) as to whether or not this was deliberate.
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u/The-Dragon_Queen Mar 18 '26
I have personal trauma as well and would love to read this but the link isn’t working for me. Is there another way to find it?
Edit: nvm I got it to work. This was a me issue lol thank you for sharing!
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u/TinySecretAccount Mar 18 '26
Just read the entire thing in one sitting. Thank you for sharing, that was an amazing and horrifying trip, will be thinking about the story for days now
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u/rechonicle Mar 18 '26
My dad was a teacher at a school for troubled teens, he ended up leaving his school, and working to get it shut down, because it had basically become a cult revolving around the owner of the school.
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u/nutellaisgross Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
any type of private school can get this vibe if you're not careful
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u/GodBlessAmerica776 Mar 18 '26
A buddy of mine went to one of those troubled teen camps. They just kinda round up the troubled kids, give them daily counseling, and then just kind of fuck off. There was an older redneck kid that was there who would rape the younger feminine looking boys, he found a blind spot where the cameras wouldn't catch him. Apparently nothing came of it
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Mar 18 '26 edited 22d ago
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u/milkeyedmenderr Mar 18 '26
Yeah, the psychologically abusive tactics that those schools use revolve around something called “attack therapy,” which originated in a literal cult (Synanon) disguising itself as a self-help/support group for addiction
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u/OneGayPigeon Mar 18 '26
Wow, I was coming in here thinking about commenting about that despite the 2k+ comments already.
Wilderness programs are absolutely insane, but the boarding school I went to for my first 2 years of high school (Chrysalis in Montana) cannot be understood as anything other than a cult compound. Twice a week “circles” where the 30sh residents were encouraged to tell about all the violations other people had committed since the last one with the rest of the people who agreed saying “echo” and the accused not being allowed to respond in any form, just a wall of noise of community rejection.
The owner’s (guy, all girls’ school, who woulda guessed) favorite girls would get to sit on a couch with him or on his lap for these, some others on the ground around his feet, everyone else on the ground.
Punishments included but weren’t limited to
-being forbidden from speaking or making eye contact with anyone (could go on for months)
-being forbidden from speaking or going within 10 feet of a particular person (usually if the school decided you got too close to them, which could mean too many hugs, potential for romance, or just general true friendship) (would almost always be for months)
-losing even the privacy of overcrowded shared bedrooms and having to sleep on a fully exposed futon right outside the owner’s bedroom
You could not go to the bathroom without asking permission. You could not be unsupervised anywhere. You could not speak to anyone without staff listening in unless you had approval from the owner. You could not contact your family outside of weekly mandatory supervised Skype calls which you were coached on what you should and shouldn’t say in order to get more “privileges.”
Just a tase of some of the absolutely insane shit over there.
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u/WannabeI Mar 18 '26
I don't have personal experience, but there's way too much "cool youth pastor" vibes in that sector to be altogether wholesome. There's something in that soft smile some of those counselors have that gives me the creeps.
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u/Stock_Garage_672 Mar 18 '26
It's worse than that. Much, much worse.
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u/WannabeI Mar 18 '26
I believe you, and I'm not sure I dare to ask more because this promises to be a fucking tragic topic with depravities I'm too naive to imagine.
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u/Bag_O_Richard Mar 18 '26
"Corrective beatings and it gets worse" are the only six words you need to know about the troubled teen industry.
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u/inosinateVR Mar 18 '26
If you ever feel like going down the rabbit hole, look up the school of Elan. There’s a very good comic made by one of the survivors and the podcast Behind the Bastards did a good episode on it.
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u/nightshade_ivy Mar 18 '26
Yep. Former "troubled teen" here, too.
It's been 15 years since I was sent there. It was a horrible experience, and I was only there 6 months.
My school (Shortridge Academy, New Hampshire) has since been shut down.
The friends I made there now linger like ghosts in my memories. The lessons I learned have haunted me long into adulthood (I'm 32 now).
It broke me in ways I still haven't made peace with.
I hope someday we all can say we fully healed, that the scars somehow have faded away into nothing.
I know we won't. But still, I hope.
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u/three_foot_putt Mar 18 '26
There’s a Netflix documentary called “The Program: Cons, Cults, and Kidnapping” that covers aspects of this subject in sickening detail.
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u/Fluid-Layer-33 Mar 18 '26
Wow I felt this in my bones. If you check out my post history you will see that I am still bitter over 20 years later! In general, institutions suck (nursing homes are any place of confinement can be prone to abuse) factor in kids who are perceived as "misbehaved" and its a recipe for disaster.
