Deciphering the Cultish Language

 

I promise myself over and over again to do not have high expectations on books. After all, very often, the good reputation of a book (as well) is based on reviews and wordsmitten words not necessarily innocent.

Cultish. The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell is an anaylitical research into what makes a belief ´cultish´ and what are the triggers for our critical thinking in order to detect the manipulation in due time and eventually resist it.

One of the takes that I appreciated about this book was the richness and uniqueness of the examples provided, particularly the intersection between various domains, such as health and various New Age belief. Taking the premise of religous, Protestant vocabulary and applying it to, for instance, the bubbling American workout culture is an interesting yet not extensively explored approach before although it is largely a result of the fundamentals of capitalism, in America and elsewhere.

Introducing nuances into the discourse which may avoid easy labelling as ´cult´ only for creating dissent and establishing spiritual monopoly Montell has also a nuanced approach when it comes to issues like ´brainwashing´ and the individual choice of joining or leaving a cult. However, it delves not into the complexities of group thinking and behavior as well as of the functioning of the human brain under peer pressure. 

Actually, my overall impression of the book is that in most of the cases it avoids proceeding to conclusions and quantitative/comparative analysis. Spotting the similarities between the religious language and the vocabulary of the ´positive thinking´ and influencers is not new and Roland Barthes and many others offered brilliant examples in this respect when writing about the language of advertising. Talking about ´followers´ reminisces of cults and religious fervor, but at what extent and how it is reaching the level of ´fanaticism´ we are left to figure out by ourselves, if ever.

The title promises too much, at least happened in my case, but it´s a pity that such a good material was not treated in a more throughout consequential way. Maybe because we are so exposed to radical language that we are unable to figure out how exactly the language of fanaticism really operates and how can it be countered or translated.

Cultish. The Language of Fanaticism is an useful read for its contemporary references although it does not go beyond some of the ´positive thinking´ kind of books it refers to. 

Rating: 2.5 stars