In 2015 it was Karl Frisch’s idea. It went something like this: You should host a podcast about cults—no one else is doing it, it’d be interesting if you did. My parents met in Argentina in a cult, I’m a journalist and an on-air host—perfect! The pitch raised $15,000 on Kickstarter from mostly strangers and many friends. It was enough to produce three episodes and get it up and running.

The concept I came up with for the show was the most intriguing to me at the time: Deconversion. I wanted to talk to the people about when they’d figured out they’d been wrong about their core beliefs and what that was like. I also wanted to do serial installments about my uncle Rick Dupuy and his deconversion in the wake of being a top leader in the aforementioned cult I was born in. I’d thought him a villain for decades and what I realized, more recently, was that he’s a hero to the people who get to make that determination: victims.

This might be what some of my detractors miss: I identify as an orphan, and, really, as a refugee. I don’t come from anywhere; I belong nowhere and none of this was ever my choice. I don’t look like anyone’s idea of a foster kid or a victim of profound and severe child abuse, but I think like one when it comes to public policy, morality and justice. I feel like one every day of my life. Also I am one every day of my life. And so, the way I see the world, the way I see power, how I view civilization stems from that life experience of being alone, small and afraid. If you look over my work, I’m always concerned with the most vulnerable because that has been me—that’s my affinity group. I report this now like it’s news because, to me, it kind of is. I’ve spent my professional career trying to fit in and now I understand that I don’t.

But to make the saga of Cultish all the more weird, the reason why it’s not finished or currently being produced is because I was offered a job in Congress as a Communications Director for a Congressman right in the middle of editing the fourth episode in 2016–which meant a Cultish hiatus. The point being: the podcast stopped but I was still going through a deconversion without knowing that’s what it was.

So in the time since, I’ve continued going through every belief and conviction I had, questioning if it’s still something I believe to be true or a scab to be discarded. I went actively seeking answers and asking more questions (read: I read a lot of books). I spent probably 18-months doing nothing but reviewing source materials and making notes. When Covid hit, I’d already been social distancing for some time. I went seeking answers. There was not a person alive who could tell me what happened to me and why; I found stacks of books written by people long dead who’d never known each other to answer that for me.

I’m announcing that I’ve found some answers. And I’m telling you this, dear reader, in a very vague and cryptic way because I’m not ready to publicly announce it just yet but I do want those who invested in Cultish with either money or emotion (or both) to know where it now stands.
I’m working on something that will be very important to the people who get to make that determination: victims.

Please stay healthy and kind to each other and I’ll give updates when I have them!

Cheers!

TD