I was raised in the New Apostolic Reformation, so I was deep deep into crazyland. It made a lot of promises that never happened and made a lot of statements that didn’t line up. It took a few years, and there was a LOT of resistance on my end, but I eventually realized that one side was going to make my life better, and one side would make my life worse.

The hardest part of deradicalizing people is keeping a level head, because coming at it with anger is playing into the indoctrination. I was raised to believe that people were going to hate me for speaking the truth, and that the anger I was getting was evidence that the cult was correct. This is where the persecution fetishism comes from, they’re trying to convince their brain in lieu of facts. Getting internet hate is like a meditative litany in a way, it’s seen as a digital analogue to a scourge purging the weakness from you and leaving only the pure fire of god behind. I honestly wouldn’t have gotten out if it weren’t for my gaming group believing I could be a cool person, and taking the time to educate me instead of just kicking me or hurling hot takes at me.

I’m now big on Street Epistemology as a framework for deradicalization.