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Oh my daughter used to love dance and she was good. Got offered a spot on a team, and she became so depressed I asked her why, and she said it used to be fun, but now it is just hard. Asked her if she wanted to step back, and she did. She completely quit, which is sad it was ruined for her, but I'm glad to have my happy 10 year old back
W parent
You are a good parent. That was always a stipulation with my parents, I could quit as soon as I stopped having fun. Knowing that your child's misery isn't worth second-hand glory is shockingly rare.
It's weird how refreshing it is to see a normal parent reaction of "I just want my kid to be happy" rather than pushing them to do something they don't enjoy. I used to help run a kids basketball team, and the parents were an absolute fucking nightmare, hollering at their kids/the head coach/god about everything. Kids would be near tears because their dad was coming to the game and so on. Half the kids didn't even like basketball anymore by the time the season ended.
It's insane to me how little some parents seem to care about the actual wishes and needs of their children. I work at a riding school and this past weekend there was a kid who was sobbing that ahe didn't want to ride, begging her parents not to make her, offering to pay the cancellation fee out of her pocket money, etc. Parents still made her get on and she was miserable and crying on and off the whole lesson, with full on screaming when another kid fell off. She just absolutely did not want to be there and the parents absolutely did not care. (The instructor did care but the parents were very pushy and she was too young and new to really know what to do in the situation).
That genuinely sounds like something the kid will be telling her therapist about in years to come.
I'm starting to question your commitment to Sparkle Motion
Anything competitive in objective subjective fields.
I tried to join the music department in college. Oh man they were vicious to each other. Everyone was beautifully talented and technically advanced in their own ways but somehow still managed to put each other down.
I noped out of there so quickly. I do dance as a hobby now and everyone is soooo kind and helpful to each other.
lululemon. i worked there and we had “regulars” that would come in each week for new stuff. the employee culture is weird too
Believe it or not, the corporate culture was even weirder before Chip got pushed out. Like, employees were encouraged to join an actual cult
I really hate jobs that try to control what you do outside your scheduled hours
What the fuck? Sweat dates? That's so far outside the realm of a transactional employer/employee relationship.
Listen here you little punk, at this company we value culture. We strive to create a culture so inclusive and fun we will all operate as a cohesive unit. Family style workplaces are for amateurs. Behold. While we not only eat, sweat, and sleep together (naked), we sacrifice our lowest performer to the elder god we worship once a quarter. Nobody has ever complained. Knowing when you aren't fully aligned with key performance metrics should be met with the ultimate shame. We discuss this in onboarding. We truly embody synergistic practices as we work to create a perfect mind meld and become a single thought group. The only micromanaging going on here is the chip we implant in your brain to control your brain waves.
Even though I doubt you're cut out for our level of prestige, please apply below.
Namaste
Absolutely not surprised lmao it’s a weird brand
The guy is a douche and very racist. Supposedly chose the name because he thought it would be funny to hear some Asian people say it.
Ironically, I was at a mall with my wife this weekend and saw a store. I pronounced it like a digimon
I walked in to get pants as a gift for my wife and like the entire staff approached me with coke head energy.
Have you ever heard of the Lululemon murder? Fucking horrifying and really makes your comment scarier.
The WHAT NOW???
if it's the one I'm thinking of, it was at a lululemon in Washington D.C.
One coworker murdered another and then attempted to cover it up by staging a break in/robbery.
Beat the living shit out of her colleague until she died because the colleague caught her stealing merch from the store.
I just listened to a podcast about that. Awful.
no surprise there lol, our bosses acted like we had to be besties with everyone that walked in. took a lot of adderall working there.
Omg I can’t imagine being a “regular” at lulu lemon, that’s crazy to me.
Yeah aren’t they crazy expensive?
Yes! It’s like 100$ average per item. The clothes are great quality so I do own quite a few myself but I definitely don’t buy them regularly.
ditto. ex-vancouverite, lululemon-fan, the culture is definitely weird. I just like the clothes and do buy them on occasion. They last a long time and they have great returns/repairs.
will say tho, the company actually did have a cult like corporate culture back in the day. Not sure if thats still the case but it used to be scary. You had to drink the kool aid or youd get fired.
