Hey uh, I don't like making call-out-type posts, but I feel like I need to say something and warn people.
Maybe don't join the new up-and-coming BJD forum called Resin Grove.
I know it looks really promising, I fell for it too, but not only do they use genAI for coding (and probably other things), the husband of the creating duo is very pro-AI and super MAGA. Apparently the wife/main creator is "apolitical", but yeah.
Be careful guys. I know we're searching for a DOA replacement, but this is not the one.
hey don't cry. on december 3, 1926, agatha christie went missing for eleven days and because the uk police didn't know what to do they recruited sir arthur conan doyle, creator of master detective sherlock holmes, but all he did was conduct a séance to try and contact her distressed spirit
With all the posting I did recently about cat shows and CFA, I want to infodump about the lesser-known Household Pet competitive class.
While most people think of pedigreed purebreds when they think of cat shows, and that does make up a large majority of cats in CFA and TICA (the two major international cat showing associations), but many don't know that nearly any cat is eligible to compete in a cat show. About 95% of all pet cats are non-pedigreed, and the Household Pet (HHP) class, also known as Companion Cat, is the class where you can enter any cat you happen to have at home.
Note: I currently show in CFA, so all my info is CFA-specific, but TICA also has a Household Pet class.
Competitors in the CFA HHP class are all judged as one big group, rather than by divisions like the pedigreed classes, but are eligible for the same awards and distinctions and can go on to regional and national competitions (the latter of which, I'm told, also gets you invited to the fancy end of season awards dinner because at the end of the day we're still pretentious cat people). This includes a "Grand" title, which means the cat has accrued a certain number of points from placing in a finals round across six judges (scoring for cat shows is highly variable, but mostly depends on how many other competitors a certain cat beat out in placement).
HHP cats are also registered the same way pedigree cats are (although it's cheaper for HHPs because they don't have any papers - as of writing this, I believe Companion Cat registry costs about $20), meaning you can give them a silly registered name if you want to and they are added to the database of CFA-registered animals, with a breed designation of Domestic Shorthair (DSH) or Domestic Longhair (DLH).
Here's Loki, a 2022/2023 season Grand Household Pet (though I believe she will be retiring after this season), being judged in the ring at a CFA show.
[IMG ID: A white cat with black cow spots (including a sideways splotch on her nose) stands on a table amongst toys and a scratching post. She is being petted by a bespectacled, blonde judge in a red cardigan as she judges the cat's body condition. END ID]
(I've met her, she's a sweetie)
(Cont'd under the cut)
Household Pet is a lot of fun. While in the pedigree classes, judging is done based on a 100-point rubric comparing the cat to its breed standard (a specific list of criteria the "ideal" example of the breed should adhere to, a combo of aesthetics, genetics, and health), Household Pet judging does not rely on any kind of rubric or specific criteria, and instead the judges are encouraged to judge the cats on their own unique merits. This is also why earning a Grand title requires the input of 6 judges (for pedigree breeds, it's 3), to compensate for the fact that the judges are using arbitrary criteria to judge the cats.
Judges do generally follow a set of base guidelines generally expected of any show cat during the HHP judging process to assess competitors:
1. Good health - cats should be a healthy weight and free of disease or parasites
2. Clean and groomed appearance - you don't have to give your cat a blowout or anything, a bath and brushing will do. Additionally, all show cats must have trimmed nails while in the show hall (for handler safety and so no one gets caught on anything).
3. Good show temperament - the cat must be amenable to being picked up, handled, and generally disturbed by strangers. While many judges will tolerate a little hissing, especially from first-time contestants, cats who attack a judge are disqualified (this goes for the pedigree cats, too). Temperament is a big factor in HHP judging, as cats who are able to display their best personal qualities in the show ring are most likely to catch the eye of a judge when they are picking their finals. The best HHP cats can make the judges see all the qualities their owners love about them.
Past these three baseline assessments, judges are encouraged to choose their favorites by whatever metric(s) they'd like. Some qualities that can bring a Household Pet into a final include (but aren't limited to):
- interesting or unique characteristics: while genetic mutations are not allowed in pedigree classes (the exception being mutations found as part of the breed standard, such as rex-coated cats or [le big sigh] Scottish Folds), Household Pet allows for one (1) genetic mutation. Kitties with polydactyly or nonstandard coat expression are often of interest in Household Pet.
