Newsletter - Updating the Law and Supporting Survivors
And Celebrating the Path from Survivor to Thriver
We’re now offering a special 20% off coupon for my new $9.95 mini course, the BITE Model of Authoritarian Control™. This mini-course is ideal for anyone wishing to learn more about my BITE Model. Enter the code “bitecourse20” and start today!
In this week’s episode of Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum, “Social, Forensic, and Media Psychology: Law and Reform in Current Practices Surrounding Influence,” I spoke with Dr. Brian Cutler, Professor and Program Director at Fielding University, where I received my own doctorate. His work is, and continues to be, an inspiration for my own. We discussed how the law is out of date on topics regarding how the mind works and how much social influence can sway people to do and believe things that are not common sense. Dr. Cutler has done cutting edge work in forensics and law enforcement analysis.
You can listen to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
In next week’s episode, Deconstructing Christian Nationalist Upbringing, Alt-Right Doctrine, and Abusive Religious Parenting, I will speak with singer/songwriter Monte Mader, who was raised in an ultra-conservative Christian community but broke free of the bonds of her upbringing and has flourished. The video of our talk is available in advance for our YouTube members, so now is an excellent time to become a channel member. I also just appeared on her podcast, Flipping Tables, in an episode titled Escaping a Cult. I think you’ll find both talks enlightening and uplifting - Monte is an excellent example of a survivor who has thrived!
This week’s livestream will be tomorrow, Wednesday, June 25th, at 3-4 p.m. EDT. I welcome everyone to tune in with questions and comments! Last week’s livestream was a great success; you can see the recording here if you missed it.
We are continuing our coverage of last week’s tragic shooting; Vance Luther Boelter, who killed top state lawmaker Melissa Hortman and her husband and wounded another lawmaker and his wife, has possible ties to a white supremacist sect, specifically, the Branhamite “Message” cult, which has known associations with the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) movement. I spoke with my colleague, Dr. John Collins, noted expert on this group, and we recorded this video. I was later contacted by Jeff Petricka, who knew Vance Boelter in college, and I recorded this interview with him. He witnessed radicalization of his baseball buddy. Media gives misinformation that he converted the year earlier. Not true.
Last week, I appeared on the Golf with Irene podcast and we had a great time. I have invited Irene to be on my podcast soon!
We released a special two-part blog post for our paid Substack Members, A Field Manual of Stages of Democratic Decline and Authoritarian Takeover. It’s a compelling look at how democracy can be dismantled by an authoritarian regime. If you’re not already a paid subscriber, this is a good time to become one. I wish to thank those who have become paid subscribers here and channel members on YouTube; the financial support of our subscribers keeps me and my team able to do our important work, speaking out about authoritarianism in all its forms.
Finally, if you are a writer who is passionate about freedom of mind, we are looking for volunteer bloggers to help us create timely and well-crafted content. Please email center@freedomofmind.com for more information.
I was honored to speak with Dr. Brian L. Cutler, Ph.D., on this episode of Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum. Dr. Cutler serves at the University as both a Professor and Program Director. He received his doctorate in social psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1987. Dr. Cutler has held research grants from the National Science Foundation of the United States and the Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Read the blog post or listen to the podcast, below:
Modern democracies rarely collapse overnight. They erode in stages. Elected leaders with authoritarian ambitions exploit democracy’s openness to dismantle it from within, often legally. They chip away at institutional safeguards, spread distrust, and create a personal regime. Through understanding history, we see a playbook of stages emerge. Each stage details what ordinary citizens would see around them and the likelihood of reversing the situation.
As always, please let us know what you think about these pieces or what you’d like to see us discuss in the future. Thanks so much!
Thanks so much for addressing the situation of raising children in situations of collapsing democracy and also thanks for mentioning strategies to avoid related pitfalls.
Thank you so much, Dr. Hassan, for everything you say and do.