Some of my students are in a FUCKING CULT

I am a middle school English teacher for 6th and 7th grade. None of my students have social media except for Snapchat (I guess that doesn’t count?). Recently, I have started noticing a pattern: nearly a quarter of my students are obsessed with a certain YouTube channel. <br><br>On the channel, the content creator posts a variety of content, but the most notable is his “manifestos” and “lectures” where he shares his opinions on topics like “the importance of individuality.” <br><br>The weird part? Every single one of my students who is obsessed with him knows *EVERY SINGLE WORD* of his videos. Most of them have seen every single video at least twice. Some have even gone as far as to say, word-for-word, what he said in the video when I made an announcement to the class. For example, when I told them to keep their phones away, one kid quoted the YouTuber verbatim: “Yeah, you always listen to your teachers, right? They wouldn't tell you to do anything bad, would they? Yeah, let me tell you a secret: your teachers don't know shit.” <br><br>Now, I don’t really have a problem with that channel specifically (I’ve watched a couple of videos), but what really sets off red flags for me is how obsessed these kids are with THAT channel specifically. They know literally everything about the content creator. What scares me the most is that they talk about how he is the only one who “gets them” and that they would “do anything for him”. <br><br>This has been going on for a few months now, and it is honestly scaring the shit out of me. Kids at that age are so easily impressionable and I can tell that they are literally worshipping this guy. What if he posts a video telling them to do something bad? Like, maybe even telling them to commit suicide or something? I don’t know, maybe I’m overthinking this, but it just seems so strange. <br><br>I haven’t mentioned this to anyone other than a close friend because I am not sure how to approach it or if I even should bring it up. I find it very concerning and I really hope these kids don’t end up being manipulated into doing something terrible.