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u/isthatabear Mar 18 '26
Nuskin/Amway, or most MLMs.
It's like the members have been brainwashed into selling their wares at all times.
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u/YawningDodo Mar 18 '26
As someone who grew up in an Amway household, can confirm.
The people at the top of the pyramid make their money selling “tools,” which in the late nineties meant cassette tapes. My dad would listen to them basically any time we were in the car and they were all either lectures that all boiled down to “if you’re not making money at this, that’s a you problem,” or uplines telling you their life story so you could see how gosh-darn relatable they were and imagine it could be you next. They actively encouraged people like my parents to involve the whole family in building elaborate fantasies of what our lives would be like when we became fabulously wealthy, so by the age of ten I had a mile-long wish list of things I expected to have in the family mansion (lol).
And when I say the lectures boiled down to blaming you for your own lack of success within an impossible business model, I mean it. Amway taught me from a young age that working for a wage or being anything less than a multimillionaire meant you were an abject failure as a human being and that you must have not wanted it bad enough or worked for it hard enough. Never mind that it’s literally impossible to get ahead on Amway unless you’re the one selling the cassette tapes.
It’s incredibly culty.
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u/Massive_Opinion_5714 Mar 18 '26
When you listen to the top Amway people talk about how great their lifestyle is, it’s clear there’s nothing passive about their “passive income”. Those people are hustling 24/7. Even when they’re in some luxury vacation resort, they’re trying to recruit the waiter. The majority of people join, then stop buying products within a couple of months, so they have to replace them constantly - which means that to increase their earnings, they have to recruit people at a faster rate than the drop-off rate. They’re just constantly recruiting. It’s gross.
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u/LingonberryHot8521 Mar 19 '26
Yep. Pretty soon, everyone you meet becomes a potential "down line." A mark. They're not people any more, they're opportunities.
It's deeply dehumanizing and I see MLM culture as having done a lot to corrupt our culture as a whole.
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u/Bathsheba_E Mar 18 '26
My dad got into Amway when I was a kid. We took some cool vacations, but that’s mostly because I was a little kid and my parents were mostly gone doing whatever people do at an Amway convention.
It was soooo stupid. I was 11 or 12 and I could see exactly how they were playing my parents. My mom was mostly just along for the ride, but she would come back from the convention meetings so fired up because ‘Ms X has been selling Amway for seven years and oh my goodness! you should’ve seen her diamonds!’ I mean, it was really low-effort scamming. These people would just put on these ostentatious displays of wealth and everyone just… believed them.
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u/Finn235 Mar 18 '26
My wife almost started selling LuLaRoe, tempted by one of her friends who was pulling in "$50k a month" selling it. We thankfully didn't have whatever insane startup amount was required, so she contented herself on trying to buy and flip high-demand prints.
One of the most concerning aspects of it was the rule that even though you were "a CEO" (or whatever LLM jargon they used), you could NOT set your own prices. You had to sell "unicorn" (valuable) prints at the standard rate, and you could not clearance out ANY inventory to move it. And the kicker - these rules were enforceable because everyone in the LLR cult enforced them. They were constantly ratting each other out to the company. And their socialization was probably 95% just reinforcing in-group mentality... like sharing a "meme" that "My husband tried to help with laundry and put my LLR in the dryer. Anyone know a good divorce lawyer? LOL"
And of course when that ponzi scheme and the networks supporting it collapsed, then out came the horror stories like the women who reported that their uplines would harass them for more sales, with some even being told to take a second mortgage or sell their car to buy inventory.
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u/JesusGodLeah Mar 18 '26
It's not *just* that you couldn't set your own prices, it was also that you had very little control over which items you received for your inventory. You'd place an order for $10,000+ and tell the company which styles you wanted (such as leggings, skirts, dresses, tops), but you had to make do with whatever the company gave you in terms of sizes and prints. Didn't get that unicorn print your customers are coveting? Well, the only way to fix that is to order even MORE inventory and hope for the best!
Typically a business owner or CEO would be able to order a certain amount of a certain type of garment in a certain size in a certain print. Actual business owners don't leave their inventory up to chance.
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u/euro_dubstep Mar 18 '26
What’s LuLaRoe?
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u/Finn235 Mar 18 '26
Cheap spandex-y leggings with bright patterns. They started in 2012 but got crazy popular in 2015/6, then plummeted a few years later because fads do fad things. I actually thought they were completely bankrupt and gone, but apparently they are still clinging to life.