The stores always make me feel uncomfortable. my mates tell me I'm the weird one, but it gave me the feeling I was walking into a Jordan Peele movie. Like I was simultaneously being welcomed, judged and scoped out.
If there's any retail environment that could easily be replaced by AI I'd say it's Lululemon because they already feel like uncanny valley robots as is.
Kenneth Copeland and his followers. They blindly give him money, he buys himself multiple private planes, then still gets to hide behind tax-exempt status.
Or Joel Osteen
I always knew that guy was scum but not letting people shelter in the church building during hurricane Harvey was…oddly satisfying that he couldn’t fake smile his way out of getting criticized for that. True colors.
I remember watching the local news as they finally opened up the arena. The news cut Joel and he had a corny ass greenscreen behind him showing a wide hallway with people shuffling in.
Blew me away because it was set up with the angles to look like Joel was there receiving people but you could tell it was a greenscreen. Im pretty sure his house got flooded during Harvey funnily enough
Im pretty sure his house got flooded during Harvey funnily enough
The Lord works in mysterious ways....
Even us mainstream Christians hate Osteen. We like to derisively call his brand of message "the prosperity gospel"
I consider the existence of prosperity gospel to be the most convincing evidence that Satan is real
Yeah, it is totally false. Even a cursory reading of the Bible by someone who doesn't know anything about Christianity proves it wrong. The existence of stories like Job alone are enough.
It is all a scam that preys on the gullible by making them feel guilty for the bad stuff in their lives.
I mean, that’s the most insidious thing about it. That the holiness of a person is exemplified by their prosperity. That you TOO can have ALL THIS if you just PRAY! And GIVE!
And if you aren’t successful, you didn’t give enough.
I’m black, and unfortunately, prosperity gospel is particularly alive and well in our communities, by our own people. It’s taken many a relative hostage.
Televangelists in general.
Oh man that guy terrifies me. He looks completely unhinged. Nightmare fuel.
Demon is the word I typically use… with that maniacal smile of his.
He looks like a demon wearing a human suit
High school theater departments
Dad was an HS Drama teacher for 14 years, can confirm.
Dude grew up in the Crayboy Mansion!
Did anyone else have to experience the "emotion's unit" in theater where we'd lock the doors, shut the lights, put all the desks in a circle with a couple candles in the room and each read our real life experiences that brought out the deepest version of the emotion of the day?
Somewhere, a therapist just fainted...
Serious question. Is that a really bad idea?
Very. It can trigger flashbacks in people with PTSD or re-traumatize people who were working on getting over something painful in their past.
As an acting coach and director, this is why I refuse to teach crying or encourage getting into character via real life experiences. There is no role or gig worth risking psychological harm. And honestly, the result is cheap and disconnected from the reality of the character. In my opinion, actors should dive deep into the character, not themselves.
My school made a whole weekend retreat around this. Granted it was optional but still
I mean, if it’s optional, might be something to gain.
No, what the fuck was going on in your school
Cult shit
Absolutely not.
I was in theater in high school but was a fringe member of the cult on account of the fact I 1. Was so ill all the time that I couldn’t be reliably cast in a role because I might be too sick to perform, and 2. Had other interests (writing and music), which was a no-no. lol
Our theater teacher definitely was in the cult (duh) but he knew his stuff and was adamant that we learn to live our characters and react/feel their emotions. If you cried on cue it better be because your character was upset, not because you dredged up a traumatic memory. He said that was a surefire way to destroy your mental health, and that if you couldn’t emote without drawing on your real life, you shouldn’t be acting, because you’re doomed to burn out.
College theater departments
Those MFAers are intense
yeah as a theater kid, it’s just the cult of Dionysus with less alcohol
I was not expecting this to be the top comment. One of my parents was a high school theater teacher. I couldn't escape it. That shit is crazy
My school's absolutely ancient theater director married a student 30+ years his junior and would regularly spend several minutes screaming at pubescent girls that they weren't dressing "slutty" enough for the production.
