Transgender Ideology and Successful the Radicalization of Youth via Cult Tactics
Our most vulnerable children have been convinced that they were born in the wrong bodies. Their peers, still vulnerable by means of their age, have become radicalized "supporters" of an evil doctrine.
How did this happen? How does the faith-based ideology of transgenderism have so many followers? And why are they so radical? Why are young people fighting for the “rights” of their peers to remove healthy body parts?
To answer these questions, this article will break Steven Hassan's BITE model and discuss the specific cult tactics used by trans rights activists. This is an issue of manipulation of a child's empathy through lies, blackmail, and finally, brainwashing.
Steven Hassan, ex member of the Unification Church, has been described as one of the world's foremost experts in cults and mind control. The BITE model, which stands for behavioral, information, thought, and emotional control, is the model of control which cults have been observed using. “The BITE Model of Authoritarian Control: Undue Influence, Thought Reform, Brainwashing, Mind Control, Trafficking and the Law.” When cults can control one of these things, the others usually follow. For example, if cult doctrine controls a cult member's thoughts, their behaviors will become controlled as they act such thoughts out. Alternatively, if the cult controls which information a victim has access to, it also controls their thoughts and emotions.
According to Hassan, Cults instill many doctrinal beliefs, but ten core ones, common in many cults, are:
The Doctrine is reality - This makes dissenting information from outsiders misinformation, propaganda, or a lie.
Reality is black and white, good vs. evil - This simple form of mind control heightens the emotions of victims and falsely inflates the stakes of their goals and doctrine. If the issue is moral, the empathy of the cult member is the weapon of the cult leader.
Elitist mentality - People who disagree with cult doctrine can be labeled as “other.” If we don't consider “others” human, the harm that comes to them in the name of the cult is okay.
Group will over individual will - Group will is usually prioritized when cult members are told about a good greater than themselves. Cult members become unallowed to think for themselves.
Strict obedience: modeling the leader - This includes mental and behavioral obedience.
Happiness through good performance - Happiness has to be earned and worked for through deeds the cult deems as good.
Manipulation through fear and guilt - These are easy emotions ti control: weaponized empathy.
Emotional highs and lows - This creates instability and difficulty in cognitive processing.
Changes in time orientation - Time distortion for the sake of confusion.
No way out - You can't escape. Attempts will be punished.
There is no limit to the number of beliefs a cult can instill, and the beliefs do not have to make sense and are able to contradict one another due to cognitive dissonance. An example we can see in the transgender cult is, “Gender is innate within the brain. Misalignment between the brain and body requires irreversible medical care as young as possible,” and also, “Gender is fluid. You may identify as many genders throughout your life. That's okay. Self ID is all that is required to be a man/woman.”
Mind Control
Hassan defines mind control as "a system that disrupts an individual's healthy identity development." “Identities are composed of beliefs, behavior, thoughts, and patterns of emotions. When cults indoctrinate a member, they replace this authentic identity with an artificial one.”
We can see this clearly in the gender cult, not only is cult membership an identity, but there is gender identity itself.
Our identities are important because they affect how we perceive ourselves and interact with the world. Imposing an identity upon someone by confusing and gaslighting them is a way to make them vulnerable and painfully easy to manipulate. Children and people with mental illness are especially vulnerable to this type of abuse.
The BITE Model
Behavior
One of the ways in which cults, including the trans cult, control behavior is by creating a heirarchy. Hierarchical control makes praise and punishment simple. Praise and punishment affect behavior, especially in a person with an external locus of control. People are motivated by what their actions result in, and cults can create an environment which favors worship of their beliefs and therefore controls behavior.
By rewarding behavior which the cult teaches is good and punishing that which is bad, members of the cult can be trained like animals with a punishment and reward system. Rewards usually include things like “lovebombing,” when cult members are swarmed by praise, love, and affirmation, creating an addicting emotional high. Cults rely on members becoming dependant on their dose of dopamine and create situations in which victims will perform certain behaviors for a “fix” of love and acceptance.