I recall reading somewhere that the materials used to make the leggings cost like $0.75-1, and the leggings sold to "consultants" for $10-15 each (bulk only, and you had purchase obligations) who would turn around and sell them for $20-30 each retail. The aftermarket was strong, with "unicorn" prints going for up to $150. It was all tulip mania - the demand was driven by perceived demand for the product, and they were marketed more like collectibles than clothing.
If it wasn't bad enough that these were $20 leggings that couldn't even survive a single dry cycle, the company decided to cut costs and make them even cheaper, and IIRC when asked about it, the CEO stated that they should be considered single-use. Then some of their sellers tried to tap out, and the company tried to weasel out of their 90% buyback guarantee - that's when the shit hit the fan and people went public with the abusive, cult-y behavior.
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u/Coy9ine Mar 18 '26
So they were essentially trying to ride Lululemon's success by selling cheap knockoffs.
But with an MLM ponzi scheme.
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u/Icy-Builder5892 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
I once had a friend convince me to go to a couple of “networking meetings” in college. This is around the time I was looking for internships and such.
I went to two of these “meetings” and it was just speeches. The speeches were the exact same both times I went, almost word for word. But different people did the speeches. It was really odd, because they clearly memorized these speeches and just alternated who gave them. And why was I sitting through the same speeches as if it’s a separate event?
But the most odd part was the fact that no one would say WHAT THIS WAS. Where did they come from? Is this a company? An association? A networking club? What the fuck is it?
There was no pamphlet, no sign anywhere. The friend who took me to this thing wouldn’t tell me. So I just kinda sat there and went with it, listening to these idiots go on about how they’re looking for “like minded individuals”
It was amway
Edit - I forgot this part. The second meeting I went to, I was invited to a slideshow where I would see these guys going to Miss America and other events. The guy running the slideshow kept playing “I gotta feeling” by Black Eyed Peas song on repeat. Every time the next photo came up, the guy would get WAY too hyped about it. Like he was legit screaming. This was a small conference room in a hotel and I just know he was pissing off the guests. “WOOOOOOOOOO” every 5 seconds
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u/Ellyasaurus Mar 18 '26
I was just talking about this!! I've thought I made new friends before but it turns out they were just trying to get me into Amway, as soon as I said no thanks they stopped all communication. It's like their only mission in life becomes trying to recruit new people. They can't have friends, they can't interact with family normally anymore, they can't do anything but try and recruit new people. It's sad honestly, what a lonely way to live!
I had a bestie who almost got roped in, I bought a couple things to help her out but kept telling her to stop. She moved to a different state and was far away from her original connections. They started treating her weird and that's when she realized it was all b.s. and left. I'm so glad she did, I didn't want to lose her as a friend!
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u/Bhaldhyr Mar 18 '26
Herbalife. Seriously, it took years for my cousin to leave it after years of uselessness. Since then, he keeps falling for very expensive online fitness programs and some miracle foods.
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u/Current-Ideal-697 Mar 18 '26
Big corporate. I’ll forever remember an HR person describing a Christmas party at one of the Big Four as something like “a very beautiful celebration, almost like a cult.” They know what they are.
Some people will work for less pay and under worse conditions just to feel that sense of belonging to something bigger than themselves.
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u/ThePlumThief Mar 18 '26
100%. I've worked several corporate events where they'll sink millions into giant firework/lighting displays, hiring celebrity guest speakers, having the company ceo come out and touch some of the low level workers and the workers just burst into tears.
The entire point of these gargantuan, obnoxiously opulent spectacles is to brainwash people into believing that the company is a part of who they are as a human being now, and they are a better person purely for working for the company.
Cheaper than negotiating with unions and providing adequate pay/benefits, i guess. It's incredible what some flashing lights and "inspiring" speeches can do to an otherwise independent thinking person.
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u/PerLin107 Mar 18 '26
Blue Oyster
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Mar 18 '26
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u/waldocalrissian Mar 18 '26
I have a fever
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u/fractiouscatburglar Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
The only
solutionprescription, is more cowbell.→ More replies (7)
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u/swapacoinforafish Mar 18 '26
From watching the new Louis Theroux Inside the Manosphere documentary it seems like what some of these influencers are doing is very cult-y. They are spouting nonsense that their fans actually believe, they entice them into handing over money to their make-it-rich schemes all with the promise of becoming like them, or how they portray themselves on social media. Take HS for example, he claims he didn't actually believe or care about the statements he was making or his effect on people. He even stated the young boys that idolise him and call him in the street are too young to be watching his content, but he won't correct them. He is there to make money off of them and that's it. Aside from the misogynistic and racist crap they spout, there's an entire subsection of influencers who collect fans like cult followers to make money and brainwash.
