In the 1970s, Korean cult leader Sun Myung Moon coined a term for the attitude assumed by “Moonies”—members of his crackpot Christianity spin-off, the Unification Church. “What face could better represent love than a smiling face? This is why we talk about love bomb; Moonies have that kind of happy problem,” he said. Beneath the attentive smile, however, lurked a sinister reality. After Moonies had identified a potential recruit, their love bombing—a technique of emotional manipulation in which a person is bombarded with flattering attention—began. One former recruit testified that he had only agreed to go along to his first meeting because he thought the women who suggested it were flirting with him. Two years later, he had become so deeply indoctrinated that his family hired defected former members to “deprogram” him. This story is from Kinfolk Issue Thirty-Four Buy Now Related Stories Arts & Culture Issue 47 Alice Sheppard On dance as a channel to commune with the body—even when it hurts. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Dr. Woo Meet the tattoo artist who's inked LA. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Walt Odets The author and clinical psychologist on why self-acceptance is the key to a gay man's well-being. Arts & Culture Fashion Issue 47 A Picture of Health Xiaopeng Yuan photographs the world’s weirdest wellness cures. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Chani Nicholas and Sonya Passi Inside the astrology company on a mission to prove workplace well-being is more than a corporate tagline. Arts & Culture Issue 47 Julia Bainbridge On the life-enhancing potential of not drinking alcohol.
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