(and anecdotally, quite a few judges have the same reaction as any of the rest of us when they see a cat with thumbs 😊)
- being a head-turningly pretty or endearingly ugly cat: sometimes judges will give deference in their finals to a particularly well-groomed specimen, an especially pleasing coat or eye color, or an outstandingly scrunkly creature.
- interesting history: shelter kitties, senior cats, and seasoned show veterans are often very popular in HHP
- being a kitty kissass: Kissing up to the judge is not worth much in pedigree judging, as temperament is only one part of a far larger picture, but in HHP, it can account for the whole rubric. An affectionate and friendly "people cat" can easily win the heart of many judges - not to mention the audience!
While the vast majority of standard issue cats are eligible for Household Pet competition, CFA does have a short list of requirements for Household Pet contestants. These include:
- no aggression. Judges will not judge a cat that poses a risk to them, for obvious reasons. Some cats just don't react well to the show environment.
- no declawed cats. CFA is rightfully vehemently against declawing and will not allow a declawed cat to be shown.
- only one genetic mutation is permitted. I'm not 100% sure why this is the cap, but if I had to guess, this ties into CFA's cat health standards and negative attitude towards experimental breed showing.
- cats must be fixed (assuming they are old enough). This encourages spaying or neutering your cats and ensures backyard breeders don't recieve CFA recognition by showing in HHP. As kittens may be shown in CFA starting at 4 months, kittens between 4 and 8 months old may be shown intact.
- cats must be able to stand on their own. This is probably a safety thing, since limb differences are allowed in HHP and cats are judged on a table. In my experience they're pretty lenient with this one - a regular contestant in my region is a cat with relatively severe front leg deformities, and he is allowed to compete (he mostly kinda shuffles. It's very endearing).
Household Pet is a great way for people interested in cat showing to get involved, with a low barrier of entry and often fun to watch. While a small minority of cat show people can get snobby about Household Pets, the vast majority of exhibitors and judges in any given show hall either have a non-pedigree cat at home or have loved one in the past, and Household Pet is generally known as the class to celebrate what we as cat fanciers love about cats everywhere, acknowledging that every cat is, in fact, the best cat.
Could I suggest a picture of Dawntreader Texas Calboy? He is a beautiful male calico cat who is a chimera. He's also somewhat controversial among some cat fancy associations since he is a male cat with female colors, and some people are strangely transphobic towards him, despite him being a cat? There was even a rule implemented to keep him from competing in a cat show. If you look up his name, he made a few news articles.
Yeah you're right about beautiful I'm squeezing him until he pops!!!!! I love this guy I think I'm going to make an edit real quickly Calboy I love you I'm so sorry people are calling you a freak??????
To be fair, I don't think he was referring to the cat (who wasn't there) but to the cat's owner (who is a woman and who the author had been asking if anyone could point them in her direction).
Still hilarious that they're pitching a fit over a boy cat being calico, tho. Like idk man maybe your cat show rules are stupid if you're going to gender-lock coloring? /shrugs just me, maybe.
also, hang on - why DON'T they allow three-legged cats? You mean to tell me if an absolutely perfect show cat has some sort of tragic accident resulting in losing a limb (obviously incredibly unlikely considering how pampered these animals are but like WHAT IF), that could no longer be shown?
So I'm not sure about what happens if a show cat has an accident (like if it was hit by a car or something) but limb difference due to genetics or something like cancer is a DQ from pedigree competition because it can indicate something bad you don't want in your preservation breeding gene pool (i.e. it could lead to unhealthy offspring if you were to breed the cat). This is especially true for issues that can be considered "desirable" (like dwarfism), because breeding those on purpose is not considered by CFA to be good for the cat or its offspring, and drives demand for unscrupulous backyard breeding.
Three legged cats to my understanding are allowed in Household Pet 😊
Edit to add: @ruffboi-mags it's not the color itself that's the problem. Calico gene expression is a sex-linked trait associated with female cats, which in a male cat indicates an abnormality in the cat's genetics. While that isn't an inherently bad thing for the cat, assuming no other health problems arise from it, it's likely a disqualification from pedigree judging because CFA doesn't want to encourage the breeding of cats that are genetically abnormal for novelty purposes.
So that should be the only response they give. "Because we do not want to encourage intentional breeding of genetic abnormalities that could be harmful to the cats, we do not allow this trait in pedigree competitions."