Plus whatever the fuck makes theater kids act like THAT at 8AM can't be kosher.
Dated a girl once from this cult. Never. Again.
But the sex tho
Can confirm. Horse girls are top-tier sexers. Dated 2 of them. Stopped because well...they crazy.
Your experiences may vary. I dated a horse girl in college and I helped her discover her asexuality 🙃
Horse girls are just crazy cat ladies with money
You could say... they know how to ride.
Mine threatened to use her spurs on me if I ever made that joke again.
A real Horse Girl wouldn't use spurs. They very much dislike their existence/use because they hurt the horse. Can confirm, am married to a Horse Girl.
[I was not coerced into writing this. It was written on my own free will]
Blink twice if you are being watched.
👁👄👁
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👁👄👁
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👁👄👁
The drama kids at my high school were weird but really welcoming and open minded, they were like the only clique that accepted the openly gay kids. They liked tumblr a lot, we’re generally straightedge but may all get drunk on rare occasions, they loved Disney animated movies, lots of meta humor, generally only hung out with other drama kids or the band geeks, lots of little gatherings like parties to watch tv shows/movies or board game night.
Scientology isn’t legally a cult in the US, but it’s a cult.
Same w/Jehovah's Witnesses, technically not a cult, BUT ABSOLUTELY A CULT! So happy I left!
It is a cult. The word cult doesn't have a strict definition, but by the BITE model, it is definitely a cult. (BITE - Behavivour, information, Thought and Emotional control)
Former Mormon (LDS) here. Used to think we were something like sports rivals. Now I can say after deconstruction we are on the same team 🤙
Former Seventh-day Adventist here. Cult in overdrive. Btw, there are as many Adventists as Mormons currently, slightly more even.
Its hard to get honest numbers of LDS membership, even if you leave they still count you unless you fill out a bunch of paperwork and get it notarized formally requesting that they remove you from their database
David Miscavige wants to:
📍 Know your location
Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) from the Philippines is a cult pretending to be a religion. These people visit your home when you miss church, require you to declare your earnings (and then ask for contributions). And even dictate who to vote during elections. Big yikes.
OMG. I wanted to put this down but didn't know if anyone knew of it. I grew up in this "church" and had to literally run away from it at the age of 19. They chased me down for a while and I legit had to go in hiding. Caused a huge rift between me and my family because they stayed loyal and I didn't. 36 now and I'm still dealing with a LOT of the trauma. Thanks for posting this.
I was invited by my boss at the time to come to a service at this church and I was creeped out. For one thing i was the only non member in attendance and as far as I could see the only Caucasian. Since my boss was a guy I had to sit with a bunch of women I didn't know because they sit segregated with men on one side and women on another. It was also weird that it was the only time in my life I felt so tall. I'm only 5'4 but I was half a head taller than a lot of the other women. That boss was a real creep anyway. He was like an elder in this church but insisted we follow the scientology business model which basically says if you aren't growing every week you're failing. I was working for him when my dad was diagnosed with terminal cancer. On Mondays we had to report our "stats" and explain why we didn't increase from the previous week. I just said that I had a rough week and knowing the reason why because I had told him he still asked me in front of everyone why it was a rough week and I said that we found out my dad was terminally ill. It's funny he was shocked and offended when I finally left.
Basically any MLM
Everytime I open a message like this I feel like a prey animal who's back in the food chain
I love this description!!
I’ll message you !
boom boom
Bill! Can I get a massage?
Boom boom Bill!
Texas A&M University. Particularly surrounding their athletic department.
Funny because I feel like there are several programs that are more accomplished and prominent but I usually only see this about Texas A&M.
This has nothing to do with prominence or accomplishments. Actually the lack of accomplishments add to it. Most passionate sports fans get looked as like cultists by those who don’t watch sports but we all look at A&M fans with a healthy dose of wtf
Texas A&M
Ha! Yeah, I moved to a rural area about 40 minutes out of Bryan-College Station last year. A&M is something else, lmao. Whole city/area basically like, revolves around it.
