In our fast-paced, highly technological world, watching videos has become an easy way to learn. It's something a family can do together. It's something a busy professional can find time for. And, perhaps most important, for former cult members who may be having difficulty reading or concentrating, watching a video can be less stressful and allow information to be more accessible. Having put together this video is simply one more way in which she is making widely available her vast knowledge of the subject.
Singer begins by discussing definitions and qualities of cults and cult leaders.
She presents a picture of what's wrong with cults, how many there are, and how many people are currently involved or have been involved over the past decades. From the beginning, she makes it clear that anyone may become susceptible to a cult recruiter's pitch, and that contrary to popular belief, there are more cults and more types of cults than ever before. She does an excellent job of demystifying a concept that has been misconstrued and misunderstood. She uses everyday language to describe thought reform, not as a rigid, one-time zap to the brain with a gun at your head to get you to comply, but as a subtle set of coercive influence techniques that are used over time in a coordinated way to get you to change your thinking, your attitudes, and your behavior. The smiling, soft-sell technique has always been more effective, Singer tells us, than the menacing Big Brother approach.