Mindf*ck 102: MK Ultra, Crypto Cults & Modern Brainwashing with Rebecca Lemov (Part 2)

This week, we’re back with Harvard professor and author Rebecca Lemov to finish what we started: unraveling the tangled web of brainwashing…past, present, and disturbingly future-facing.

In Part 2, we go deeper into the CIA’s infamous MK Ultra program and its many (many) spin-offs, asking what really went down with Charles Manson, Jack Ruby, and cult “consultant” Louis Jolyon West. From LSD to hypnosis to rebranding your science after burning the files, the government’s experiments in mind control were both extreme and incredibly hush-hush.

We also explore how classic brainwashing tactics, like Milieu Control and loaded language, haven’t gone away; they’ve just been re-skinned for the algorithm era. Think social media rabbit holes, crypto trading cults, and belief systems that sound more like start-up pitches than spiritual awakenings.

Plus, we talk trauma: how it’s misunderstood, under-acknowledged, and all too often the gateway drug into high-control groups.

If you thought last week was unsettling, buckle up.

Find more about Rebecca Lemov and The Instability of Truth at rebeccalemov.com.

Also… let it be known that:

The views and opinions expressed on A Little Bit Culty do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the podcast. Any content provided by our guests, bloggers, sponsors or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign any religion, group, club, organization, business individual, anyone or anything. Nobody’s mad at you, just don’t be a culty fuckwad.

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CREDITS:

Executive Producers: Sarah Edmondson & Anthony Ames

Production Partner: Amphibian.Media

Co-Creator: Jess Tardy

Associate producers: Amanda Zaremba and Matt Stroud of Amphibian.Media

Audio production: Red Caiman Studios

Theme Song: “Cultivated” by Jon Bryant co-written with Nygel Asselin

Think you might be in a cult? Want to know the signs? Join Sarah Edmondson and Anthony “Nippy” Ames to talk about things that are..a little bit culty. Or in their case: a whole bunch of culty. As whistleblowers documented in the critically-acclaimed HBO series “The Vow,” Sarah and Nippy have a lot to say about their experience, and burning questions to ask people with similar stories. They’re here to help people understand, heal from, and avoid abusive situations one little red flag at a time. Listen in as they share their stories, have frank and unscripted conversations with other survivors and cult experts, and do a deep dive on how devotion can turn to dysfunction.

• No. of episodes: 241
• Latest episode: 2025-07-17
• Education Society & Culture

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