Pretty easy.
I mean that said i think a large amount of pedigree standards (and the people creating/upholding them) are not nearly as concerned about the health of an animal's genetics as you or they would like us to believe, considering THIS is the first face you see on the CFA's page on Persians
there are ways to breed persians without such extreme brachycephalic traits, but then they generally don't meet pedigree breed standards bc their noses aren't short enough. And since they're the most low-hanging fruit for argument if they try to say they're excluding something to not encourage breeding that could be genetically detrimental to the animals, I'd guess their clear hypocrisy is probably why they don't just say that. Because it's not true, it's just their justification.
Also, if you think Persians aren't the same thing because it was just the result of long intentional breeding rather than a genetic abnormality, fine: you want to know what breed is entirely based on a genetic abnormality that is provably tied to actual detrimental health issues that the CFA DOES recognize (and thus contributes to the continued novelty breeding of)?
Scottish Folds.
So yeaaaaah, I'm much more inclined to believe that certain people did not want a BOY cat with a GIRL coat coloring winning a title than there being any actual concern about novelty breeding (or frankly the health and overall well-being of the cat or his offspring) when they made that ruling.
You do pretty well sum up my problems with CFA (and the breeds in question, specifically). I'm not saying it's a perfect organization, it's far from it and we have a long way to go. I'm just trying to be as informative as possible since this is making the rounds and thought people would appreciate the context/clarification since it happens to be a field of interest for me. Ultimately it's a problem with the conduct CFA seems to allow from its members and judges, and I feel news about this didn't do a good job explaining the details.
For those who don't know and in the interest of transparency: the Scottish Fold is another mutation breed - if I remember correctly, a collagen defect - whose ears are folded over due to the tissue deficiency. The same issue also leads directly to arthritis for the vast majority of Scottish Folds at some point in their lives, which is why I am personally against them being allowed in CFA and don't believe they should be bred.
The peke-faced Persian (with the golf ball eyes, above) looks like that because they have brachycephalic skulls, much like pugs or bulldogs. While the effect can be less extreme than in dogs (because they're losing less of a nose), I would like to see the breed standard expand to be more stringent about nare width and respiratory ability and expand the skull shape allowance. It's a whole can of worms I don't want to get into but I have a lot of criticisms about Persian and Exotic (short-haired Persian) facial standards.
I do have a generally favorable view of cat showing and I enjoy it immensely, but I'm man enough to admit that these breeds do likely get a pass for being an established breed (and because peke-faced Persians are massively popular), and that CFA is not without its double standards.
Could I suggest a picture of Dawntreader Texas Calboy? He is a beautiful male calico cat who is a chimera. He's also somewhat controversial among some cat fancy associations since he is a male cat with female colors, and some people are strangely transphobic towards him, despite him being a cat? There was even a rule implemented to keep him from competing in a cat show. If you look up his name, he made a few news articles.
Yeah you're right about beautiful I'm squeezing him until he pops!!!!! I love this guy I think I'm going to make an edit real quickly Calboy I love you I'm so sorry people are calling you a freak??????
To be fair, I don't think he was referring to the cat (who wasn't there) but to the cat's owner (who is a woman and who the author had been asking if anyone could point them in her direction).
Still hilarious that they're pitching a fit over a boy cat being calico, tho. Like idk man maybe your cat show rules are stupid if you're going to gender-lock coloring? /shrugs just me, maybe.
also, hang on - why DON'T they allow three-legged cats? You mean to tell me if an absolutely perfect show cat has some sort of tragic accident resulting in losing a limb (obviously incredibly unlikely considering how pampered these animals are but like WHAT IF), that could no longer be shown?
So I'm not sure about what happens if a show cat has an accident (like if it was hit by a car or something) but limb difference due to genetics or something like cancer is a DQ from pedigree competition because it can indicate something bad you don't want in your preservation breeding gene pool (i.e. it could lead to unhealthy offspring if you were to breed the cat). This is especially true for issues that can be considered "desirable" (like dwarfism), because breeding those on purpose is not considered by CFA to be good for the cat or its offspring, and drives demand for unscrupulous backyard breeding.
Three legged cats to my understanding are allowed in Household Pet 😊
Edit to add: @ruffboi-mags it's not the color itself that's the problem. Calico gene expression is a sex-linked trait associated with female cats, which in a male cat indicates an abnormality in the cat's genetics. While that isn't an inherently bad thing for the cat, assuming no other health problems arise from it, it's likely a disqualification from pedigree judging because CFA doesn't want to encourage the breeding of cats that are genetically abnormal for novelty purposes.
