this post was submitted on 03 Mar 2026
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Aren't they more of a cult than a legit addiction treatment organization?
The goal isn't to treat addiction.
It's to repress urges to make their followers frustrated, angry, and willing to overthrow modern society...
It's not a new tactic. But it's hard to convince young men to stop jacking off.
Sylvester Graham tried with his crackers.
John Kellog tried with his corn flakes.
US is fucking weird about sex.
Puritans founded the country. Mormons, Evangelicals and many others came from the Puritans.
Imo, a lot of problems stem from puritanical beliefs in the US. The gender divide, alpha male, etc.
Controlling sexuality keeps religion going strong
The US has always been about a bunch of religious cults.
Wait, Graham crackers too?
They were originally unsweetened and unspiced bran crackers. Graham was part of a social movement that believed any form of stimulation, including things like flavor, inflamed the libido, and that sex was of course deeply unhealthy.
Like, don't get me wrong, I'm super pro fiber, I'm just also a slut that loves flavor.
What is this about graham crackers and cornflakes?
I knew about corn flakes, but not about graham crackers. Basically, the inventor of corn flakes whole reason for inventing them was to give young men something to eat in the morning that was so incredibly boring they would lose the will to ever get hard again. Or something like that.
Both were purposely bland foods designed only for the purpose of discouraging masturbation, which Graham and Kellogg were convinced drained life energy.
Again, US has always been weird about sex.
It also doesn't make them into the sort of revolutionaries that make for a better world.
When you are a young man its jack off or wet dream. Pick one.
I assumed they'd turn up in the Epstein files. He funded tons of adjacent shit.
synanon knowers
Let me run in by scientologist
Like any group, it consists of individuals - and the differences among members within the group are usually greater than the differences between that group and others. Also, cults tend to form around a charismatic leader, whereas this is just a self-selected bunch of people.
The entire concept is build on reactionary ideology and has absolutely nothing constructive or positive about it. Everyone involved are a bunch of fascist assholes.
This is not new, presbyterian minister and dietary reformer Sylvester Graham invented special crackers to prevent masturbation in 1829. John Kellog invented corn flakes to stop masturbation in 1898.
No nut cults have been a US thing for 200 years.
I don't know what I'd be like if I constantly had my biological needs denied but I probably wouldn't be an easy person to get along with.
Those damn fascists again.
So how about the Rationalists? They are a cultlike group with a charismatic founder (Eli Yudkowsky), despite the founder's well-documented proximity to rampant sexual abuse, and even a group of his followers committing acts of violence in line with his ideology.
Would you consider at least this group to be a cult, and worthy of condemnation?