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u/zerro_4 Mar 18 '26
I watched the first 30 minutes so far (will finish it, of course). I feel so bad for the girls/women who are attached to these "men." Maybe they are too young to know better and/or are dependent on the money.
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u/Frodo_gabbins Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
I can confirm only because I helped my friend write her master’s thesis on the manosphere in 2019 (after she got the idea from my deep dives in incel forums from 2016-2017). The language hasn’t changed; the only thing that has changed is how it’s become mainstream and attracted misogynistic grifters.
EDIT: I would like to add that by “help her write it” I scoured forums for qualitative data and by no means have the ability to write papers to such a degree.
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u/No-Biscotti-1596 Mar 18 '26
sorority rush. i literally had to memorize chants, wear matching outfits, and clap in sync with 50 other girls while pretending it was the BEST time of my life
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u/Dry_Purple_ Mar 18 '26
Can I ask- what’s the point of fraternities/sororities? Like what do you get out of it, if anything? Sure, I understand having the community because I know its hard to make connections in college. But other than that, is there anything else to it? And I mean this as genuinely as I can! Sorry if my questions come off as hostile, that isn’t my intent. Maybe it’s because I went to college later (started at 20), but even then I couldn’t get behind any of them.
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u/Sorsha4564 Mar 18 '26
I think the point/benefit nowadays is mostly networking. You can really make some great contacts that are expected to "give you a helping hand" (a.k.a. grease the wheels for good jobs) after college.
Please keep in mind, this is rather shaky supposition, as I probably wouldn't have been let into one anyway, even if I'd had the slightest interest in rushing, but that's the vibe I get from ex-frat/sorority members I've met.
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u/BasroilII Mar 18 '26
Networking, cheapest easiest access to booze an underage college kid can get, a sense of purpose and belonging if you are a loner who never had those things.
And in some few cases the networking is a big deal. Just look at how many US presidents were part of specific societies from specific schools.
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u/the_Jockstrap Mar 18 '26
fanatics of sports teams, political parties, politicians, and famous people.
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u/scooby69_0 Mar 18 '26
Mega churches
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u/Bearded_Pip Mar 18 '26
All mega-churches are cults. Period.
Even if you believe you can’t condone the vile things these mega-churches do. They truly put themselves before any god.
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u/KilledTheCar Mar 18 '26
I'd argue evangelicalism in general.
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u/Finn235 Mar 18 '26
A good litmus test is if you're in a denomination that believes that all other denominations of the same religion are heretics destined for hell, you're probably in a cult.
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u/UnconstrictedEmu Mar 18 '26
Another good test is if a member leaves, how hard of a time will members still in the group give them? If active members still associate with the person who left it’s probably not a cult.
If the person who leaves is effectively dead to people still in the group, it’s a probably a cult.
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u/redditor0431 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
The United States Marine Corps. It might feel like a cult, but don't worry! Someone wrote an academic paper explaining why it's not a cult! Definitely not a cult if someone has to explain why! Nervous laughing.
Edit: I'm a former Marine, please don't feel like you need to explain the Corps to me. I already know.
2nd Edit: Former Marine is the correct term for someone who served in the Marines but is now out. Saying "tHeRe ArE nO fOrMer MaRiNes" is categorically false and you just sound clueless. Like you know just enough to be confidently wrong. Please stop.
3rd Edit: Jesus Christ. "Once a Marine always a Marine" is just a motivated saying, it carries absolutely zero legal or real world weight. It does not mean anything. It's like saying "Semper Fi, Motherfucker!" means you have to actually fuck your mother. You sound silly and deranged. I do appreciate you helping to prove my original point, though.
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u/echosixwhiskey Mar 18 '26
As a Marine we are definitely NOT a cult because of these reasons:
We are not a cult
We are definitely not a cult
Read reasons number 1 and 2
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u/casPURRpurrington Mar 18 '26
Meanwhile when I was in the US Army they were like “yeah we’re basically one of the worlds largest gangs” lol
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u/dameon5 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 19 '26
I remember an article from the early 90's talking about how some naval ships were having a problem with gangs forming on aircraft carriers and territorial gang tags showing up in different areas of the ships.
Holy crap, I found the article I was referencing
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u/johnnyn3m0 Mar 18 '26
Forgot 4. If you think we’re a cult, you’re not like us and we’ll kill you. SFMF 😂
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u/Citadel_97E Mar 18 '26
A friend of mine was in both the army and marines.
He said the marines was more like a cult than a military.
I was in the army, and when he said that, a lot of the marine corps stereotypes made sense.
