How social media influencers rein men in with cult leader tactics
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First they appeal to you with a message you have been waiting for.
“Your problems aren’t your fault, there is someone to blame for all of this.”
“I know how to make all your troubles go away.”
This hook is nothing new, but it’s causing havoc online in the hands of narcissistic and power hungry social media influencers as they spread harmful ideology to build their own following and feed their own desire to manipulate.
The big names, Andrew Tate, Joe Rogan and Jordan Peterson are recognised as the golden trio of the manosphere, an online community built around a common enemy — women.
We throw their names around, but they have young audiences lapping up misogynistic messages while lining their pockets.
We’ve heard of rabbit holes and echo chambers, but these influencers are modelling their manipulation off something much older.
They’ve been studying cult leadership.
It’s not your fault, it’s her fault
We are fascinated by cults, by the hive mind and the breaking down of individuality.
In her book Cultish, Amanda Montell said language is at the heart of how we exercise cultlike influence. From conspiracy theorists to exercise class instructors, the art of exclusivity is widely practiced.
Brands will create their own terminology, or use social media to create in-jokes that encourage their customers to assign their company with an identity, and see themselves as a valid, in the know, by-product.
But according to forensic psychologist Genevieve Willis, it takes a certain type of person to prey on insecurities to build a platform based on hate.
“Once a narcissistic personality develops, there’s a combination of wanting power, wanting to feel superior, wanting to feel important. Being able to influence other people just feeds into that sense of ‘how good I am’,” Ms Willis said.
She likened the techniques used by toxic influencers to those used by groomers.
“They have to develop a connection with people and be tapping into insecurities, which is part of that sort of rapport building, or grooming process of making people feel understood and important,” she said.
Ms Willis said audiences are first drawn in with the promise of something which seems worthwhile.
“They’re using legitimate topics to draw people in. The manosphere talks about male dominated sports, health, finances, how to get rich,” she said.
“These things are valuable to young people, it kind of initially gets them in. But then, toxic messages are layered into those topics.”
From here, influencers tap into the old “us vs them” cult tactic to unite their audience against a common enemy.
“There needs to be an enemy, to create an us and them dynamic. They identify and define the enemy and go into detail about why they are the opposition. In this case, it’s usually women,” she said.
Read more https://thenightly.com.au/culture/andrew-tate-joe-rogan-other-incels-how-social-media-influencers-rein-men-in-with-cult-leader-tactics-c-21043648
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