The Whataburgers in College Station are maroon. Not because it's fun to be in the colors of the college town, but because TAMU said they couldn't build an orange (UT) building.
As a Former Student:
Yes. Take your upvote.
A roommate of mine joked in the early '00's that you could make a rebellion with a simple, "Hey, kids! Reveille says overthrow the government! WHOOP! That's red-ass!"
Living in "Aggieland," I can attest to this. OMG these people. (No, I'm not an aggie- I just live here.)
I'm up voting you both because you said the same thing I did, and because of your name.
lol - moved from SoCal to Collage station for a job. Getting chips and the clerk says "Better hurry, the game is about to start", What game - Slience, angry stares. I ran.
As a UT Austin alum. I support this.
Crossfit
As a box jump thumping crossfitter I am surprised this wasn't further up.
It's definitely cult-y. But mostly a benevolent one (for me anyway).
Ngl, the crossfire games are full of serious everyday athletes. They even win serious money. It's impressive. Total cult though.
HOA's
1000x yes. In high school part of my vocation was housing design, and we had to build a house accommodating to an HOA. God their rules are sometimes insane.
The awesome thing is you can vote out the members that run the HOA and even be on the board yourself and change the rules.
Hearing stories about American HOA's makes me glad we have councils in Australia. They may be useless lower level bureaucrats who don't have any brain cells but at least they are not petty neighbours who want to control everyone to do what they want on their street.
Some group in my area (in South Africa) tried to install an HOA like system (they thought if they called themselves an estate it would legally make them an estate and would raise the house prices...? I don't even fucking know). They used everyone's sign up fees to install fancy metal signs and everything. The municipality cut the signs down within a week. The subsequent meltdown was very satisfying to watch
Multi-level marketing (MLM) companies
Jeep owners
You needed to specify Jeep Wrangler owners. As a person in the cult, unless it is a Wrangler it's not a real Jeep. Just because you drive a Jeep Wrangler you Must wave at other Jeep Wrangler owners.
And there is a group that says that a Wrangler with power windows isn't a Wrangler. Hell, there are groups that say if it has synchromesh it isn't an actual Jeep--like from back when Willys owned Jeep.
“Yeah, it’s not a Jeep unless you’re grinding the gears like coffee beans.”
I love exclusionary groups, because they always distill down to some ridiculous archetype that only existed for a statistically insignificant period of time.
See also: BMW fanbois. I agree with some of the ire around BMW’s styling lately…but they’re not bringing back the E30, folks. They’re just not. Get over it.
the cult of idealization of productivity. I’m glad that people manage their time and are motivated, but when every second one screams that “you need to get up at 4 in the morning, because the strongest do it” sorry, but I don’t see the point in this if there is no goal. it would be better to say HOW HEALTHY SLEEP is important.
Horse riding groups
Lolll as a former horse girl I can attest to this. I want to get into riding again, but I have so much anxiety trying to find essentially a non-cult barn
Grew up in the horse world and YES. There are two kinds of people: horse crazy people and crazy horse people. Horse crazy people are there for the love of the animal and the sport and are genuinely awesome people. Crazy horse people are psychotic. 😂
Community involved in any types of modern pyramids ESPECIALLY about "self growth / prosperity / financial independence etc".
(Ahem, Andrew Tate)
Also groups selling seminars on leadership and management skills. They are draw motivated people with money who may not necessarily possess the skills to think for themselves or stand up for themselves. Perfect for a cult.
The Marines,
also,
Texas A&M
***This post brought to you by the Army recruiters at the University of Texas.
This post brought to you by the Army recruiters at the University of Texas.
Username doesn't check out at all.
It's a sponsored post.
Andrew tate fans
Here's a good podcast that talks about how shitty he is Behind the Bastards : Andrew Tate
His whole schtick is appealing to basically 12 year old boys and not much else, but it's really fucking toxic and ruining a lot of kids.
