@corbden@defcon.social "Mind control completely subverts the mind's natural process for righting itself in the face of disconfirming information." Yup. That's what it was like for me. With the actual cult I was born into as well as other ideologies that had their claws deep in me for over a decade (that cult members introduced me to). I look back at my beliefs and get dizzy with how self-contradictory they were! But I also remember how at the time I GENUINELY saw it as the other way around, that people debating me were contradicting themselves and I thought I had the correct, logical, and bigger picture view of things. Really I was just shifting goalposts and attacking straw puppets and fixating on whatever aspect fit my narrative while dismissing the rest... Classic manipulation tactics that I didn't want to be using and didn't believe I was using. Really scary to realise what was going on in my mind. But luckily the truth (along with empathy and connection) is one of my unshakable core values, so I eventually faced all that dissonance and toppled the entire house of cards. But I had to be physically far away from the abusers and ideology-slingers before I could do that, and have very patient support.