I Am In My Own Private Hell

 

 "It is a cult." 

 - Liam Neeson, on the current Star Wars fanbase 

    

  "The people producing AI don't have our best interests at heart, so it's not a good idea to hand them our brains in a bag." 

 But they'll do it anyway. It's what they do. If you build it, they will cult. That's, like, their thing.

'90s heartthrob Andrew Keegan responds to rumors he was once a cult leader,...insisted that his organization Full Circle "was "just a really cool community center." In an old Hare Krishna temple, which is just a really cool reminder that:

"...Nobody joins a cult. You join a self-help group, a religious movement, a political organization. They change so gradually, by the time you realize you're entrapped - and almost everybody does - you can't figure a safe way back out...." 

 - Deborah Layton, People's Temple member

Hulda Clark’s “zapper” device is based on pseudoscience; doesn’t kill parasites or cure diseases. 

 Not like I do anyway. They hate me.

 

A True Story: Dan & SF's Fab Four - Jim, John, George & Harvey (Who Milked It)

In November of 1978, immediately after San Francisco Supervisor Harvey Milk and Mayor George Moscone were murdered in City Hall, the police asked their assassin, former police and fireman (and, now, former Supervisor) Dan White when he'd previously ever brought his firearm to the federal building:

"I guess it was a few months ago. I, I was afraid of some of the threats that were made and I had a committee hearing coming up where some of these people were going to appear and I, and I know they had a history of violence..."

Who were "these people" with "a history of violence" making "threats" but still openly "going to appear" at an upcoming committee hearing? Back in 2003, the late Michael Bellefountaine's work in the article "Research on Harvey Milk Renews Calls for Reappraisal of Peoples Temple" hinted at one possibility:

"If there were any connection between the City Hall murders and Peoples Temple, it would clearly have been because Milk and Moscone were too closely tied to Jones and the Temple."

You think? And what did "too closely tied" even mean? Could it be what the cult leader himself, Jim Jones, once told Peoples Temple member Deborah Layton?

"Don't think you can get away with bad-mouthing this church. Mayor Moscone is my friend and he'll support my efforts to seek you out and destroy you." 

Michael Bellefountaine seemed to think so when he also wrote:

"One story has it that Milk asked Peoples Temple to remove his name from the church’s list of supporters when reports of violence and theft first came to light, and that he was outraged when the Temple failed to comply with his demand. Eventually, history settled on an official story: Jim Jones was a master manipulator who used unwitting local politicians to gain power for himself. The politicians, including Milk and Moscone, used Jones for volunteers and votes, while remaining personally distant and blissfully unaware of rumors of Temple violence, abuse, theft and even murder."

But were they "personally distant and blissfully unaware"? Dan White certainly didn't think so - which seems to be entirely why Harvey Milk got himself killed:

I didn't agree with [Harvey] on a lot of things but I was always honest, you know, and here they were devious and then he started kind of smirking cause he knew, he knew that I wasn't going to be reappointed. And ah, . . . .it just didn't make any impres­sion on him. I started to say you know how hard I worked for it and what it meant to me and my family an then my reputation as, as a hard worker, good honest person and he just kind of smirked at me as if to say, too bad an then an then I just got all flushed an, an hot an I shot him.

Which sounds too guilty, until you ponder political life in San Francisco, under cultism. Consider another resident of the wrong persuasion, John Barbagelata (March 29, 1919 – March 19, 1994) San Francisco's last Republican Supervisor and the 1975 mayoral candidate, who lost to George Moscone by 5,000 votes:

Barbagelata...opposed labor unions, hippies, and leftist radicals, which made him a target...He received numerous death threats, a bomb was exploded outside his house, a gun was fired through the windows of his West Portal real estate office, and two mail bombs were sent to his house, eventually requiring 24-hour police and FBI protection for his family....Barbagelata ran for mayor in 1975 against progressive candidate George Moscone,...For the rest of his life, Barbagelata maintained that the Peoples Temple far-left religious cult, led by Jim Jones, committed election fraud in the 1975 election by busing in out-of-town church members to double- and triple-vote for Moscone under the names of dead voters.