It’s really sad, but I lost a guy I’ve been friends with since we were 8 over that shit and we’re 43. He had a rough childhood and he’s always been desperate to follow something and fit in somewhere but goddamn I thought he was smarter than to fall for that.
Upvotes for mentioning BtB. Great podcast.
Am a teacher. Can confirm your last statement.
sororities and greek life in general
The band THE CULT
Jehovah's witne--
*Gets hit by a rock
USMC.
There is no such thing as a former marine. Once a marine always a marine.
That does sound a bit cultish now that I think about it.
I knew a guy who struggled so hard with his identity other than being a Marine that he was suicidal. Kind of scary.
Re-assimilating (I'm sure that's not a word) is quite a process, 30 years later I still don't quite fit in...
When they are literally breaking down your sense of self as part of training, I don't know how tf you re-coup it after you get out without any external help
The word "former" has never crossed my lips. Especially in this technological age, the boys are never far away. We are definitely a cult. Nobody gets out alive. 🤣
"There are two services, the Army and Navy. The Air Force is a corporation and the Marines are a cult."
Coast Guard? It’s okay, we’re kinda forgettable.
Ah yes. America’s 17th line of defence between the Mississippi National Guard and The League of Women Voters.
We do forget about them, but they are by far the hardest-working service. Yeah, sure, these other guys train a ton, but Coasties are literally doing their actual job 7 days a week: drug interdictions, human trafficking recovery, rescuing dumb/unlucky boaters, etc, etc. , happens all the time.
"Marines don't die. They just go to hell and regroup."
If that ain't the most culty shit I ever heard
Weight Watchers
110% I have a close family member who has been a member for the better part of 20 years. The food swaps that are supposedly better than the real thing. The amount of artificial sweeteners used. Whenever WW updates the point system to "be more accurate to science" they claim that they are feeling better on the new system. The moralizing of food is the worst part. All of the "I shouldn't be eating this" or "I'm being bad" is tiring to hear at family meals. There's also the criticism and blame that anyone who doesn't lose weight receives about how "they must not be doing it right" or "they must be lying in their points tracking." The number of times I've heard the phrase "I've fallen off the wagon" is astonishing and I just wish this family member would learn to live at a bigger size and stop all of this weight cycling and yo-yoing and shame. At this point the constant dieting is worse than just being overweight.
I tried it for a while when I was in my 20's. One day, after rollerblading for a couple of hours, my husband and I stopped in so I could do weigh in. The lady takes my weight and says "looks like you went up a pound" in the most accusing tone. My husband almost jumped the counter to deck her and he is never violent. That was my last day at weight watchers.
God, yes! At every 30-minute meeting, we’d spend 25 of them cheerleading for WW. They’d make fun of programs that sold meal replacements or “fake food” while promoting the sale on their own 3-point bars and protein chips. They’d criticize their competitors for not teaching healthy eating habits or facilitating long-term success; meanwhile all the regulars who have been paying for 20 years and losing and gaining the same few pounds are sitting in their regular seats each week. Members would remark how they don’t feel deprived because they can eat all the fruit and veg they want and have lost all their cravings because they’re eating so healthy now and how they “forget” to eat sometimes because they’re soooo satisfied on this healthy eating plan. Then after the meeting they meet in the parking lot to discuss whether to go to Texas Roadhouse or Red Lobster to pig out. It’s a cult because they convince you that WW is the only program that can help you, that other programs/methods will harm you, that you should recruit your friends and family, that if you really care about your health you wouldn’t mind spending your house payment at WW each month.
Modern. Work. Culture.
- You pledge time, energy, your health and most of the time, if you didn't perform at the brink of self destruction, recognition of any kind is low.
- In many circumstances, you're prevented from unionizing (i.e having another point of view on work)
- Your colleagues suddenly need to become your family.
- And since there's that family bullshit discourse on workplaces, it basically pushes back your boundaries.
- You litterally spend more time there than in your real family.