Could I suggest a picture of Dawntreader Texas Calboy? He is a beautiful male calico cat who is a chimera. He's also somewhat controversial among some cat fancy associations since he is a male cat with female colors, and some people are strangely transphobic towards him, despite him being a cat? There was even a rule implemented to keep him from competing in a cat show. If you look up his name, he made a few news articles.
Yeah you're right about beautiful I'm squeezing him until he pops!!!!! I love this guy I think I'm going to make an edit real quickly Calboy I love you I'm so sorry people are calling you a freak??????
To be fair, I don't think he was referring to the cat (who wasn't there) but to the cat's owner (who is a woman and who the author had been asking if anyone could point them in her direction).
Still hilarious that they're pitching a fit over a boy cat being calico, tho. Like idk man maybe your cat show rules are stupid if you're going to gender-lock coloring? /shrugs just me, maybe.
also, hang on - why DON'T they allow three-legged cats? You mean to tell me if an absolutely perfect show cat has some sort of tragic accident resulting in losing a limb (obviously incredibly unlikely considering how pampered these animals are but like WHAT IF), that could no longer be shown?
So I'm not sure about what happens if a show cat has an accident (like if it was hit by a car or something) but limb difference due to genetics or something like cancer is a DQ from pedigree competition because it can indicate something bad you don't want in your preservation breeding gene pool (i.e. it could lead to unhealthy offspring if you were to breed the cat). This is especially true for issues that can be considered "desirable" (like dwarfism), because breeding those on purpose is not considered by CFA to be good for the cat or its offspring, and drives demand for unscrupulous backyard breeding.
Three legged cats to my understanding are allowed in Household Pet 😊
Could I suggest a picture of Dawntreader Texas Calboy? He is a beautiful male calico cat who is a chimera. He's also somewhat controversial among some cat fancy associations since he is a male cat with female colors, and some people are strangely transphobic towards him, despite him being a cat? There was even a rule implemented to keep him from competing in a cat show. If you look up his name, he made a few news articles.
Yeah you're right about beautiful I'm squeezing him until he pops!!!!! I love this guy I think I'm going to make an edit real quickly Calboy I love you I'm so sorry people are calling you a freak??????
He's adorable and I love him. An intersex icon for sure 🥰
As a sidenote: I'm one of those weird Cat Show People, and one of my partners and I show her cats in CFA. And I first want to say I think that my fellow CFA exhibitors and the organization itself have acted horribly towards this cat and his owner. Even though he has a genetic abnormality, even if he is not allowed to compete, this kind of patronizing and rude behavior is pervasive in the culture of CFA, by virtue of this being a pedigree cat organization and therefore mostly dominated by boomers with time and money (I have it on decent authority from some acquaintances that things like leadership boards attract the most insane kind of white people), and the organization as a whole is not incentivised to do anything about it.
That said, I'm also not entirely happy with how this story has circulated, because it leaves out the information important to understanding the actual problem (especially in the article below, which I believe is the most widespread on the issue):
Dawntreader Texas Calboy was born to be a champion. But he was also born with female colors. Now a political debate has broken out amongst c
From what I understand, Dawntreader Texas Calboy was being shown in Championship (his facebook states he reached Grand Championship status, which is no small feat). The article does not explain this, but Championship in CFA is the category for intact adult cats, and generally includes cats which, if found to be up to breed standard, will be bred to produce more purebred cats, and therefore acts as an endorsement of that particular cat's genetic makeup. While the article above does not specify, it is my assumption tha Texas Calboy is banned from competition in Championship specifically. If he were to be neutered, he could be entered into Household Pet, which is the competitive class for which any fixed, non-aggressive cat is eligible.
I show in Household Pet, and it is traditionally a class accepting and celebratory of cats with strange abnormalities. It's perhaps considered less prestigious by some snobs, but Household Pet entrants are eligible for the same types of awards as pedigree classes, including Grand points (meaning the cat has defeated a certain percentage of cats in its class across at least 3 judges) and national awards. It's the class meant to celebrate cats for simply being cats; I've seen all sorts from a pedigreed Maine Coon with crossed eyes to a shelter cat with severe leg deformities, and often, in my experience, judges take great pleasure in judging HHP because they can use whatever criteria they want instead of referring to a standard template. It's fun and a wonderful way to showcase cats as a pet animal and encourage adoption (shelters will sometimes enter adoptable cats into HHP for PR). It's a lot of fun to participate in and to watch.