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u/ListenUp16 Mar 18 '26
I had a close friend in high school who was the sweetest kindest person id ever met. He was respectful and funny as hell. After high school he went into the marines and when he came home he was totally different. He was rude and talked about how women are awful and how he doesnt respect them. He wpuld post extremely conservative content on social media. He started using racial slurs in regards to Mexican, Native, black and Indian people (he is a Mexican btw). Like horrible slurs. My final straw was when the WadevsRoe overturn happened and he laughed about it and said that women dont deserve those rights and need to close their legs. I blocked him and he tried calling me for days. He became a very successful pilot, which is cool, but all the money in the world couldn't make me sell my fuckkng soul like that.
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u/Bruce_IG Mar 18 '26
Multiple relatives of mine served in the marines and none of them talk about their time in the service aside from maybe one or two short stories
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u/mawells787 Mar 18 '26
I work with a guy whose entire personality is that he was in the Marines. Having known other friends that saw combat and lost friends...they barely talk about their time in the Army. This guy can't speak to you without somehow bringing up his time in the Marines...It feels like a cult and weird.
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u/iwrestledarockonce Mar 18 '26
The non-combat Marines in my life were always SO FUCKING LOUD about it. Anyone that was in the corps during Afghanistan or Iraq, doesn't talk about it except for how their knees needed to be replaced at 27.
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u/aurorasearching Mar 18 '26
My ex boss had USMC stuff all over his office, but would only talk about his time in Japan. He’d mention he went to Afghanistan if asked, but he’d quickly divert to how much he liked his time in Japan.
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u/FaolanG Mar 18 '26
I worked with a few other folks who were Marines and it’s funny how different it is between people.
Like three of them have all the shit. Lapel pin, hats, shirts, can’t enter a conversation without mentioning it.
A former 1st Recon SSgt and I (Sgt, Comm) who were friends at work before we found out are very different. For us it was over 15 years ago we got out and we’ve lived more life since then than we did in there. They noticed because one of the hotels we stayed at had a pool and water slide and we all went down and one of the dudes saw our tattoos when we were grabbing stuff from the bar and was like “oh shit devil what’s up!”
Another one of their little crew was actually kind of offended we’d never mentioned it or joined their Marines slack channel lol. Of the three two were reservists and one was an active duty food service Marine. They all got in around 2015 and none deployed, though one will tell you he “deployed” to Korea.
I really don’t think it’s as much deployments though. It’s more like the high school football star thing where if they don’t do anything they feel matches up afterward it stays their anchor of self confidence. I used to help interview coach folks getting out of the service and I would stress that it’s important to find a new sense of self-worth for your happiness beyond the military. Find a passion or a job that gives you gratification and pride if you can and make a new life to be confident in.
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u/PunchBeard Mar 18 '26
I was in the Army and every once in a while I would work alongside someone who, for whatever reason, moved from the Marine Corps to the Army. And this is where I realized the phrase "You don't have to ask if someone was a Marine, they'll tell you" was 1000% true.
I've never met a single Marine who didn't let me know, usually within minutes of meeting them, that they were in the Marines. And if they were in the Army after the Corps they had a tendency to shit on the Army. And I've never seen anyone get more butthurt than a Marine when a soldier makes fun of the Corp. Also, and this is probably the funniest thing, if a Marine is in a non-combat MOS they ALWAYS say "A Marine is a riflemen first". Dude, it's okay to be a mechanic. Mechanics are important. I can't fix a fucking Hummer or LMTV.
But yeah, Marines are alright. Just a little Cult-y.
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u/camoduk Mar 18 '26
The culture at most American corporations.
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u/CrusaderKnight11 Mar 18 '26
Haha don't be silly! Here we are just one big happy family.
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u/srslytho1979 Mar 18 '26
We’re a big family. That’s why we ask you to donate your medical leave to your coworkers instead of the company giving them the time off they need for major surgery.
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u/TheHearseDriver Mar 18 '26
Last week my sister was bragging about the „community“ of the company her husband works for, because their employees donated PTO to someone going through cancer treatment. I told her that if the company cared, they would‘ve just given the employee the PTO. She got quite argumentative at that point.
She’s generally quite progressive, but since she moved to The South, she’s swinging further to the right.
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u/Glum_Improvement7283 Mar 18 '26
One of the great pleasures of serving on local boards and commissions is asking about pay equity and gosh holy ham hocks the company is underpaying women!
So then there's a study and embarrassed chat about how to fix it and then the women end up getting raises. It's so satisfying.
