There are different subgroups within the rationalist movement, just as there are different subgroups within many organized religions. It’s totally normal to have a movement with plenty of generally normal people, and also to have a committed and very opinionated subgroup within that movement that has access to resources and power. You might think of Scientology or the Catholic Church as examples of organizations where this is made very explicit, but it can happen organically as well. The main thing that makes the rationalist/EA groups worrying, in my opinion, is the massive access to money and resources that also tends to be concentrated in the hands of the people with the strongest beliefs (see TFA or, more importantly, the AI “doomer” folks.) We’re talking about groups of smart people who genuinely fear the world is going to end, have convinced themselves that stopping it is critical to saving future humanity, in some cases have access to capable scientists, and most critically: have resources ranging into the 10s and 100s of million dollars. This is potentially a very dangerous situation if the folks in charge make bad decisions.