But I also have an assumption as to why CFA made the call they did. CFA is known to be the stricter of the two large international show organizations (TICA being its laxer sibling), and generally its focus is on what's called "preservation breeding". Preservation breeding has a twofold aim: breeding the healthiest cat possible as close to the standards of its breed as possible, and avoiding experimental breeding. This often means that it is extremely difficult to get new breeds accepted at CFA and that CFA has a precedent of disqualifying cats with genetic mutations from competing as a pedigree cat (especially in the intact Championship category).
While I have plenty of criticisms about the kinds of breeds CFA finds acceptable sometimes (it's far from infallible - don't get me started on Scottish Folds, and peke-faced Persians are on thin fucking ice), but in general the organization prioritizes the long term health of a cat breed. Munchkins, for example, are not permitted to show in the pedigree classes because their looks are caused by dwarfism. The Canadian Sphynx was removed from the approved breed list for several years due to health concerns before being reinstated. While a number of pedigree breeds are the result of genetic mutation (the Canadian Sphynx, rex cats, the American Wirehair, and the Lykoi are all results of natural, genetic coat mutations), CFA has rigorous standards for breeds seeking recognition and these primarily concern the long term health of the breed.
CFA goes out of its way to discourage experimental breeding, and this is a good thing - experimental breeding encourages interest in strange-looking or unique traits in a cat without care for its well-being, and creates demand for backyard breeding and a worse longevity outlook for the cat - and as a result can be quite harsh to cats with genetic differences because pedigreed Champions are seen as a breeding endorsement, and breeding without regard for genetic abnormalities is how you get the current state of betta fish. Breeding a chimera would be seen as experimental, and CFA explicitly doesn't want to encourage or endorse doing so.
I just wanted to add context the article didn't, but cannot stress enough that how this cat was treated was wrong and indicative of how society at large treats intersex and nonconforming folks every day. CFA's decision may be precautionary, and even reasonable where an animal is involved, but it brings out the worst in CFA's membership and reinforces a lot of the biases many of us in the organization wish to push back against. The article above mentions that the breeder's son is autistic, and that she sees people in CFA treat her cat the way she sees her son treated in everyday life. That has to be heartbreaking for someone who loves cats the way she loves people, for two of her closest to share the same struggles. I don't entirely disagree with CFA's DQ of Texas Calboy, but I do consider it a canary in the coal mine when it comes to how internal CFA culture needs to change. Animals may not be people, and it's important to distinguish that, but when cat fanciers have no qualms saying such things about a cat, I've no doubt they'd have just as few in saying them to a human. And that's the real issue here.
Photo of me with Sisyphus as cat tax for reading this far - we're accepting his 6th place ribbon in this judge's ring at a show in January.
the other thing that we're missing from the loss of the 22 episode season is a tech-based monster of the week episode the teaches us the dangers of computers (The X-Files' "Ghost in the Machine"; Buffy the Vampire Slayer's "I Robot, You Jane"). like i don't think we'd be having all this trouble with a.i. if people remembered Moloch the Corruptor.
part of the fun of the original alien is the horror of the nostromo itself imo. it’s a cell of corporate greed ferrying narrowly-trained workers across barren space. it’s huge and yet claustrophobic, cockpits crammed with machinery giving way to yawning berths dripping chains and water. the supercomputer is named mother in a stroke of human anthropomorphization, but instead of providing comfort or protection, it’s only a courier between its creator and its wailing brood. ripley yells “mother! mother!” at a matronly-voiced computer that speaks calmly over her helplessness. the ship is full of endless details and patterns and unlabeled buttons and dials the audience can’t entirely make sense of; to do anything on the ship is a rigorous, technical process, and we must depend on the characters to know it. the internal mechanics of the ship are so alien that a literal alien can hide among the bits and bobs and not be noticed. it’s great.
