Writing by Dr. Dannielle Blumenthal

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A space to share my interests and concerns. All opinions are my own, and my research is provided in good faith. Please refer to the disclaimer or use the contact form for any questions or concerns. Be aware: THIS CONTENT IS FREQUENTLY MIGRATED. If you don't see what you're looking for, check the "Annual Diaries" blogs. Thanks.

Understanding the FlatbushGirl Cult

The first thing to know is this (bold, underline): THESE ARE NOT STUPID PEOPLE. You can be brilliant and brainwashed.

I. YES, IT IS A CULT

  • One telltale sign of a FG mob member is that they say “no research is necessary.”This means, I am suspending my ability to think critically.
  • Another red flag is the sentence “you may find her tactics a little extreme but her cause is just.” This means, I am suspending my conscience.

Because these people are locked into a cult, they can’t step back and see the contradiction: How can a religious preacher tell you to disregard the very religion they are preaching about?

Now you might say the FlatbushGirl cult is a one-off, but this is not the case.

II. OTHER RECENT CULTS

  1. “FREE PALESTINE”: We already know what the “Free Palestine” cult has done and seeks to do, especially after October 7 with the fake genocide blood libel.
  2. “TRUMP RESISTANCE”: Then there is the entire DC cult which shudders at the mere mention of President Trump’s name, and if you support him, they literally want to put you in the gulag. And I have experienced this personally.
  3. “FREE UKRAINE”: Out of nowhere, this war became the most important cause on the planet. Now, just a couple of years later, you barely even hear about it.
  4. “VAX REFUSER”: It wasn’t long ago that we had the Covid cult and the “vaccine refuser” tag.

The examples go on and on.

III. MOB PSYCHOLOGY 101

Social psychology explains how normal people turn into insane lunatics.

  1. IDENTITY FUSION

When people strongly tie who they are to a group—political, religious, ideological—disagreeing with the group doesn’t feel like a difference of opinion. It feels like a personal attack. That’s where things begin to harden.

In the case of FlatbushGirl, this is where you have followers—especially women who had difficult divorces—dissolving the boundary between themselves and her.

These people are traumatized and fragile. So for them, disagreeing with FG’s tactics feels fully and deeply, if irrationally, personal.

  1. ECHO CHAMBER

Then comes the information bubble. People start trusting only sources that confirm what the group already believes, and anything outside of that gets dismissed as fake, biased, or even malicious.

Over time, the group isn’t just sharing opinions—it’s living in a completely different reality.

All you have to do is look at the comments posted by some of these people to realize that they are literally living in a parallel universe of distorted or outright false information.

  1. PERCEIVED INJUSTICE

Add in a sense of grievance (feeling wronged, ignored, or under threat). FlatbushGirl’s campaigns, most recently the outrageously defamatory attacks against Raphi Stein, stir up the cult followers in just the same way as the Hamas “Gaza Genocide” propaganda provokes antisemitism against Jews around the world.

IV. STOKING THE FLAMES OF RED-HOT ANGER

As the cult leader makes people angrier and angrier with inflammatory postings (for example, saying that Judaism treats women as “sex objects” and “incubators,” emotions start to run high.

Fury and fear (of being a “chained wife” themselves) make people less cautious and more reactive.

At that point, the group doesn’t just believe something—they feel it.

So when Adina Sash starts advocating that they take pornographic photos, give up Halacha (Jewish law), commit adultery, or intermarry…those formerly forbidden concepts seem more and more reasonable.

V. THE ARC OF DESTRUCTION

Once anger reaches a certain level, behavior can shift fast:

  • Frum (religious) women send texts with filthy, obscene words they’d never say alone
  • Extreme views get rewarded with attention and approval
  • Opponents stop being “people with different views” and start being seen as enemies

Once a group reaches that stage, it becomes very resistant to facts or outside criticism.

Pushing back often just makes members double down, because it reinforces the idea that “we’re under attack.”

CONCLUSION: ALL CULT MOBS BEHAVE THE SAME

FlatbushGirl dynamics aren’t unique.

Smart people can fall into a cult.

Under the right conditions, almost any group can slide in this direction.

All of this is exactly why we have to inoculate our brains against cults—not because they are uniquely irrational, but because the process itself is so very normal.