Please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Anthony Pearson and I am an artist and instructor at the University of California Riverside in the Department of Art.

I am posting tonight because I am interested in the study of aesthetics used in the promotion of a cult agenda. In examples some of the types of graphing excerpts from this informative Synanon website...

[www.synanon.org]

The type of imagery and visual content used by cults is of great interest to me.

I understand that this site is often used as a support group and a personal information based resource. My interest is in material (paper, books, flyers, pamphlets) that I can use in my research of this sort of visual and aesthetic language that I find to be very specific and powerful.

In my studies and work I am doing a great deal of research on this kind of material.

If anyone has a web resource I would be grateful.

More importantly I want to say that I am interested in acquiring any sort of vintage published material by cults or cult-like groups of any kind. My interest is in purchasing this kind of material for an archive I am assembling. Material from the 50's through 80's is very desirable to me.

Please keep in mind that mine is an academic and educational venture and any help is very much welcome.

I am based in Los Angeles and welcome any contact regarding this inquiry.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Anthony Pearson

From the years 1976 through 1983, I was the victim of a criminally destructive mind control cult - the Chuck Hawkins cult. This cult started out in Honolulu, later fled and lived on a coffee farm on the Kona Coast of the Big Island , and yet later fled to San Francisco.

My child was removed from me from birth through six years of age at which time I made my escape and rescued her.

Child molestation occurred on a daily basis.

One child, Andrea Altiery, was the daughter of then Hawaii state senator Mason Altiery (Altieri). Mason left his two preteen girls in the care of this cult and the guru, Chuck Hawkins, who sexually molested these two girls for years. Andrea later became a prostitute and eventually fell victim to serial killer Robert Hansen of Anchorage, Alaska .

The Hawaii Observer published an article dated 1.27.77 titled: "Psychological Warfare: Regulating The Therapist" in which Chuck Hawkins (Dr. Charles Hawkins) was interviewed. I have a copy of this article if you are interested. In this article, Chuck Hawkins discusses an investigation of him by the Hawaii licensing board which regulates psychotherapists on charges of psychological abuse of cult members, encouraging members to take LSD, and abusing the role of the psychotherapist.

In the fall of 1979, a very angry ex-cult member exposed the atrocious goings-on - behavior defying the imagination and the law - to the press in Honolulu and perhaps in Kona . One morning, the cult woke up to find news helicopters flying low over the coffee farm where they lived - a scene straight out of "Apocalypse Now." It was at this time that the cult fled en masse to San Francisco .

I invite you to read about this story on my web site at www.missmanagement.com.

mr. pearson: i posted this publicly because it might jog someone else's memory.

i joined the military in 1976. when i got on the plane to go to basic training (1st time i ever was in an airport), some krishna follower gave me a bhagavad-gita (or however it's spelled, i could care less). the book was full of trippy, colorful art and it's always struck me as manipulative because so many of us young folks were potheads back then. the pictures were just "so cool, man" and you can't tell me it wasn't deliberate.

when my buddy joined the next year, he even got an album from them, by a trippy rock band called "Golden Avatar". somebody somewhere probably still has the record, it seems to be the type of thing you are looking for...

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thunderbyrd

i joined the military in 1976. when i got on the plane to go to basic training (1st time i ever was in an airport), some krishna follower gave me a bhagavad-gita (or however it's spelled, i could care less). the book was full of trippy, colorful art and it's always struck me as manipulative because so many of us young folks were potheads back then. the pictures were just "so cool, man" and you can't tell me it wasn't deliberate.

I bought one 5 years ago (I try to keep up a good collection of Holy Books of all religions). My edition has trippy art, but they did seem to tone it down a bit in the late 90s. I wouuld still recommend it for your studies. I'm currently studing mass media and find these types of information interesting myself.

Back to cult media:

The cover of "The Living Word" a People's Temple publication might interest you: [jonestown.sdsu.edu]

The XFamily site has a lot of media/multi-media on the Children of God (The Family) cult.
[www.xfamily.org]