How SMART People Get Pulled Into Cults with Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames | Profiling Evil
About this episode
The episode features a discussion with Sarah Edmondson and Nippy Ames about their experiences in NXIVM and the psychological tactics used by cults to manipulate individuals.
In this episode of Profiling Evil, I sit down with Sarah Edmondson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames from A Little Bit Culty for a raw and honest conversation about cult behavior, coercive control, undue influence and the slow erosion of personal autonomy. They were inside NXIVM, the organization led by Keith Raniere, who was convicted in federal court in 2019 of racketeering, sex trafficking, attempted sex trafficking, forced labor conspiracy and other crimes. In 2020, Raniere was sentenced to 120 years in prison. But this conversation isn’t just about NXIVM. It’s about how control can be disguised as self-improvement, leadership training, discipline, personal growth, spiritual development or belonging. Sarah and Nippy explain how people don’t usually walk into a destructive group knowing what it really is. They walk in because they’re looking for purpose, community, answers, confidence, healing or a better version of themselves. That’s what makes this discussion so important. We talk about the first hooks, the love bombing, the status systems, the pressure to ignore red flags, the “us versus them” thinking, the sunk cost fallacy, the fear of admitting you were wrong and the painful…
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