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Unpopular opinion: watching the NXIVM docs with my sister's old roommate was more useful than 6 months of podcasts | Cult Watch Weekly - Vivisector

laura486•5d ago

Unpopular opinion: watching the NXIVM docs with my sister's old roommate was more useful than 6 months of podcasts

Back in March I sat down with my sister's old roommate, Dana, who actually got pulled into a wellness group in Tempe for about 14 months, and we watched the NXIVM series together over two nights. I've listened to maybe 40 hours of cult podcasts, but hearing her pause the show and say "that's the exact line they used on me" was a whole different thing. She showed me the two notebooks she kept, every page labeled with the date and the name of whoever ran that night's meeting, and I noticed the same three phrases showing up over and over, like a script they all read from. The part that got me was how boring it looked from the outside, no robes, no compound, just a cheap office park and coffee runs. I started keeping my own running list of those repeated lines whenever I watch a new doc now, and it's wild how fast they pop out. Dana still won't say the group's name out loud, which tells you more than the doc ever did. Anyone else watch these with someone who was actually in it, or is it just me noticing the scripts more after that?

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1 Comment

emma_wells835d ago

So what exactly did Dana teach you that a podcast couldn't? Because from where I sit, what you got was the feeling of being close to it, and that feeling is doing most of the work here. Podcasts give you the pattern across dozens of groups for free, and you can pause and rewind and fact check. Two nights with one person gives you one story told from memory, and memory bends over time, especially for something that scared you. Anyone can keep a list of phrases they notice, that is just paying attention, you did not need Dana for that part. The office park and the coffee runs are the actual lesson and the docs already said it, these groups look boring on purpose, that is the whole trick. And the reason she won't say the name out loud is not proof of anything special, that is just how fear works and it sticks around whether or not you ever watch a show with her.