Everything Is A Cult Now Theory

The sociological observation that modern society, thanks to the internet shattering mass media monoculture, has fragmented into countless competing tribes, fanbases, and ideological subcultures that all operate with cult-like dynamics. It's not that actual high-control groups with abusive leaders have multiplied, but that the psychological architecture of cults—fervent belief, "us vs. them" identity, devotion to a leader or ideology, and the conviction that the mainstream is fundamentally broken—has become the default mode for online fandoms, political movements, brand loyalists, and wellness communities. The theory argues we've gone back to a pre-20th century norm where culture is just "a bunch of cults stacked on top of each other".

*Example: "Explaining the Everything Is A Cult Now Theory to my dad, I said, 'You had three TV channels and called it culture. We have 8 million micro-communities on niche apps. Your Star Trek fan club was a dorky hobby; our 'Stanny' Twitter circle that analyzes every Swift lyric for secret messages and attacks anyone who criticizes her is a full-blown digital congregation. Same human wiring for belonging, just a different prophet and a worse holy text.'"*

Everything Is A Cult Now Theory by AbzuInExile January 31, 2026