Wow - despite the steady chorus of denials anything of the kind is happening - this country's runaway cultism is starting to become the subject independent filmmakers can't get enough of:First, from a few years ago, there was Ondi Timoner's Join Us. But this year we've got David Wants to Fly finally coming to the United States, Martha Marcy May Marlene being released later this year; the cult-themed Sound of My Voice (because cultists are such good listeners) is now screening at the Sundance Film Festival, and it's just been announced that production on a movie about the Manson Girls is to begin.
Not too shabby for a subject that, just a few years ago, many said we were "crazy" to cover. It's going to get really serious when filmmakers start connecting cultism to the history (and failures) of modern corporate culture - along with the Boomers who orchestrated integrating NewAge throughout society.
We don't think anybody but ourselves, and other serious cult-watchers, are prepared to deal with the reality, or the fallout, from that - but mark our words:
It's the next phase - and it's coming,...
Repo Man. I found that mildly amusing, as I recall.
ReplyDeleteI think maybe I'm starting to figure out where you're coming from with this blog.
New age means cults, and cults will destroy us all, and you learned that painful lesson first-hand, and you are the one who will save us all with your prophecy, if only we would listen, and other people who denounce cults are ripping you off.
Am I on the right track?
BTW, years and years ago I got so high at a Toots and the Maytals show that I thought Toots was literally Jesus Christ, incarnate.
ReplyDeleteIn my own defense, he did talk an awful lot about us all loving one another.
I think maybe I'm starting to figure out where you're coming from with this blog.
ReplyDeleteNew age means cults, and cults will destroy us all, and you learned that painful lesson first-hand, and you are the one who will save us all with your prophecy, if only we would listen, and other people who denounce cults are ripping you off.
Am I on the right track?
Close:
1) I was never in a cult. I was married to a cultist, who kept it hidden from me for 20 years, until she started killing people and couldn't hide it any longer. Chris Locke - of the http://mysticbourgeoisie.blogspot.com/ blog - was a part of it, and a damn good read for it, too.
2) I am hardly "the one who will save us all", nor do I see myself that way. I'd put it more like "I am an artist and I've got something to say." Should you listen to me? Yes, because I know what I'm talking about, and - as this post shows - it's being revealed that I do by the day.
3) "Other people who denounce cults" aren't ripping me off - I ain't selling nothing - but are, definitely, wrong that this phenomena isn't real. They forget I used to be in the same shoes they are - cultism wasn't a part of my reality and, many years ago, I would've told you NewAge was probably "harmless" (a lot of people sure told me that) - so I understand how easy it is to, not only, overlook cultism, but blithely assume it's limited to the Charlie Manson/Waco/Heaven's Gate-type things and has nothing to do with stuff/people like Oprah, or our political leaders, or celebrity.
But understanding that isn't enough to forgive such attitudes when the evidence is presented. I had no one telling me the ins-and-outs of cultism, but the rest of you do now, and to ignore it, or deny it, or side with it, when people are being hurt by it and you know it, isn't something I'm likely to forgive or forget:
It's too close, cuts too deep, and says to much about contemporary society, for me - as an artist - to ignore now.
Your mileage may vary.
Thanks for the explanation.
ReplyDeleteI'm beginning to suspect that you're actually a nice guy, underneath all that hateful name-calling and stuff.
All that hateful name-calling and stuff AKA The Macho Response is borne out of the realization NewAgers confuse kindness with weakness - give 'em an inch and they'll take a mile. It's the language, and attitude, I was raised with, but abandoned when I left the ghetto. It's not how I live my life (I'm much nicer with my friends) but can go there - and a lot further - in a hot minute when pressed.
ReplyDeleteThanks for hanging around - and the compliment.
You're welcome and I'm glad we've gotten to know each other a little bit.
ReplyDelete