re the annoying use of therapy speak: i dont blame people for not knowing this, but when i went to therapy, the therapy speak type of communication was treated like it is the most correct way to talk to people. it is the official scientifically approved way to communicate. and you need to do it.
plus the fact that the common knowledge of reality/the outside world being so sparse for whatever reason, therapy also taught me relentlessly that if i will only speak like that, nothing can go wrong 😐
if someone is overusing therapy speak in a conversation and it's clunky and annoying and seemingly uncalled for, it may be because they had it conditioned into them in therapy to be the only morally correct option that works.
I just finished the book Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell. It’s about the language that cults will use to essentially brain wash their members (not in the typical brainwash way that you think about). It’s “the technical terms, the redefined words, the shorthand, the clichés, the euphemisms, logical distortions, and so on set members apart from and above their pedestrian neighbors, families, and coworkers". Montell does not necessarily view "cultish" – the "language" she identifies as the set of linguistic tricks cult leaders use to coerce and manipulate members – negatively, but she believes that people should at least be able to recognize it.”
Anyways fucked me up! In the past two days I’m seeing it everywhere, in marketing, in the slogans in my job, in popular work out groups, cliche phrases we all say…… and then i watched the latest episode of severance! I don’t think I’ll watch this show, and more specifically Mr Milchick and other unsevered employees the same.
In this last episode i wanna talk about that acronym ORTBO that they introduced because it’s the most obvious tactic that they used.
Wtf when have you ever heard this weirdly stated acronym? Well the innies do all the time! So this is normal for them to hear, i mean they are from the MDR department! Macrodata refinement, even with that longer version of the word it still doesn’t feel like a full explanation as to what their job does. But to them because they are introduced to it and taught to not question their bosses for fear of punishment and so they just go with it. Which now mdr has become part of their everyday vocabulary they don’t even question the meaning.
Cut to this episode, our innies are unconesntionally ripped out of their regular office space and put into this isolating harsh environment phrased as a reward. They are told they have been good enough to earn this trip and give it a title, the ORTBO, and they are very lucky to be experiencing this.
Later when they have been walking for a lot time, feeling lost and hungry are a considering eating a literal frozen dead seal because this “reward” isn’t feeling like a reward. Dylan reminds them, they are on an ORTBO and he repeats its vague meaning trying to convince them not to doubt the company. Almost trying to convince himself as well. This is the same Dylan that’s been getting fed incentives of seeing his family on the side and have been told he’s extra special. He has more to loose than anyone else right now and by repeating it is trying to stop everyone from doubting. Aka the orbto is working.
“Creating special language to influence people’s behavior and beliefs is so effective in part simply because speech is the first thing we’re willing to change about ourselves . . . and also the last thing we let go” -Amanda montell
Cults will make up words and introduce them in this way to make a group of people feel connected. Like they have been let into this new group of special workers allowed out side and given a term phrased as a reward to squash any train of thought leading to doubt or questioning. The further they go on this team building occurrence they will understand the reward.
They also use this new group language to make the group feel superior and anyone on the outside intrigued into what people are talking about. Making learning the language feel connecting with others and like you are understanding the deeper meaning. They feel superior and anyone on the outside feels like they are missing something.
Cross fit does this well! They have new work out terms like dms (delayed muscle soreness) so if a CrossFit gym bro is talking to a regular gym bro and uses the term DMS, the regular gym bro feels dumb for not knowing what this is and not keeping track of it. And is now curious as to what CrossFit has that he is missing before he knows it he’s sucked in. (I bet you they will bring back this term later if they can to alienate other employees in other departments)
Um hello even in the way they advertised this episode is using this tactic! They didn’t give us the meaning or context they gave us the word and now we wanna know what this new acronym is in the next episode.
Severance universe has literally created a whole new language to keep certain people in the know and others confused. Watch for it!
It’s not always in acronym form; Sometimes it’s a saying, sometimes it’s just a common word given a double meaning to those in the group and out of the group.
Another day another dollar- something we hear all the time to make us just go to work and endure shit we shouldn’t
Doubt your doubts before you doubt your faith- something we would hear all the time growing up as Mormon to stop people from questioning and like it’s bad to have critical thought
Endowment- to people out side Mormonism it means gift people inside it’s a whole secret ritual that you are sworn to secrecy or off yourself before telling another soul
lol my work calls its self a village
Its everywhere! It’s in our marketing! It’s in our gyms! It’s at work! We don’t even notice because it’s working.
“Words are the medium through which belief systems are manufactured, nurtured, and reinforced, their fanaticism fundamentally could not exist without them.”-Amanda Montell
Anyways this book has fucked me up and has made severance even better for me
another cult classic: the words "rational" and "irrational" used in therapy cult are not the usual definition. when therapists and psychiatrists call me "irrational", its because i am defying their rigid ideology and mythology, not that im being unrealistic/illogical. i literally explain that i know i was being abused at home because the situation at home matches the definitions and traits of abuse. and that im believing im being abused at home because of the repeating patterns of evidence. and they will call that "irrational". Rationality is compliance with the status quo. Irrational is believing things that arent allowed to be true 🤷🏻 Rational is beliving in good nice things no matter how observably false they are. Rational = compliance to ideology. making observations and drawing conclusions that arent allowed = irrational. grins.
its amazing how my last terrible therapist criticized me for not having "a stable sense of self" as if being called irrational all the time, not being allowed boundaries, not allowed to have thoughts and feelings unless i have a therapists permission, and not allowed to think i know things or who i am or to say internally "i know that that is wrong" does not literally exist to obliterate my sense of self. wow almost like destroying my personhood is the point, and then on top of that they point and laugh at me for being literally broken by their own hands. i am literally a product of your entire profession 🤷🏻 i used to have a stable and strong sense of self. and then i went to therapy. amazing. wild. cruel turds.
its complicated of course but i really hate the cult thought control shit where they correct your language. im not talking about polite corrections about the definitions or a reminder not to say offensive words. i think thats fine and even good to do, to put effort towards and to remind each other if needed (kindly). but like certain words and phrases arent allowed. one thing that fucked me up earlier on in the therapy shit is being corrected when i said i was powerless at home being abused.
its another cognitive distortion nonsense, but even that os about what words and phrases you arent allowed to use (or even think).
but i was powerless. and the priority of controlling my language simply hurts me more and reduced my ability to describe the circumstances i was in. or in other words, a thought stopping technique.
criticising HOW someone is expressing themselves like that is so cruel. they disregard the "im being abused and it wont stop" part and instead teach me to only use the acceptable scripts to describe the hell im going through. its a distraction. and i cannot express how much pain it causes, having my words policed, my factual reality (being powerless) not being allowed to be expressed for what it is cause it breaks the thought rules, it violates the language rules of what im allowed to say, of what ideas are allowed to be expressed. its just thought control. and it was so painful.
i wish i could reach back through time and tell 17 year old me that i was right when i panicked and would cry over the horror of being told "you're never powerless" as a distraction from being powerless and them doing nothing to help. that my pain is not proof im Doing It Wrong, but of harm. that me from the future finally found the words, and that yes the therapists are 100% wrong and cruel clowns. and the pain of trying to reconcile the thought rules with the facts is proof im being abused again. and that those idiots are shit and trash and not worth another second of my time.
like the indoctrination was very much a case of slow increments over time, but also sometimes just the singular incidents were so profound. and it hurt me.
but anyway. id consider a lot of words/phrases that arent allowed to be used, a need to "reframe" ideas into versions that change what the meaning is, thats a big as hell red flag. its just another way of changing whats true into the doctrine approved version, prioritized over the facts. doctrine over person. coercive control.
