How does one de-radicalize people, dissuade them of conspiracy theories, break them out of cults? There must be books and research into this? Both at scale and at the individual level?

@Patricia https://www.rferl.org/a/deradicalizing-violent-extremists-what-works-what-does-not-work/27229417.html

it's about trust and community. a big driver of (de)radicalization is dealing with (a lack of) trust and oftentimes (a lack of) positive community. instead of argumentation or ostracization, focus on building an interpersonal relationship that can get them to respect you and eventually respect others. confront their attitudes when you run into them.

this is conversely why the internet doesn't work to deradicalize people. it just sets them in their ways.

@trwnh that’s quite depressing really because it makes radicalization scale and de-radicalization not scale. That seems like a big problem

@Patricia it is indeed a big problem. i wish i had an easier answer.