I’ve got a really unscientific answer that feels good in my head.
culture is so deeply ingrained and large that only two things could change it:
1: slow change from within
2: war/genocide
cults on the other hand are small enough and new enough and not deeply enough ingrained. it feels possible to defeat them in the “marketplace of ideas” as it were.
even if that’s not quite true, even if it’s not actually easier to argue can against scientology. it feels like it should be.
that’s why there’s such a difference in criticism too. because it comes down to “well what do you think should be done about it then?” it’s pretty clear that you can’t argue a person out of such a deeply rooted cultural belief.
also, it’s about who you’re criticizing in relation to yourself. a white person living in America has way more ground to stand on calling another white American out for having bad beliefs and practices. this is because you can understand where they come from and the culture around them
ultimately there is no concrete “good” and “bad”. for you to enforce your idea of that onto a people who universally agree that your “good” is actually bad then you’re the bad guy no matter how right you think you are. no matter how much your people think you’re right for what you do that’s cultural imperialism/plain old regular imperialism.