Here is my wrap up on recent events.
1. 20th July 2012: Article posted in Medical Observer entitled "Investigation urged into 'cult' medical group" written by Byron Kaye. [
www.medicalobserver.com.au]
- Serge sends out email to his distribution list advising them that Byron has sided with the detractors and requests his followers to bombard Byron with Emails that are Pro-UM, especially Pro-UniMed cancer patients (because they apparently have nothing better to do with what precious little time they have on this earth, than be concerned with the well-being of Serge).
- The article sparks debate between readers who are DRs and Anne Mallatt - a Pro-UM practitioner, possibly the most damning comment came from a post by "Dr Ciccioni" who said "I find it weird that some of my peers work in an evidence-based environment, but don't live in an evidence-based world".
- Serge commences legal action against Medical Observer after gaining legal counsel (possibly from the same lawyer who allowed him to conduct a book burning at his property near Mullumbimby.)
- Confident with their legal position, Medical Observer puts the article back online - but without the offending comments.
2. 22nd July 2012: 2 Articles posted in the Sydney Morning Herald online and on page 7 of the Sun Herald written by Heath Aston
[
www.smh.com.au]
- The article featured the following comment: John Dwyer, the former head of medicine at University of NSW, described the claim that a lymphatic pulse exists as ''utter nonsense''. ''GPs might be sending a person off in good faith to get a legitimate therapy but what this person is getting is esoteric nonsense,'' he said.
[
www.smh.com.au]
- This article featured a confession from Serge, where he admits that he has been lying to students for the past 13 years: "He has claimed to be Leonardo da Vinci and Pythagoras reincarnate but he backtracked during an interview with The Sun-Herald at his home on Friday. ''I don't believe it. Not for one minute do I believe it,'' he said. ''What I present is part of a whole and if you take one piece outside the whole it sounds absurd. I agree, it sounds ludicrous.''
- In response to these two articles, Serge and Universal Medicine by extension, go into full damage control mode, Serge sends out an email to his distribution list, aimed at discrediting the journalist, downplaying his own confession, and labelling the people on this forum - [
forum.culteducation.com] - as the culprits, calling us "a small group of detractors". He wasn't finished there, he went on to request that members set up a blog site for "the students" to supply only positive accounts od UniMed and Serge, and to do so in normal language, so that people reading it from outside the group wouldn't think it was a cult.
3. 23rd July 2012: A third article posted in the Sydney Morning Herald online written by Heath Aston
[
www.smh.com.au]
- The article features a quote from Serge which archetypically demonstrates Serge's arogance when he states: ''I wish they would have just said to me, 'Hey, you're doing the wrong thing', in reference to the investigation by health authorities over a range of herbal supplements Universal Medicine sells online.
4. Now that Serge and his "Universal Medicine" have been picked up by a national, network, syndicated news source, the roll-out from here is a great spectacle to behold. We are now seeing numbers of discussion boards starting up on this topic across the world.
We're all a bit concerned by what is classic cult behaviour being displayed by the followers of Serge as they gather around their fallen leader.
There are a few major take aways for me from this week's events.
1. People will believe what they want to believe.
Even though Serge has categorically admitted lying to his followers, a group of them remain unchallenging in their belief of him and Universal Medicine.
2. A small unified voice can reach the masses.
Even though there are only a small number of contributers actively present on this forum, we have managed to create a massive response to our concerns.
3. I may not be able to defeat you Serge, but I can make you wish I had
What I mean by this is that we may not be able to physically remove Serge from his throne, and we may not be able to reach those that are wholly under his spell, however, by being in contact with the right authoritative bodies, by keeping others informed, and by asserting our rights as citizens through social, government, political, personal, and community means, we can enforce a framework on Serge and Universal Medicine that makes it nearly impossible for them to violate the rights of individuals within this country.4. One seed of doubt is all it takes
I have been contacted by a few ex-members of Universal Medicine this week, and their reasons for leaving UM were actually a lot simpler that you may expect. When taking on someone as charismatic as Serge, you almost feel like you will need to catch him in bed with the prime minister with a blood soaked knife in his hand in order for people to see him for what he truly is, but in reality it is a lot simpler, for these people it was as simple as, they woke up one day and realised it just didn't make sense, for one it was the lifeless and soul-less music of Serge's son, for another, it was the rediculous amount of money that everything cost - especially a postcard sized piece of laminated cardboard, for another it was the fact that having a beer and watching the footy was actually fun and not an evening of poison drinking and one-upmanship.
5. Positive progress every day
For me this is the underlying reason for this forum's success, we haven't sat idly by, every day we are on here, we are using the collective intelligence of the group in order to push that little bit further, whether we are disecting the text, reviewing the UM website, contacting government authorities, media, etc. every day we do something positive and proactive which will help bring Serge and Universal Medicine to justice.
And on a side note, I am really enjoying watching the roll-out of the recent news coverage on other news sites, blogs, forums, opinion boards, it is only just beginning. Serge may think we are just a small group of detractors, but watching the rollout, our voice has grown into thousands - he may even pick up some more followers -- like they say there is no such thing as bad publicity - but the main thing is that now people will see him coming, and there will be an imposed (not self-imposed) framework on him and his group that will force him to adhere to the law, and preserve the rights of the individual on the physical plain, regardless of what they choose to believe in the metaphysical.