Brilliant, The Anticult! Well said. This will not stop the "conspriacy" nutbags, however. My dear, sweet elderaly mom believes that black, silent helicopers are hovering over her house and spying on her. Therefore, my mom is as sane as all the posters on this ridicious thead.

PLEASE! RRMODERATOR! STOP THIS THREAD NOW! PLEASE DELETE THE WHOLE STOOPID THING!

I think this type of thread has value.

When analyzing and debunking cults, its important to stick to the facts and Evidence, and take a disciplined approach of Critical Thinking.
It does no good to jump from believing in some strange UFO cult, to believing in some strange Lizard-People conspiracies, black-helicopters, etc.

For example...why would they make their helicopters black if they wanted it to be secret? It would seem to me, if I wanted to hide my secret helicopters, I would paint them to look like Air Ambulances!
So that is just the beginning of common sense critical thinking.

Same thing with the so-called ChemTrails. If they wanted to spray the city, why are the condensation trails over the city? That means they will end up hundreds of miles away.
Also, people can study a bit of the physics of the contrails from planes, and learn that way about the atmosphere, etc.
[skepdic.com]

Also, there are some people with mental illnesses, who have serious problems distinguishing external reality from internal images, so that is a serious problem for some.

Some hopefully people will start to learn some critical thinking skills.
But on the other hand, one can't find many people who have believed in the Conspiracy Theory modality, who have come out of it. Its pretty rare.
Those who criticize the conspiracy, become part of the conspiracy.

So I happen to see Critical Thinking as the way of psychological self-defence against cults, but also against weird conspiracy theories, and many other things.
If we don't try to stick to the careful accurate facts, then a person can literally believe anything, and can fall into a Rabbit's Hole, and get stuck for many years, even for life.
Cults prey on this exact same human weakness.

The book by Carl Sagan "The Demon Haunted World" can save a person a lifetime of going down blind alleys to nowhere.

The Anticult,

Here is a direct link to Carl Sagan's tome "Demon Haunted World" courtesy of Rick Ross' book list. It's an excellent book and I frequently re-visit it.

[www.amazon.com]

You can check out more about the book at the above link.

Sparky, yes the book is terrific, everyone should read it, even if one is opposed to Critical Thinking or Science and logic.

Carl Sagan had what he called a Baloney Detection Kit, which is a series of questions we can ask when doing our investigations.
I find it applies perfectly to cults, as well as conspiracy theories, and anything else.
Even more prosaic things like "buying a used car". Carl Sagan said we need at LEAST that level of skepticism in our life, like when buying a used car. That also applies to a used cultish philosophy!

Anyone who might believe the types of things mentioned in this thread, should read that book! Not that it will change their mind, but just give them more tools to think for themselves, but do so in a sophisticated way.

Carl Sagan's Baloney Detection Kit
[www.xenu.net]

[users.tpg.com.au]

Sorry, folks, just back from Christmas Holidays ...

like a thorn in your side, it seems I will just not go away ... !

Just received an interesting book for Christmas:

TRANCE FORMATION OF AMERICA
the true life story of a CIA mind control slave by Cathy O'Brien with Mark Phillips

Definitely is a must-read for the skeptics who seem to be visiting this board.

Some info about the Bohemian Grove in this book: (page 170):

"My purpose at the Grove was sexual in nature, and therefore my perceptions were limited to a sex slave's viewpoint. As an effective means of control to ensure undetected proliferation of their perverse indulgences, slaves such as myself were subjected to ritualistic trauma. I knew each breath I took could be my last, as the threat of death lurked in every shadow. Slaves of advancing age or with failing programming were sacrificially murdered "at random" in the wooded grounds of Bohemian Grove, and I felt it was "simply a matter of time until it would be me." Rituals were held at a giant concrete owl monument on the banks of, ironically enough, the Russian River. These occultish sex rituals stemmed from the scientific belief that mind-controlled slaves required severe trauma to ensure compartmentalization of the memory, and not from any spiritual motivation."

