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Hot take: I've noticed a before-and-after in how people talk about NXIVM after the HBO doc dropped
Back in 2018 I had a coworker who was super into Keith Raniere's self-help stuff, like legit defending it at lunch. Then The Vow came out in 2020 and now that same guy calls it a cult without blinking. It's crazy how a 7 part documentary flipped the script on what was a fringe topic for years. Anyone else see this shift with other groups like the Twin Flames thing on Netflix?
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emma_wells833d ago
honestly I dont buy that the documentary changed anything. people were already calling NXIVM a cult for years before The Vow dropped, the doc just made it easier for folks to say it out loud without sounding dramatic. its more about social pressure than actual discovery.
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jordan_henderson133d ago
yeah 100% agree with you. i live in albany and people were whispering about NXIVM being a cult since like 2005, my buddy's sister dated a guy who was in it and she said it was wild, everyone local knew something was off. the documentary just gave people permission to actually say the word "cult" without feeling like they were being dramatic. i remember talking to a neighbor about it right after the first episode dropped and she was like "oh thank god i thought i was the only one who always thought that." it was weird how quiet everyone stayed for years even though the evidence was right there.
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amy_martin3d ago
Think about how the documentary amplified the survivors' voices in a way that local gossip never could. Before, it was easy to brush off those "whispering" stories as just rumors or exaggeration from jealous outsiders. The Vow put real faces and real trauma on screen, which forced people to reckon with the actual harm done instead of just calling it a weird group.
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