That sounds like devious behavior, if you ask me. But no one asks. Nor cares:

"After the mass suicide at Jonestown in 1978, Temple members revealed to The New York Times that the Temple arranged for "busloads" of members to be bussed from Redwood Valley to San Francisco to vote in the election. A former Temple member stated that many of those members were not registered to vote in San Francisco, while another former member said "Jones swayed elections." Another former Temple member stated of Jones that "he told us how to vote." She stated that Temple members were required to produce booth stubs to prove that they voted, and members that could not produce such stubs were "pushed around, shoved and physically abused." When asked how Jones could know for whom they voted, the member responded "You don't understand, we wanted to do what he told us to."

They like the pretty little Leftist lie, instead: The pretty lie that they're our heroes.

"San Francisco District Attorney Freitas set up a special unit to investigate election fraud charges. He named Temple member Timothy Stoen, whom he had hired as an assistant district attorney, to lead the unit. Stoen employed Temple members as volunteers to help with work on the investigation. The Temple was not mentioned in the proceedings that followed."

If You Were Caught Up In A Cult, Would You Want Help?

I've been working all night and, on two hours sleep, started looking at nursing homes for my friend this morning - which, at least, makes it feel like Doomsday. But, as far as today's NewAge prophecy is concerned, I submit this quote from a retired construction worker who lives in the shadow of Pic de Bugarach, the mountain in France "which some say will open on the last day and aliens will emerge with spaceships to save nearby humans." He said:

“For the past 50 years I have wandered over every single inch of that mountain, I know every rock, nook and cranny and everything what has been said about Le Pic de Bugarach is nothing but lies. Whoever started this rumour about Bugarach three years ago is a liar and all those who have followed him ever since are crooks.”

Here's another, from the Chinese government, which - in light of what some see as China's heavy-handed response - seems to elicit chuckles and dismay:

"The end of the world is not to be believed. The cult has evil intentions in lying about it. They cheat you out of money, lure you into the cult, and once you are in the trap you will be accompanied by misfortunes."

For instance, in response, The Telegraph, UK's Tom Phillips says:

"'You will be accompanied by misfortunes'? For all their faults, let it not be said the Chinese authorities are not eloquent. Bit difficult to take the moral high ground after you've arrested nearly 100 people for 'spreading rumours' though isn't it?"

Clearly, the man has never had to deal closely with cult-related issues - especially where loved ones are concerned. (Nor does he have a thing against outright fraud.) He assumes, I think, the Chinese can reason with sharks, or we should just let the disruptive "liars" and exploitive "crooks" continue.

What's a little "crazy" in someone else's life, right?

As long as it's not yours,...

I've returned to People's Temple member Deborah Layton's words more times than I can count:  

"...Nobody joins a cult. You join a self-help group, a religious movement, a political organization. They change so gradually, by the time you realize you're entrapped - and almost everybody does - you can't figure a safe way back out...."

That, my friends, is truly the end of the world,…

Grand Daddy Of Them All - The Jonestown Anniversary

"Nobody joins a cult. Nobody joins anything they think is going to hurt them. You join a religious organization, you join a political movement, and you join with people you really like."

-- Deborah Layton, a member of The People's Temple, issuing a warning about two of the most dangerous affiliations a person can make uncritically.

Life is funny, placing this year's Jonestown anniversary right after an election when Mitt Romney didn't convince millions of Republicans to forget their misgivings about him (and their own supposedly-rock-solid beliefs) but watched as they willingly abandoned them for another purpose - fixing the economy.

It was incredible. Merely by outlasting his opponents - which he could easily do with his wealth - the notorious Mormon flip-flopper who will say anything got the American Right to do the same, in mass, and without reservations. The term "drink the Kool-Aid" has rarely been so apt.

And now, post-election, there's talk of their delusions. Of seeing things that were never there. Of principles left by the side of the road. Shape-shifting identities, and a general lack of direction, now that reality has once again revealed itself. Where'd it go?

And for what? A Mormon bishop who insisted we had no right to really know him or his "church," but continuously gets busted (still!) saying things that indicate he doesn't like us very much. Evidence of this was already available through his much-touted "charity" that went almost exclusively to one group - his own. He made cockamamy, and even crazy statements, sometimes displaying a level of ignorance that (to my ears anyway) seemed criminal in an election for the highest office in the land. But, still, his new found supporters would not be deterred.

Common sense, reason, documented evidence - even of Romney lying about what were described as his most deeply-held beliefs - none of it could be allowed to have an effect, but were either dismissed, excused, or so well-wrapped in lame excuses they could now be delivered as early Christmas gifts.

