What if someone who holds a security clearance finds themselves having become involved in, or at least more closely associated with, a cult, but did not intend to, and how do you define “cult”?
John McWhorter, a professor of linguistics at Columbia University, wrote a book called “Woke Racism” where he describes this pernicious ideology as a religion. He goes on to describe the attributes of those who are “believers” and concludes that for all intents and purposes that wokism is a religion at its core. Cults can be even more difficult to define but they do have characteristics that can be identified. The other thing about cults is that they tend to be secretive and try to avoid detection. Some of them start off as jokes between one or two friends but then quickly snowball into something more sustainable that develops more structure.
If we have acted out some sort of ritual (no, we didn’t kill anyone or anything), should we still reveal this to an investigator for continuous evaluation?
Yes, make sure you give every single detail- that will make your investigators day.
Be sure to bring any sort of cult sign up paperwork you completed, all rules and regulations you followed, and a list of any person who has knowledge of what you’ve been involved with. If you associate with anyone who has the same interests/activity and also has a clearance be sure to have the full name and phone number to provide- co subject work is such a blessing for the investigation process!
You can leave the magic underwear at home - that stuff probably shouldn’t see the light of day.
If you have questions then give details to your investigator. In some bonagode religious circles Jehovah Witnesses and Scientology are still identified as cults.
Just to give you an idea, this cult started at an apartment complex after a few months of being quarantined because of the pandemic. It initially started after a long-time resident started following another resident partly because the guy was mad that they had to stay home while the guy who was being targeted was able to go to work. Completely childish bullying. Whatever the real reason was, the long-time resident just followed this guy by showing up whenever the guy came down the stairs and walked to his car. The goal was to creep the guy out and maybe get him to move out. Creep out to move out. But then the guy being targeted started posting a blow by blow on a blog that documented what this guy was doing to him. He thought this would make other residents angry but when other residents in the complex saw what was being written, they started following the guy who was complaining about being followed. Ironic and hilarious. But things really got going when the janitor and the handyman were recruited to start harassing this person. The janitor would come in at 6:00 a.m. and he would stand in front of a garbage can just next to the elevator on the ground floor that the targeted person would use in the morning and he would be leaning over the garbage can wearing a black pea coat and a gray knit hat and looked like a homeless person picking through garbage. The janitor never wore anything to identify him as a service employee contracted to work onsite, even though complaints were made to the company’s owner about this. So this went on for a few weeks and then the cult got the security guard to help them walk by this guy whenever he came down to the garage. It was merciless. And then the cult started realizing that maybe it could use this guy as target practice and develop tactics to intimidate people who the cult did not like and wanted to force out. The cult felt it could make the world a better place by getting rid of people who it felt just did not fit in with their local neighborhood culture but do it in a way that was nonviolent and hard to prove. It really picked up momentum thanks to the handyman and the janitor because they occupied a central location in the garage and could see when someone was walking through the garage or hear when the elevators started moving. They also had access to the security cameras posted around the complex. During the pandemic, not many people were moving around and so it was easy to identify a particular target. Some of the members of this cult work for major tech companies like Apple, Amazon, Intel, Lockheed Martin, SAP, etc.
Some of the things the cult would do to a target is the cult would show up whenever the target is walking down to the garage to their car. Some cult members waited for this person to drive out of the garage and they would then walk on the sidewalk and cross in front of them when they drove out of the parking garage gate. Then there was this one member who would pretend to be jogging and then cross at a crosswalk just as they approach in their car. Or they would just be jogging on the sidewalk so they would be seen by this person. They really brought the creep factor. It is amazing how fanatic our members can be. Other people would conspicuously be walking their dogs through the garage or near the parking garage exit or waiting for the target to come out of the elevator. Some members will wait outside with their dogs and wait for a text message to let them know when a target is in the garage and is heading for the elevator. The member will then use their key fob to buzz and sound an alarm just as the target is approaching. The effect is to make them feel that they are never alone. It’s a way to invade a person’s personal space. The cult has this one member who has a “Rotweiler” that they have on a long leash and they will “hide” behind a wall while the dog is way out in front so that when the target comes out of the elevator and turns the corner they see this large dog just standing there.
