Pasty Hag

“There is one indisputable way to identify a cult, one characteristic they all share. If is not a belief in alien spacecraft or a plentiful supply of Flavor Aid. It is the notion that anyone who does not agree with the group's beliefs or choices, who expresses concerns, who simply dare to ask questions, is deemed "unsafe". Every good thing about that person must be subsumed by the fact that they disagree with me, so I can boil down their character into something vilifiable. For mind control to work, there has to be heroes and villains. It has to be us versus them. In a cult, it isn't good enough for you to say, "I love you, but I disagree with you." You must affirm my choices and beliefs. Only then can you be considered "safe". In a cult, safety means agreement.

The irony of course, is that while you are not allowed to have your own opinions about my beliefs, I am allowed to have an opinion about yours.”
― Bethany Joy Lenz, Dinner for Vampires: Life on a Cult TV Show

“As we live longer and longer, the vast majority of us will travel back and forth across these realms, spending much of our lives somewhere in between. These are the terms of our existence. The idea of striving for some beautiful, perfect state of wellness? It mires us in eternal dissatisfaction, a goal forever out of reach. To be well now is to learn to accept whatever body and mind I
currently have.”
― Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted

“How privileged are you if you first require hope in order to act?”
― Johanna Hedva, How to Tell When We Will Die: On Pain, Disability, and Doom

“EVERYONE WHO IS born holds dual citizenship, in the kingdom of the well and in the kingdom of the sick,” Susan Sontag wrote in Illness as Metaphor. “Although we all prefer to use only the good passport, sooner or later each of us is obliged, at least for a spell, to identify ourselves as citizens of that other place.”
― Suleika Jaouad, Between Two Kingdoms: A Memoir of a Life Interrupted