Hi yes hello would you like a very timely and frustrating Aum/Aleph comparison?

Someone asked me during an interview today "What happened to Aum after the attacks?"

So I tried to explain that Aum is still active under (at least) 3 different names.

Lemme show you some stuff... https://twitter.com/travis_view/status/1297359959361871872

Whenever I bring up the fact that the death cult what did all the terrors is still around and recruiting ~100 new members each year, people seem to be surprised.

But the way Aleph does its thing isn't new or even uncommon.

In fact, it's not too dissimilar to groups like QAnon.

Aleph solicits people online and irl. They're very adept at social media.

They go into online spaces that are in ANY way compatible with what they're pretending to be.

They pretend to be a number of things. Book clubs, homeopathic types, cooking classes, wellness centers...

They pretend to share certain interests and poach people from subcultures and whatnot that can easily be sold on things like conspiracy theories, research, yoga, etc. Aleph's strong points.

Sometimes they even go into other high demand milieus like Amway to solicit...

The important thing is that they never use the Aum or Aleph names.

When they start to groom/indoctrinate they peddle a "soft" version of themselves.

They maintain contact. When they think they have a mark they invite the person to a non-public group or off-site meet up.

So here's where shit gets real and how we can bring it back to QAnon...

No matter what the soft version or front group presented itself as, people being primed and indoctrinated are introduced to a series of lifestyle changes (diet, yoga, etc. and conspiracy theories.

In this way, the death cult deceives the mommy blogger, hippie, part timer, you name it and opens them up to the idea of, say, the sarin attacks being a (((false flag.)))

Once the target is ready to see this and learn the "truth" they've already accepted the cult's ideology.

I maintain that QAnon meets the criteria of being a cultic/high demand group.

Some argue that QAnon shouldn't be strictly labeled a "cult."

I don't disagree with those people. But I DO strongly believe that recognizing the parallels and knowing how cults operate can only help.