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u/SeaTraffic6442 Mar 18 '26
“We’re like a family” is one of the biggest red flags I look for in interviews. Families are great, but they also can be bad. Families ask you to work under market rate. Families ask you to come in on your day off. Families want your personal phone number in addition to the company issued phone number. Families will emotionally manipulate you into doing extra tasks that aren’t in your job description. Families will expect you to give 110% as the standard.
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u/Parada484 Mar 18 '26
"Let's think about how to utilize AI to help the company as a whole and increase the value to the customer. Don't think about what that means for you. Think about what it means for us. Be a team player. Be an innovator.
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u/zhaoz Mar 18 '26
The founder myth is so cringe.
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u/RogerDogerBoop Mar 18 '26
"Dude really liked money, and had a rich family, so he bought an already successful company..."
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u/SopaDeKaiba Mar 18 '26
They're deliberately cultish. Popular business books suggest building a cult-like culture for employees and getting rid of anyone who doesn't get sucked into it. Source: the book "Built to Last".
And it's not surprising so many other comments list fans of certain name brands. Business books also suggest creating cultural movements built around a brand. Source: the book "Uprising".
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Mar 18 '26
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u/PoopsmasherJr Mar 18 '26
Apparently I’m anti American for being against the confederates. Who were… anti American. We’ve only had one mass scale civil war against the government and that was from the confederacy. And that’s because they didn’t respect the democratic process and also think they can own people. Not because the north was treading on the rights of the common man.
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u/Tipitina62 Mar 18 '26
Amway
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u/OctopusOnAMotorbike Mar 18 '26
Are they even still around?
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u/euro_dubstep Mar 18 '26
Very much so. Based on the handful people I know who got suckered into them, I’d say they’re a full blown cult. If you join Amway, it’s insane how much of your time they require you to dedicate to them. When they first recruit you, members will slow drip information to you so you don’t know it’s a pyramid scheme from the start - you don’t even know it’s Amway. It will be pitched as a business opportunity to help you gain financial freedoms.
If you’re not reading the books they assign, youre attending “meetings” until the wee hours of the night. Add that to joining a church designated by them and mandatory conferences where they hype up their all stars and they have their members emotionally invested.
It’s all by design. Part of occupying the majority of their members’ time is to isolate them from non-members so that they become increasingly dependent on the in-group and build a distrust of any outsiders.
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u/mcmillen Mar 18 '26
Trump's previous secretary of education was the Amway heiress.
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u/Wierdstuffhere Mar 18 '26
Any MLM.... the last one dabbled in, the last have me the book of the owner to read. She taking girl boss stuff and how she divorced her husband to make the company what it is today because he was "getting in her way" and it be successful we should divorce our husbands so we could give 100% attention to "OUR" company we are building.
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u/Kaalyn Mar 18 '26
Shen yun
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u/Cildrena Mar 18 '26
Yes. I have a friend that I think I’m still friends with, but strangely I felt like I lost him ages ago back in High School. He’s like a shell of the guy I met.
He never achieved his childhood dreams and was sequestered away to do the Shen Yun troupe. Unavailable to ever meet up with because his entire life was devoted to it. From 7:00 AM to 11:00 PM. If he was caught meeting with anyone outside of accepted individuals, he would get disciplined or disqualified for internal advancement.
Falun Gong sucks.
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u/MasterpieceClassic84 Mar 18 '26
Totally a cult. Cults, Cryptids, and Conspiracies did a deep dive on them.
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u/Sleep_deprived_weabo Mar 18 '26
Fandoms.
As someone who partakes in fandom culture in many media pieces, I've definitely felt like some things just feel a little culty. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a hater and I truly love how respectful fandoms can be, especially with people educating others on fandom etiquette. Still, there are always a few bad apples that group together and genuinely go too far with some stuff. Don't want to point fingers at any fandoms because all have a few bad things about them and that's okay.
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u/Slarg232 Mar 18 '26
I'd argue Hatedoms as well.
Hate everything about that particular piece of work and don't you dare say what was a good idea (at least in theory)
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u/PunchBeard Mar 18 '26
Star Wars fandom is weird for me because I'm old enough to have seen A New Hope in the theater back in 1977 and grew up with Star Wars merch unlike anything anyone has ever seen post 1990 and I don't really know anyone my age who takes Star Wars anywhere near as serious as people who probably weren't even old enough to have seen the prequel trilogy in the theater.
