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MacReadyMore coverage via Doubtful Newsblog:
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doubtfulnews.com]
Some UM defenders have posted comments, including this from Michael Duxon:
"This story has been in the press regularly for months now and the media continues to print lies, inacuracies and a slant on this story which seems intent on discrediting Serge Benhayon and the work of universal medicine.What does it matter that there is no scientific ‘proof’ for these techniques? Are we to sit back and wait to be told what we can believe in or maybe we can experience and know this for ourselves as thousands of people have done, creating a living evidence which can be easily researched and read via a google search.
If this was a cult or an organization with suspicious behavior and dubious methods then you would indeed expect it to keep its head down to fly über the radar but quite the opposite is happening with many
feeling the need to speak out for the truth of what is happening here".
Well, the UM faithful may be 'speaking out', but they're doing so in a very selective fashion. While they seem eager to wax lyrically about Serge's infallible integrity (each person writing in an interchangeable, pre-programmed style betraying a complete loss of individual expression), they all, without fail, avoid any detailed description of the true belief system at the 'inner-heart' of UM. This systemic, concerted pattern of deception illustrates that UM is attempting to avoid unwanted attention by keeping the true nature of the organization 'under the radar'.
Moreover, Serge himself is doing his best to avoid any serious disclosure of the true belief mechanisms driving his cult empire. Instead, he has retracted or obfuscated some of his ludicrous claims, edited his website in an attempt to downplay some of the more cultish elements, and left the followers to fight his PR battle for him.
Hi MacReady, thanks for taking the time to go through those students posts and highlight what is going on.
It is worth noting what is happening with the student posts. They are not going up at whim. They are being vetted, edited, rejected, classified in a serious effort to control what is appearing on the internet. The information you can Google is information they want seen and they think proves their arguments that they are not in a cult and Serge is a good guy extraordinaire.
From a recent email to the students:
Please take the time to read it if you are planning to submit an article to the blogs and keep this email as a reference. And please submit directly to the master gmail account as specified for each Blog below....Don't alienate by using lingo with no attempt to actually connect. This lack of connection is a big part of the reason why so many detractors have such animosity towards Serge and UM -- because as students we haven't met them with love and consideration -- often they have been met with arrogance and jargon and an 'us-vs-them', or a 'they're-so-pranic' approach to life....Also consider that if you are self-critical when you write about past choices and behaviours, you are inadvertently criticising anyone else in the world that has made or is making similar choices. When you write about your past write it with the love and the tenderness you and everyone else deserve....
Please understand that the volunteers are doing an amazing amount of work behind the scenes to read, allocate, proof read and post your submissions. It is not uncommon for small edits to be made to writing. We edit in the interests of clarity and readability. We will never change the meaning of your sentences and we will work with you if we have trouble understanding something you have written and feel you could express it more clearly. Your patience and understanding that is is a big learning for us all is appreciated in this process. We also welcome your feedback on how we approach this process.
In some cases the submissions we receive have a lot of great themes but require further clarity for those themes to be clearly communicated. If you are not a confident writer there are people who can help you with the process.So, we are not talking about a free exchange of ideas based on what the 'student' feels but a carefully crafted release of edited material onto the blogs, which probably accounts in part for their similarities.
However, it is a useless exercise because as we all know, the blogs look exactly like the work of people in a cult, defending their ideology mindlessly ( literally if they are good students) as Serge is exposed by the media for the liar and manipulator that he is. So in fact, all their handiwork supports what we and the non group members already know. As I keep saying, silence would be their best friends, although I guess that might look weird too. When you're in a cult you're really between a rock and a hard place!
I want to comment on the line Michael used above: What does it matter that there is no scientific ‘proof’ for these techniques?
Well of course it matters completely, especially when people are making health, parenting, emotional, relationship and life decisions based on it.
What we are talking about is people blindly believing the ideas of a man with no training, no therapeutic background, no specific education on the topics he claims to have absolute knowledge.I think for non members, besides the head trap their family member is in, this a VERY alarming aspect of the group. Certainly I was quietly worried about it over a number of years and when I understood how extensive the tendrils of his stupidity were and how it had become axiomatic in decision making, I realized it was a very pernicious and counter productive force.
The notion that Michael thinks it doesn't need proving points to the crux of why these guys are listening to Serge's nonsense and thinking it makes sense. Basically, they don't want to work things out for themselves. Serge hands them a set of instructions and it is very black and white. For the first time in their lives, once they give in to it, they are doubt free. A very quiet place. Cognitive inquiry takes work and there are many shades of grey. You have to form working theories, then abandon them if they dont stand up. In UM world, no such requirement exists for Serge or the followers; he just utters some nonsense, they write it down, and voila! it is truth.
This is more or less how society operated for a few millennium resulting in a very poor existence for just about every human that ever existed up to a few generations ago when 'enlightenment' led to a demand for 'proofs'-
If Michael and his simple co-horts had their way, we would be back a few centuries living a life of superstition ( which UM is laced with) and subject to the whims of leaders divining truth out of the ether. And as history ( and Serge ) shows, these leaders rarely fail to have their own interests at heart. Good thinking Michael Duxon.
One last thing which is related. A lot of the posters go on about how 'serge presented them with alternatives' and they just felt it's truth. Firstly, and glaringly, the very fact that Serge presented ( a euphemism for 'told') them there was an 'alternative' presents a clear choice. He described that choice in detail. He does so by informing them that many of their roles and ideas have been forced upon them. He then 'presents' ( tells) them that in order for them to feel ( not think) about 'their truth' they need not listen to him but discover it for themselves. Stevie Wonder could see that this is just a sleight of hand. It is a very clever but not uncommon manipulation used in sales to allow the buyer ( AKA student) think they are making the decision when presented with two options ; current= not good and Alternative = desirable.
Of course there are plenty of other alternatives. This just happens to be the Serge is offering for a few thousand ( at least) per year. The student, ripe for a new paradigm, just happens to be there ( they could also be with one of the other 1000 + cult leaders across the world peddling similar alternatives) Serge them employs some clever but proven methods to quieten the mind, induce catharsis, implant [his] ideas (alternatives) over a long period having had committed students agree to park their critical minds in neutral ( and often reverse)... and then you have the perfect follower batting in his defense on their multitudinous blog sites all singing the same discordant tones.
Thanks Students-- keep giving up those pearls of wisdom. And a special thanks to the editing team for not seeing the woods for the trees, or in this case, the stupidity for the words.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/17/2012 05:30AM by COncerned Partner.