Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism

Another kind of modern cult is those found on social media. To introduce this idea, Montell tells the story of cult leader Bentinho Massaro, who found his following on Instagram. Massaro was born in Amsterdam and moved to Sedona, Arizona, with ambitions to “build an enlightened new city” (257). His videos address suicide in problematic and dangerous ways, and he relies on verbal aggression disguised as “divine kindness” to control and gaslight followers (258). In December of 2017, Massaro hosted a spiritual retreat during which an attendee, Brent Wilkins, killed himself. Although no charges were filed against Massaro for the incident despite his incriminating online presence, word spread on social media, and people learned to avoid him. Support groups even formed on Facebook for former members of his group.

Cults have grown with the rise of social media as algorithms create siloed communities and influencers use platforms to bolster their followings. This has led to greater diversity of cults, including groups that were previously marginalized by the middle-class white homogeneous nature of many past cults. New Age cults have hit their stride on social media, and Montell provides a helpful hint for spotting them; for instance, anytime someone refers to quantum ideas, ask them to do a physics problem.