- It's frowned upon to take time and care for your relatives, and sometimes even valued to overworked yourself and let your (mostly female) spouse do all the work of housekeeping and child rearing if you have kids. Women are considered as reproducers of the social order. Where else do you have that? Cults.
If it doesn't sound like one, I don't know what does. Don't get me started on the military :p
"We're all a family here except when we take Timmy out behind the shed and kill him, at which point you're supposed to forget that Timmy was ever a member of this family. Also we encourage you to narc on the rest of your family."
Scientology.
Peloton
Taylor Swift fans ✨
Yeah it’s gotten weird
Flat Earth
MLMs like Amway.
The church of Scientology, the westboro baptist church and maga groups
I had the unfortunate displeasure of having college classes with a couple of Westboro fucknuts. They're crazy as billed.
CoS is literally a cult though.
Jehovas witness
"Influencers" and their followers.
Ugh. A destructive cult is a group that controls it's members using the BITE model, Behavior control, Information control, Thought control and Emotion control. I recommend reading Combating Cult Mind Control and Freedom of Mind by Dr. Steven Hassan.
The organizations you guys mention, are mostly straight up destructive cults.
The dudes with the "toxic masculinity" type of views and opinions.
Bro, being disrespectful to women doesn't make you an alpha male, it makes you an asshole.
Any cult will never ever call itself a cult. They're always a family, organization, community, etc.
Went on a date with a lady recently, and she kept on saying how she LOVED Elon. Good thing that was fleshed out on the first date.
I can't tell if you had sex with her, ate her, or skinned her alive
Political parties
I don't understand people who hold fuckin politicians as idols.
I mean, I kind of get why, considering we are as a species both tribalistic as fuck and in constant search for a "leader"; but I can't comprehend how so many people give up their capacity of critical thinking to fanatically support and defend someone that's supposed to be public servant, not a fuckin Messiah.
The University of Alabama
From the Greek life to all other aspects. Even affects who you get involved with.
Look up The Machine to learn more.
CrossFit. And Spartan to a lesser extent - I do both so I know. 🙄
Star Citizen
The reddit hivemind.
Outsider detected. Sending drone 4825193 to terminate.
Don’t know what you’re talking about but get a divorce and definitely go no contact
You summoned the hoard
You're talking mad shit for someone within downvoting distance!
*whispers* Peloton
By now, talking crap about cross-fitters is beating a dead horse, but I'll never forget when I met the first culty crossfitter I'd ever come across years ago at a friend's birthday party. So there we are in my friend's backyard having a few beers talking the shit when my friend's sister and her BF arrive and he's dressed in tight gym clothes, which seemed strange since it was like 11 pm but what do I know, maybe they came from a night gym session, especially since he was apparently drinking a protein shake instead of a beer or something.
So the guy walks over to say hi to some of the guys I was talking to because he already knew them and they introduce us. So far so good. Of course, he starts trying to steer the conversation towards crossfit and keeps trying despite the fact that nobody is interested in that subject or going along with it and we're all talking about other stuff and joking around having a good time, and we did our best to humor him for a bit but avoid ending up in a lengthy conversation about crossfit nobody but that guy wanted to have.
A bit later I'm left alone with him while the others go for a refill and I try to make small talk but he interrupts me to ask if I know who some guy whose name I'd never heard and can't for the life of me remember now is, so I say I don't know who that is. He starts gushing about how he's this super awesome celebrity in the crossfit world and starts doing all sorts of goofy contortions trying to position himself in a way that he gets enough cellphone signal to go online and show me some videos of this guy he admires doing crossfit.
I excused myself saying I had to go take a leak so that by the time I came back the others were already back too. The guy wasn't a bad dude or a douche or anything like that, but man, if your only conversation topic is that one hobby you have, it limits social interactions a lot when you're blind to the fact that not everybody shares your passion or finds your hobby particularly interesting.
I know people on the spectrum have their things that they are very, very into and want to share with everyone, but this guy just sounds overboard
MAGA
Swifties
Competitive dance.