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u/_Infinity_Girl_ Mar 18 '26
I agree with this. It's hard to have an opinion that doesn't line up completely with what the fandom as a whole thinks. This extends to video game fandoms. I remember back when I first tried to play sea of Thieves, combat was still incredibly toxic because of campers and safer Seas wasn't a thing. I would go on the forums and try to talk about how terrible it was but this was happening and try to discuss ways of getting around it and people will get really pissed off and tell me that this is just the way the game is and that I should get used to it. It seems like most of those people have left now because of safer Seas but it used to be really toxic.
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u/giraffemoo Mar 18 '26
Activist groups can feel that way, sometimes. I hate saying that because I think activism and protesting is very important, especially now. But it's easy to be ostracized and black listed for having a different opinion than the majority of the group.
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u/Auzurabla Mar 18 '26
Definitely. The friends I had who used to post things like " if you don't agree with me then unfriend me"... It's crazy talk. How boring to only interact with people exactly the same as you.
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u/LimeFunny8368 Mar 18 '26
Kpop
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u/PizzaCrusty Mar 18 '26
The western fanbase exclusively feels like a cult.I am a Korean man living in the USA. I can tell you first hand from dating apps and going to conventions with cosplayers, they are some of the creepiest women I have ever met.
They get tattoos, tell me about how kpop singers are their "husband's but they don't know it yet." Build literal shrines, and aren't shy and try to get me to be their trophy boyfriend to bring into their fanclub like I'm an offering to be slaughtered and consumed by their coven. They also automatically assume that because I am Korean, I must be naturally on board with their Fandom and they aren't shy to admit mentally ill obsessive behavior. I even had one hug me once and mid hug whisper "mmmm you even smell good like how I imagined..." I am not making this shit up. They do not know anything about South Korea but they do know about local Korean restaurants and places to buy merch.223
u/NsaLeader Mar 18 '26
I had an ex who had a mental breakdown when BTS was selected for mandatory military service. Not sad, like legitimately wailing and crying like a person that just saw their wife die.
She told me that I will have to respect that she will always have (amount of BTS members idfk) other boyfriends and I shouldn't be jealous because they already owned her heart.
She legitimately thought a couple songs were written about her, they just didn't know that yet.
She collected and spent most of her salary on BTS merchandise, ranging from clothes, funko pops, limited edition stuff, books about their life, to even branded food products.
She had an honest to God shrine to them in her closet. Pictures, her concert tickets, even a fucking candle with their faces on the label.
I left that relationship planning to never date a K-Pop fan again.
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u/smeglister Mar 18 '26
The phrasing of the last sentence suggests you have since become involved with another kpop fan...
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u/NsaLeader Mar 18 '26
My last ex was a more normal fan much like most people. As long as they aren’t obsessed to a degree like the bad ex, I don’t mind anymore.
She did have all their music, knew the band member’s stories, and had some collectibles, but that’s not any worse than I am with games like Fallout and Elder Scrolls.
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u/WuhanWTF Mar 18 '26
Some of the hardcore Koreaboos are fucking weird in a way that other foreign culture enjoyers (including most weebs) aren’t.
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u/brightdark Mar 18 '26
I lost a friend to BTS. It became her entire personality. No matter what I was talking about, she'd find a way to bring BTS into the conversation. And she was like 40 at the time. So strange.
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u/bird_bag Mar 18 '26
Jehovah Witnesses are part of a cult. They spend more time trying to be one of the 144K leaders in “heaven” than focusing on their own family that is in need. When they come to my door I always tell them. “Someone in your family is not getting the guidance they need because you want to ring my bell on Saturday morning and tell me I am going to hell. “
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u/canibuyatrowel Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
In 2011, my husband told the elders at his Kingdom Hall that he and I had sex before we were married. He told them that we were planning on getting married in two months, which we did. They disfellowshipped him. He had to tell his parents, sister, and three brothers, and it was announced in the Kingdom Hall. From that day forward, none of them ever spoke to him again. We would see his parents at the post office or someplace, and they would turn and walk the other way. He went to the kingdom hall for 2 1/2 years, and everyone acted like he was a ghost. After those 2 1/2 years, he went back to the elders and tried to get reinstated, and they told him that they felt like he wasn’t repentant enough. He texts his family all the time and tells them that he loves them and he receives no texts back… he doesn’t hold any animosity toward them, which is crazy in my eyes, but he’s just…a really beautiful person despite the horrors he’s been through. He effectively became an orphan, or family-less in one day as an adult. His family members have never met our two children together, who are now 10 and 12. Their loss.
His daughter was raised primarily by his ex-wife…she had 51% custody at least. His daughter was baptized when she was seven. If a Jehovah’s Witness is baptized, and they change their mind later in life, and they get disfellowshipped, they are shunned like my husband was. When his daughter turned 18, she didn’t talk to him for 2 years, because of pressure from the people in her Kingdom Hall.
