Definition of a cult and end game

I have been out for 34 years (I am 50—I said “no more” when I was 16 and disassociated myself). My disdain got worse when my son became a teenager: I could never ever turn my back on him for having different beliefs (how can a parent do this?).

My JW mom and I got into it maybe 10 years after I left. She said that no, it’s not a cult because “cults are easy to get into and difficult to leave.”

Ok, but at what cost? I lost my family for believing in something other than JW (although with the amount of shunning, you’d think I was drinking goat blood and whispering “Lucifer Lives!” …or something <sarcasm>).

Anyway, that led me down a different thought path:

Someone must be making money. Who is it? The crusty GB? Or….. is it simply for control over others?