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IndoctriNation

BONUS EPISODE PREVIEW: Cult Dynamics in the U.S. Military w/Daniella Mestyanek Young

IndoctriNation

IndoctriNation

Religion & Spirituality

4.8566 Ratings

🗓️ 14 April 2023

⏱️ 14 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

This is just a preview of our exclusive Patreon bonus episode. You can hear the full episode by becoming a supporter at: www.patreon.com/indoctrination Daniella Mestyanek Young is the author of UNCULTURED: A Memoir of Cults, War and Belonging which The New York Times calls “A painful and propulsive memoir delivered in the honest tones of a woman who didn’t always think she’d live to tell her story” She was born a third-generation member of the infamous Children of God religious cult and grew up being trafficked around the world, before escaping that life and moving to America at age 15. She put herself through high school and graduated as college valedictorian before commissioning into the US Army as an intelligence officer, where she really started to think about group behavior…and started to see it everywhere. Daniella deployed twice to Afghanistan and became a member of one of the Army’s first Female Engagement teams an experiment that put women into deliberate ground combat for the first time in Army history, and eventually led to the repeal of the sexist combat ban and the gender desegregation of the entire US military. She is a proud daughter of the 101st, (the unit portrayed in the Band of Brothers miniseries) Daniella is a recipient of the Presidential Volunteer Service Award presented by President Obama and holds a Master of Arts in Organizational Psychology from the Harvard Extension School where she focused her research on group behavior, social norms, culture, extremism, leadership demagoguery, and cults. She returns to the show to update us on what's happened since the release of her memoir Uncultured and offers a look into the topics of her next book tentatively titled "The Culting of America". Daniella and Rachel go on to discuss the parallels between military and cult indoctrination, pointing out the commonalities that exist in a variety of high-control groups. You can find out more about Daniella and her work here: https://www.uncultureyourself.com/ Thanks to all of our Patreon supporters for making this episode possible! Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Thanks for tuning in to our bonus episode preview.

0:10.2

This is just a short sample of this week's exclusive Patreon episode.

0:15.9

You can hear the episode in its entirety by becoming a member at patreon.com slash indoctrination, where you'll gain

0:24.4

access to all of our exclusive episodes and merchandise.

0:36.4

I am so happy when I get to meet someone, talk to them, and then I get to talk to them again.

0:42.6

And so it is a treat to have you back on the show, Danielle.

0:46.9

Welcome.

0:47.7

Thanks so much for having me.

0:48.9

I'm excited to be back.

0:50.3

Very cool.

0:50.9

I'm glad.

0:51.4

I'm glad.

0:52.0

And so this is a bonus episode, and this is especially for our supporters as a thank you.

0:58.7

It is so important to be able to find out how someone has been since they've been on the show.

1:07.5

I get a lot of people writing in, calling in, saying, thanks. I'm so glad to have

1:14.1

met this person and hear their story. And I'm so curious how things are going or how things went,

1:19.8

especially if they were right on the cusp of doing something. So I know a lot has happened since

1:25.1

we've talked really a whirlwind of things. So let's get started with that. So how has life changed since we last spoke?

1:35.1

I was joking that I got a book, a Harvard degree, and a puppy since the last time we talked. So things have been rocking. You know, something I've been thinking about recently is when we talk about the healing and the post-trauma journey and deconstruction, we talk a lot about the power of owning your story.

1:53.9

But I think we don't emphasize enough, like, owning your story.

1:59.1

And, you know, like, I took this story of being exploited as a child in a cult and, you know, being somewhat used and abused in the military.

2:08.7

But I put it into a story and I made it a product. I own it.

...

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