Punishment often consists of shame, guilt, and humiliation. Most victims of a cult reward and punishment system eventually self punish with feelings of unworthiness or badness after such feelings are enforced for long enough by other cult members.
Another form of behavior control is participation in ritual. Participation in rituals strengthens connection to the group and dampens the ability to think cognitively.
One example of ritual is chanting. Chanting can feel empowering as a crowd of people you agree with are shouting with you in agreement. Chanting creates a false sense of agreement and also makes it difficult to clearly think, and impossible to hear other people's ideas. Chanting creates an echo chamber.
Information
Cults control information by robbing people of the ability to make informed decisions by hiding all or some of the information from them. An easy example of this is “cancel culture.” Certain people will “cancel” speakers, like women with opinions, or gender critical people, and say that even listening to them is dangerous and evil. This leaves victims uninformed.
Things like cancel culture and information control can lead cults to tell their members to cut off family members to solidify the echo chamber and to have complete control over what information cult members receive.
Contact with family and ex members is frowned upon. Detransitioners destroy the narrative as apostates from the cult.
Cults smear all outside information as “satanic” and “propaganda.” Cult members are also often deprived of time to think for themselves, and when they do have that time, are most often provided cult propaganda.
Cults are also protective of and dishonest with their own information, only providing the more shocking details as members get deeper into the cult. New trans rights activists are not told that children need sex changes, instead, they are manipulated and radicalized first, and once they use cult language like the rest of the members, child sex changes are presented as a good thing. “Gender affirming care is life saving medicine.” Lying and omitting truths results in things like this lie.
Thought Control
Thought control is when cult members internalize cult doctrine. At the end stage of mind control, victims do not think for themselves or make their own decisions, but instead look to the teaching of the cult to do these things for them.
Cult doctrine is always black and white, us vs them, good vs evil, and leaves no room for nuance.
The transgender cult uses a common tactic, special language, as another way to control thought. Special language manipulates thinking and separates members from an outsider. The language of cults is often simplistic. “Trans rights are human rights.” “Gender affirming care.” “Top surgery.” “Bottom surgery.”
Destructive cults also teach members to "block out any information that is critical of the group." This can involve denial, rationalization, justification, and wishful thinking. This is similar to information control, but it takes place in the victims own mind, which is thought control.
Some cult members will loudly chant or sing when confronted with dissenting ideas. This is an example of blocking or stopping.
Emotional Control
Cults can control emotions through fear and by narrowing down and heightening the sensation of the emotions you are allowed to feel: gender euphoria and gender dysphoria, for example.
Making them feel wonderful when they obey and fearful when they do not is another way to control the emotions and condition victims of a cult. These are very intense but limited emotions.
Cult members are often led to believe that it is their fault if it's teachings do not work, for example, the case of detransitioners. This controls people through guilt and fear. Hassan has described in a book how a vacillation between praise and punishment or criticism is a common cult technique to manufacture helplessness, and called "double-bind behavior."
Fear binds cult groups together by first creating a scary outside world that wants to kill them, and then a scary inside world which they will die from if they leave.
“Cults may also redefine emotions. Hassan describes a religious cult that teaches that happiness is being closer to God. Because it also teaches that God is unhappy, being unhappy and suffering are actually the truest form of happiness.”
This reminds me of gender dysphoria and euphoria, emotions and language imposed upon a person in an abnormal experience which is either praised or ridiculed.
Who is at risk of cult indoctrination?
Everyone. Such powerful mind control tactics as those I described above work on all humans. However, certain people are more likely to enter a situation in the first place where they might receive such information. Who are these people?
Children
Mentally ill people (especially those with identity disorders)
Neurodivergent people
People with a history of trauma or abuse
Sources:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combatting_Cult_Mind_Control#:~:text=%22hypnotic%20processes.%22-,BITE%20Model,others%20will%20tend%20to%20follow.