And of course, let's not forget the ritual of marginalizing the messengers, as must be done to all apostates, right or wrong, along with critical thought, fairness - compassion even - for those hurt by cults, or who had left Romney's and are now struggling to make a new life without it's influence. As the French are fond of saying, "This is not done." The Right wanted what it wanted, and if anyone vulnerable got crushed under their boot, too bad. This was the time for one thing and one thing only - bloodsport of the highest political order. And that goes for your little dog, too.

"I don't care to belong to any club that will have me as a member."

-- Groucho Marx

I could go on like this - because it's fun - but, instead, I'll show you a photo from Nazi Germany:

See that guy? That's a picture of me. It's a picture of me then, and a picture of me now. It's me anytime, and faced with all the many ways, the rest of you decide to clown yourselves over anyone, or anything, you really know nothing about. Because of that tendency, I fear I will be holding this pose forever.

If more did so, there would be many lives still happily walking the planet - at least 6 million - plus 900 that needlessly died in a South American jungle 34 years ago today.

Not to mention a whole lot fewer totally demoralized voters,...

 

Being Crazy Is How You Get Into This (Not Out)

And here we go again - listen to Crazy Charley:

Prince Charles lashed out Wednesday at climate change skeptics, saying they are playing "a reckless game of roulette" with the planet's future.

Skeptics are having a "corrosive effect" on public opinion, the British heir to the throne added.

"Their suggestion, that hundreds of scientists around the world ... are somehow unconsciously biased, creates the implication that many of us are secretly conspiring to undermine and deliberately destroy the entire market-based capitalist system," he said.

That can't be possible, right? Because everyone understands their biases, right? Of course - remember this from just yesterday?:

Some of the world’s pre-eminent experts on bias discovered an unexpected form of it at their annual meeting.

But Prince "I talk to trees" Charley's more aware of his biases than they are. We won't belabor the point, but merely leave you with a quote from Join Us, Ondi Timoner's documentary about cults:

"When people say, 'There must be a certain type of person involved in the cult phenomena', what they're really trying to say is 'I don't want to accept that this could happen to me'."

Oh - what the hell - here's one more, from Deborah Layton of The People's Temple:

"...Nobody joins a cult. You join a self-help group, a religious movement, a political organization. They change so gradually, by the time you realize you're entrapped - and almost everybody does - you can't figure a safe way back out...."

Sounds about right from here,...

Eliminating The Ego

O.K., I like this: Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) has written a piece about that Russian Doomsday cult, which was picked up by Andrew Sullivan, in a "ha-ha, aren't they funny" kind of way, like cultism is so weird, and only happens to Russians or something. The idea there are people following around liars, or people who make no sense, or people who say nothing - right here in the United States before the eyes of the media (and including in the media) and everybody - doesn't seem to make a dent.

I did a post, already, on a movie by Ondi Timoner, called "Join Us", where she explores why "America is the number one breeding ground of cults in the world, and how mind control can happen to just about anyone." She also makes this point:

"When people say, 'There must be a certain type of person involved in the cult phenomena', what they're really trying to say is 'I don't want to accept that this could happen to me'."

But is happening to us - all the time - we just don't want to grapple with it. I saw a quote yesterday, from Jay-Z, where, in a discussion of his latest business deal he said:

“Something must be happening. Madonna did it, she’s not slow.”

Really? Madonna's not "slow"? The woman who was “lobbying the government and nuclear industry over a scheme to clean up radioactive waste with a supposedly magic Kabbalah fluid” isn't proving she's "slow"? She reportedly drinks $10,000 of the stuff. Not to mention "wearing a red thread on her wrist in a Jewish tradition to ward off the evil eye" (a sure sign of brilliance) and calling herself an "ambassador for Judaism" when she ain't even Jewish? What do you call her then? How about a "cultist"? Or is that too strong a word for the delicate sensibilities of all the other cultists?

I don't want to go on with this, so I'll just leave you with the words of Deborah Layton, a survivor of Jim Jones' People's Temple (above) and hope, by looking around the site, you can sort the dynamics of this phenomena for yourself. Miss Layton said:

"...Nobody joins a cult. You join a self-help group, a religious movement, a political organization. They change so gradually, by the time you realize you're entrapped - and almost everybody does - you can't figure a safe way back out...."

Considering that self-help, religion, and politics, are three of the strongest themes running through post 9/11 America, I sincerely hope she's wrong.