> Of course not. What did I write that would suggest that? > being persuaded by an essay is ... a red flag that we may be being manipulated by someone we would

> Of course not. What did I write that would suggest that? > being persuaded by an essay is ... a red flag that we may be being manipulated by someone we wouldn’t choose to be manipulated by I was persuaded by SSC essays, despite not knowing much about the author. Was that a red flag? Was it bad that I remained convinced by them despite not finding out much about what experiences in his background have shaped his perspective? > How would you modify your criterion to distinguish the two? The distinguishing factor is in what you should be persuaded by. If a "cult leader" is able to convince you of something by presenting you with good arguments, maybe they aren't a cult leader/it's not crazy to believe whatever they're selling. If someone's convinced of cultish notions because they were persuaded by bad arguments, I'd say the primary remediation is "don't be persuaded by bad arguments", not "don't listen to people unless you know who they are". I wouldn't say the second statement is terrible advice, but it's not the primary problem.