Ana Mardoll

I have just seen with my own two eyes a tumblr post urging folks NOT to call out TERFism as fascist-adjacent ("even though it is!") because language like that just entrenches the "good ones" and makes it harder for them to leave the group.

This is precisely why y'all have got to stop applying cult dynamics to fascist online organization, because you start centering "how to help the good ones get out" over helping the victims of their fascism.

Cults limit your ability to leave the fold. Being a terf on mumsnet dot com is not the same thing as being unable to move away, access your finances, get to a car, etc. They literally just need to notice they're hanging out with Nazis and LOG OFF.

The difference between a cult and a hate group is that a cult hurts its own members, while a hate group hurts outsiders. I think that's REALLY RELEVANT when we talk about how to "rescue" online fascists.

Like. I don't want to minimize how hard it is to leave a group of online friends because you realize they're a bunch of hateful monsters; that IS legit hard! But it's not the same as *physically leaving a cult*, and especially it's not the same because the cult hurts YOU.

Leaving a group that hurts YOU is not the same as leaving a group that hurts other people--and it needs to be remembered through all this that the so-called "good ones" were HURTING OTHERS during their time in the hate group.

Cult concepts are perhaps valuable to talk about in terms of recruiting into the hate group fold, and when quashing internal dissent, BUT the analogy breaks down when we start treating hate group members like innocent cult survivors.