Pun Salad

Another "wish I had liked it better" book. I might have been seduced by the title, which (I thought) might promise a dispassionate look at how languate trickery is used to sway people into behaving irrationally. The author, Amanda Montell, has a linguistic degree (apparently undergraduate) from NYU, kind of a qualification. But…

Well, let's start with the good. The book is a very accessible look at specific examples of "cults", starting from the obvious (Jonestown, Heaven's Gate, the Church of Scientology) to the less obvious (multi-level marketing firms, e.g. Amway; fitness/self-improvement schemes, e.g. SoulCycle), QAnon. Montell writes personally, continually injecting her anecdotes, acquaintances, and reactions into the narrative. This is often compelling, occasionally off-putting.

Getting to the ostensible focus of the book: Montell notes a number of commonalities in "cultish" language. Most interesting are the "thought-terminating clichés", which have their own Wikipedia page: phrases used in a discussion to shut down dissent and short-circuit critical thought. ("Don't think about it too hard.") But there's also "us-versus-them" language, verbal abuse, and (often) the generation of an entire lexicon of words and phrases "private" to the cult.

You don't need to be a linguist to recognize this.

The book is seriously marred by Montell's leftist politics. Why are Americans seemingly so susceptible to cultish come-ons? Ah, page 27 informs us it's due to our lack of "universal healthcare." On page 81, Montell points out "the oratorical similarities between [Donald] Trump and Jim Jones." On page 88, we are informed that we are conditioned to "automatically trust the voices of middle-aged white men." "Capitalism" is used throughout with an obvious implied sneer.

There's a brief discussion of the "tyrannous atmosphere" of Amazon. Much is made of a Jeff Bezos quote: "I constantly remind our employees to be afraid, to wake up every morning terrified." Montell says this is from a "1999 shareholder letter".

It's easy enough to find on the web. The letter is addressed not just to shareholders, but "To our shareholders, customers, and employees". And the fear-inducing sentence in context?

We intend to build the world’s most customer-centric company. We hold as axiomatic that customers are perceptive and smart, and that brand image follows reality and not the other way around. Our customers tell us that they choose Amazon.com and tell their friends about us because of the selection, ease-of-use, low prices, and service that we deliver.

But there is no rest for the weary. I constantly remind our employees to be afraid, to wake up every morning terrified. Not of our competition, but of our customers. Our customers have made our business what it is, they are the ones with whom we have a relationship, and they are the ones to whom we owe a great obligation. And we consider them to be loyal to us – right up until the second that someone else offers them a better service.