# Cults are bad

Trigger Warning: Cults, Sexual abuse, honestly Richard Stallman is worthy of a trigger warning on his own.

=> https://stallman-report.org About a week and a half ago, this report was released.

I, Luka (formerly Lucy), had been spending more time on Tumblr over the past month. It wasn't hard to hear about some strange communities that held a lot of the same views that Stallman has expressed as per the above document that popped up in the years since I last used Tumblr.

People who had left those commuities were describing them as cults. In fact, there were people literally starting fake cults -- called "fults" -- based on their Hollywood-inspired ideas for a cult.

It reminded me that I had known the the people who generally agree with the FSF and gnu.org's stated positions were in a cult for a good while, lead by someone with those sorts of views.

=> https://vimuser.org/cult.html My reaction to Leah Rowe's post (not) on the matter was that it really was as bad as I saw on the outside then.

I will repost the contents here, as they had released it in the public domain via the CC0 license. The link is above if you want to see it on the original website.

I may write my own words on the matter, but I feel this post absolutely has a place in the current discussions of Richard Stallman.

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I was in a cult once. It will use you, make you burn lots of bridges and miss many opportunities. It will present itself as all that is good in the world, when in reality its leader is a disgusting slob who contributes precisely nothing (while telling others what to do), and in many ways actually makes the world a worse place. He is a man who will lie to your face, when it suits him, and leave you holding the bag when his own life is on the line.

At some point, the slob is exposed and challenged, but by an even bigger, more disgusting slob, with an even bigger cult following. The people in both cults are (mostly) good people, who are misled but who otherwise do good work, real work, that makes the world a better place, while those false leaders (the slobs) do nothing, and in fact are parasites, leaving their stink on everything they touch.

Two slobs do not make a better world; instead, they leave twice the mess! However, at the time, you saw it as your duty to defend the first slob. You did not see him as a slob. He was your insulted leader. Your hero.

Later on, the slob fails to return a favour, and you realize the cult had already spat you out. You were being manipulated. The person you once held in high regard is a person you now truly despise. The people you once respected as comrades, you now realize are just the same as you were.  Brainwashed.

But now you're on the other side, estranged. Not isolated, as such, but you find yourself in unfamiliar waters. You have been disconnected from the hive mind. Freedom isn't normal yet.

I'm not sure yet if it's too late for me, but I realized this and have now shaken that influence which once had a hold on me. I will not mention the name of the cult, because it deserves no recognition. Its usefulness has long since passed, and it's time we move on.

I left this cult once before, but I was weak and it pulled me back in.  Back then, it regarded me as useful. I won't let it pull me in again.

*I will not be used again.*

I've wasted many years, and I'm now making up for lost time.  The only change that has occurred, fundamentally, is this:

I now believe in myself, fully.

My eyes are open.

I'm truly sorry, to all those who I hurt, while under the influence of said cult. I refer to it as such, and imply here that the cult had something to do with it, but *I* alone am responsible for my actions.

I fully accept the consequences of my actions, and I hope to be a better person from now on.

I'm still very concerned about the state of things, but at least I'm no longer a part of the problem. At least, I hope not.

Cults are bad. Dogma is bad. Think for yourself.

Live free.