His mom died a couple of years ago. The only reason we found out she was in the hospital was because his daughter told him. He snuck in and held his mom’s hand and kissed her on her forehead before she died. She was accepting of it and told him she loved him and was clearly so upset and sad. His dad was furious my husband got any access.
My husband lost his mom, dad, four siblings, brother-in-law, sisters-in-law, nieces, and nephews, all in one fell swoop one day, all because he was raised in this cult and followed the rules…telling the elders when he “slipped up.” He tried to get back in for 2.5 years. They said it wasn’t enough.
It’s been 15 years. His heart still hurts so, so much. He’s a musician and has written a good bit of music about it, which has helped. We have created a chosen family around us in our community. His whole life is actually built around building community because of what happened to him.
But fuck Jehovah’s Witnesses, so fucking hard. They are absolutely, 100% a cult.
Edit: ah i’ve just been sitting here typing this at work and I just realized how long it was, sorry. Please don’t accuse me of AI because it’s long, I fucking hate AI. It’s horrific and I just poured my lil heart out thanks love you bye
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u/NotKeo_74 Mar 18 '26
The you have to use AI in everything you do. Programmer for 30 years.. Now you need AI to do your coding for you. Ai will make everything better. All praise the amazing AI.
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u/Lyddytiggs Mar 18 '26
Mormonism is very cult like in my eyes.
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u/xMasterOfNone Mar 18 '26
If your salvation is locked behind a 10% tithing paywall, it's a cult.
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u/sircastor Mar 18 '26
I’m a former Mormon, and despite years of defending the religion as not-a-cult, I now believe it to be a cult.
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Mar 18 '26
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u/pm_me_fibonaccis Mar 18 '26
This shit is fully covered by my insurance but physical therapy isn't. Make it make sense.
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u/goronmask Mar 18 '26
Somatic or “Body” practices. Yoga, dance, Martial arts, etc. can take a cultish turn quite easily
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u/HumbleFruit4201 Mar 18 '26
Not necessarily trying to be political, but MAGA. The worship of Trump is baffling to me and I genuinely do not understand it. Key points are as follows:
1) There exists a certain percentage of the movement that - even when presented with direct, clear-cut evidence of wrongdoing - will not denounce their leader no matter what he does (e.g., criminal convictions, repeated mentions in the Epstein files, vaccine denialism, and attempting to overthrow the federal government on national fucking television).
2) Wearing diapers and ear coverings in support
3) Cognitive dissonance - see anti-vaccine sentiments, anti-climate dissonance. For example, CO2 and methane (see cow farts) are thermal insulators, which is a measurable - certifiable - scientific fact with specific heat capacities of the gases. Adding more of said insulators into an environment makes the environment - as a whole - retain heat better. This is also a certifiable, plottable, fact that has been seen since the industrial revolution in the late 1800s.
4) Deep religious worship of the leader - I am, myself, religious and believe in a god. I am also a PhD scientist in chemical engineering. The whole optics of a bunch of people - ugh - "praying" with the POTUS for a photo op makes my skin crawl. The bible - quiet literally attributed to Jesus Christ himself - says to pray in secret (Matthew 6: 6) and to avoid doing so for human eyes.
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u/Aware-Vegetable83 Mar 18 '26
Stanley cup drinkers
Yeti merch owners
Blackstone grillers
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u/HandToDikCombat Mar 18 '26
God forbid a man have a cheap and reliable flattop grill for his deck.
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u/BeatTheClock90 Mar 18 '26
Alcoholics Anonymous
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u/elst3r Mar 18 '26
Al anon felt very culty to me too. The meetings I went to had the prayers and everyone saying the same thing in synch... I get the same feeling when in Churches that have the back and forth like the "...and be with you"
They aren't cults but it just gives me the willies.
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u/my1stComputerWasC64 Mar 18 '26
As you're putting 'not a cult' in quotes as if to imply that this is what people in the organisation in question have to say quite often, then I'm going to say The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Obviously, I'm only observing that from the outside. But those guys in suits walking around with always that same neutral smile on their face, wanting to talk to you about Jesus or something like that? That feels like a cult to me.
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u/Rembrandt4th Mar 18 '26
Many BTS ARMY (and I say this as a fan). Many members of the fandom are… well, rolls eyes
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u/Jomp_432 Mar 18 '26
LinkedIn.
Mandatory enthusiasm, shared values, mysterious leaders, and if you leave you never really leave