Dave's Blog

I’ve mentioned David Pakman before, as someone who has brilliant videos on US politics. Here he’s interviewing Amanda Montell, a linguist who’s written a book called Cultish. They have a fascinating discussion about cults, in which she brings up this term “thought terminating cliché.” It means a phrase that always ends the debate, and is “aimed at shutting down independent thinking or questioning.”

Could You Be Sucked Into a Cult? (Amanda Montell Interview)

She debunks the myth that it’s only disturbed and intellectually deficient people who join cults, and she also points out that you can’t change people’s minds with facts.