This is how it's done in Eastern Europe. Very many years ago I've seen an old lady in my grandparents' village doing it with a very similar tool and beeswax. You need a REALLY good eye-hand coordination...and ability not to mess your design with your own fingers (which I definitely don't possess).
kinda crazy how like every cult documentary is like "here's the survivors we spoke to who all have a range of different experiences, beliefs, talents, skills and stories" and all the survivors of the cult are like "i consider myself a rational person and this initially gave me a sense of community and was offering me the one thing i needed, it was a wonderful experience at first and i was surrounded by people i loved and who loved me, and by the time i realised how bad things had gotten i was in too deep and had alienated all my friends and family outside of the group and had been brainwashed over a period of time to think that any suffering was deserved and that by leaving i would be causing harm to myself and everyone i knew, and if things had been good once then maybe they would be again, and i had to believe that because i had nothing else left" and then half the reviews are people talking about how stupid cult survivors are and how they would NEVER be so dumb to join a group like this, clearly these idiots KNOWINGLY joined a cult and therefore deserved everything that happened to them, maybe if they had tried been as smart and rational as me,
So here's something interesting: sure, there are people who get sucked into a cult just because they don't do the critical thinking and are duped into it. It happens.
BUT there are a large number of other reasons people can become involved in cults or cultish organizations that have nothing to do with someone's presumed "stupidity" (a whole other can of worms but I'm not getting into it):
1. DESPERATION - a significant number of people who get involved with more socially-focused cults or (especially) MLM schemes are desparate, either for money or, more often, social connection. Women and especially stay-at-home moms are a prime target for MLMs because they are offered the chance to support their family by working from home, on their schedule, while being a "business owner" among a bunch of other likeminded women. Jim Jones, leader of the People's Temple and ultimately the Jonestown Massacre, used the fact that he was a preacher and therefore a community leader to appeal to minorities, especially black populations and people interested in socialism and civil rights, by promising them an alternative to oppression and helping them just enough to become powerful within his group. When people have vulnerabilities, cult leaders and recruiters will make a point of sniffing them out in an effort to exploit an emotionally "painful" fact of someone's life or circumstances (and especially fears) to convince them to do something they may not otherwise be inclined to do for their own gain - I think almost everyone has done *something* out of character or objectively stupid in a fit of emotion or because their feelings clouded their judgement.
2. IGNORANCE - and by this I mean that you don't know what you don't know. I'm not talking about woeful ignorance here. If someone you're friends tells you, for example, that their product is better than prenatal vitamins and therefore you should buy it from their pyramid scheme instead of going to CVS and buying folic acid supplements like your doctor told you to do, do *you* know, offhand, exact information about exactly why prenatal vitamins are important? Do you know what folic acid does? Do you know that the product they're recommending you has *no* folic acid? Maybe you do. But many people don't, and if someone sounds authoritative on a subject you don't know about and if they couple it with a dose of the above in #1, on some level you may be inclined to believe them.
(This is a real example of an actual thing I've seen. Long story)
If you don't know the information to counteract something someone is offering you to get you involved in their cult, you may be susceptible to joining something bad even if you've thought critically about it simply because you lack the critical information to poke the right holes in someone's pitch. Additionally, you may belong to a group of people more susceptible to being convinced something is true if you don't know any better (e.g. neurodivergent people such as people with ASD or Down's Syndrome; very religious or spiritual people (and don't get me started on the Mormons); or people who lack a very specific type of education or background which gives them the information crucial to the situation at hand).
3. HIGH INTELLIGENCE - there are theories (with studies backing up the suggestion, though I'm not 100% sure how thorough this is for clarity's sake) that more intelligent and educated people may be more likely to buy into a fringe theory, idea, belief system, or organization simply *because* more educated or higher intelligence individuals are more likely to be open to new ideas. I call this the "smart enough to build a Marker" effect (because this is a Dead Space 2 plot point and it makes me chuckle 😅) but it boils down to the idea that many actually proven facts of the universe were at some point in history considered crackpot theories, but certain people believed them anyway, generally based on limited information and an educated understanding of current knowledge regarding the world (primarily in but not limited to the scientific field). Additionally, more intelligent or more highly educated people are also more likely to be able to reconcile new information (true or fake) using knowledge they already possess, making it easier to convince them to become involved in cultish activity.
I could keep going on and on about this, but yeah. You are not immune to cult recruitment techniques, NO MATTER WHO YOU ARE
(Also, because I encourage you to fact check me, the vast majority of this info comes from Amanda Montell's book Cultish, with supplemental material from Hannah Alonzo's anti-mlm youtube playlist)
