Welcome to indoctrination, a weekly conversation series about protecting yourself from systems of control.

I'm your host, Rachel Bernstein. Welcome to our episode today where it is part one of my conversation with John A-Tac, yet another opportunity to have a great

conversation together. John Atack is a leading expert on authoritarian cult groups, as well as a

best-selling author, and he's worked with hundreds of former members and has lectured and

written extensively in a career spanning four decades. John wrote Scientology the cult of greed

as a simple introduction to the subject, and his influential book, Let's Sell These People,

A Piece of Blue Sky, is the only comprehensive

history of this bizarre group.

Through his popular YouTube channel and podcast, he endeavors to make complex psychological

ideas accessible.

His scholarship has been supported by many academics from varying fields of study.

John's book, Opening Our Minds, shows how cultic behaviors are established throughout society,

and it sheds light on the methods used in pseudo-religions, therapy, and commercial cults, even terrorism, gangs,

grooming, hazing, and modern slavery. He also shows that these methods succeed because of failures

in our educational systems.

Here's John A.T.T. Now.

My pleasure to be speaking to John Atec again on this show.

We have set aside time to be able to speak and also hopefully speak more often at a regular clip where you get to hear more of our discussions and also more about what John is studying, which is usually many things all at once, which is quite incredible.

Don't know how you do it.

So welcome to the show, John.

Thank you so much, Rachel.

And it's my honor and my pleasure to be with you.

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