With help from the janitorial staff, they have connected with other street types to act as lookouts and formed a relationship that makes them feel useful and part of a larger mission. Nobody would ever suspect that people of their means are acting like private investigators staked out to monitor someone’s movements or location. The cult have even been able to follow a target to places they go, like where they shop, where they bank, where their favorite hangout is. And because of this, the cult have even been able to connect with workers and security guards at these places to be on the lookout for the targeted person. The cult tell them to pay extra attention to this individual and to scrutinize them more carefully whenever they go in to the store. Again, it makes them feel like they are making a difference, even though the cult give them misinformation about a targeted person. The cult tell them to deny any wrongdoing in case they get called out. The cult can work as a group and communicate secretly and just cause a disturbance that will cause fear through an implied threat without ever causing any physical harm, not even vandalism to property. For example, the cult had a guy who agreed to follow a target into a Big Box store and just linger close by to get their attention and put them on the defensive. These are acts of sabotage that can shake up a person because they feel like they have been targeted for something. It messes with their head.
The cult have had a lot of time on their hands. After George Floyd was killed, many of them just figured that in order to stop racism, they’ll stop the people from living among them who the cult feel are racists or who just have prejudices and biases that are detrimental to a healthy society. It’s amazing how easy it is to recruit people into the group. It’s like people just instantly relate to what the cult are doing and why they are doing it. Most of these cult members are lone 20-somethings but the age group ranges as high as 70+ years of age. Some are married couples and some even have children. The cult are a group based on ideology, not on a personality although personality does play a role in motivating them. Many of them support a social justice agenda that is led by the LGBTQ+ community and other oppressed minorities. Their tactics have been used by activists for a long time to protest attitudes and behavior that the cult feel are harmful to society. Some of them do admittedly have psycho-sexual obsessions about the people the cult target. The cult tend to target people who tend to be isolated and don’t have many acquaintances who can assist them with the routines that the cult run. The cult look for easy targets. The cult have a need to control them and force them to conform to the new reality of race relations in America. Some of them are even finding ways to use these tactics within the federal government to bring about change. The cult continue to find creative ways to harass people without leaving any evidence. Their motto is STFU (shut the frock up). There’s never any words exchanged, just pure nonverbal communication. The cult are very disciplined about this. No talking is allowed when targeting a person. The cult are silent and practically invisible. They are like ghosts. This is a cult of menacing behavior. These people are more than a cult following, they are a cult that has followers who follow you around physically. These people are obsessed and dedicated to finding ways to irritate and sabotage those they want to target. These people are your friends and coworkers and some have security clearances. Hey, Dorothy, we ain’t in Kansas anymore. Meet the new American fascists. They want to control your thoughts, biases and prejudices.
So what do you say? Should they be allowed to have security clearances? Should people who engage in this sort of behavior tell investigators what they do?
One more thing that we have recently come to realize. Some of this unethical behavior that has been observed in the workplace may be related to what we are seeing with the social media networking app such as Nextdoor, which has developed a cultic reputation as an entity that promotes censorship and placing liberal ideologies over other opinions, especially if they express conservative values. On Nextdoor, people are able to join these private discussion groups, which can easily be used as a means to target and track people, which we suspect is happening. To get an idea of just how bad Nextdoor is, just visit the Better Business Bureau to see how many complaints have been filed against the company. As of May 25, 2022, there are 656 complaints that are publicly listed on the BBB website. And those are the ones that get posted. There are likely many more that have been kept private.
And for further insights into the actual experience that people have had with Nextdoor, visit TrustPilot. It becomes clear very quickly that sites like Nextdoor and Citizen app are being used to target and retaliate against people. There is real abuse happening here. And it’s happening in the SCIF. They can’t separate their politics from their job. They bring this crap into work with them. Nextdoor is of course based in San Francisco, so that should give you an idea of its politics…
Just be aware that the idea of cult association is not farfetched. It is driven by ideology and a distorted sense of group belonging. It’s exactly the kind of behavior that is polluting the workplace.