EVERY AMERICAN SHOULD READ THIS BOOK!

Note: the giant concrete owl monument was actually photographed secretly by one reporter who managed to sneak into the grounds.

The good news is this: Cathy O'Brien is alive and well and is protected by some good and powerful people who are able to protect her from this evil cult.

I think that rigorous Critical Intelligence and skeptical thinking is the best way to sort through the Rabbit Hole of conspiracy theories of all sorts.

But to be honest, of the numerous people I've seen who have gotten involved in "conspiracy theories" of various sorts, I've not seen too many people come out of it. Perhaps they don't want to come out of it, or to even consider exploring it.

But the way out is to try and focus on real, objective evidence. Not testimonials or anecdotes.

I think the way out of almost all of this, are the tools from Carl Sagan's book mentioned above.

But again, sadly its been my experience that those who might benefit the most from Critical Thinking are the very same people who won't even consider it.

Its interesting if one looks at some of the negative Amazon reviews for that book...

Trance: Formation of America
[www.amazon.com]

There seems to be a type of Manchurian Candidate concept put forth, etc.
The author of the book appears to possibly be a disturbed individual, or maybe its a cash-grab for the Occult-Satanism crowd??

regardless, it does drive home the point that there are thousands of utterly bizarre "conspiracy theories" being actively sold everyday.
How can we sort imagined horrors, from actual horrors, from disinformation and misinformation, and even mental illness confabulation?

This is why we need Critical Thinking methods to try to make sense of the world. Otherwise a person can slip into a morass of..????

Hey, Anticult, or maybe I should say "Procult" ...

I have only seen POSITIVE REVIEWS for that book.

[www.trance-formation.com]


Mark Phillips was a former CIA operative, so he knows what he is talking about.

So put that in your pipe and smoke it!

OK, admittedly, the story of Cathy O'Brien is quite "unbelievable" but please consider this:

The gap between the artificial reality that the we receive from the media/TV and between the true reality is so great, that most of us have a hard time jumping that gap. THE GAP HAS BECOME TOO LARGE TO LEAP!

Just as a small example: when the spectacular World Trade Centre/Pentagon disaster was taking place, our President was coincidentally being filmed reading stories to some children in a school. Our immediate reaction is "Ahhh, what a nice man." (This may be a natural human reaction but may also be bolstered by conditioning such as the story of Jesus with the children, etc.) So when someone comes along and says: "The president is a perverted pedophile power-hungry politician" we have a very difficult time accepting it.

Or for example when the President is shown on the TV as going to a good Christian church, and when someone makes the accusation that the President is involved in satanic rituals and human sacrifices at the Bohemian Grove, again the gap is too far for people to make the leap.

The neuron impulses within the brain get "programmed" into traveling in a certain direction, just as a computer is programmed to "think" in a certain way. This is the subtle power of the media/TV as a method of thought control.

It is possible, however, to deprogram oneself -- the first thing is to stop watching the TV news. Cut back on TV as much as possible. This is what I have done, and I must admit that I do not miss all the incessant advertising that leaves one with a feeling of emptiness, the incessant ads for the luxury Lexus automobile, which leaves one with a feeling of low self-esteem.... not to mention all the possible subliminal messages that may be affecting my mind...

Yes, I am going through a system of deprogramming, or re-programming if you will, by avoiding TV/media, and instead reading books by knowledgeable insiders, or watching DVDs by such people.

But wait, there's more!

I recently saw this letter to the editor that was posted in our local newspaper. I have edited out place names in order to conceal the identify of the writer:

I noticed that the telephone company has erected two new rather strange looking transmitter towers on XXXX Road. Some people have suggested that these transmitters are emitting dangerous levels of radiation. Judging by the massive step-up transformers and rather thick cable that runs up these towers, the question could be raised as to whether these towers are transmitting more than just cell-phone telephone signals (especially in this age of miniaturization where a small battery powered cell phone can beam a message up to earth-orbiting satellites?).

The average man in the street may not be aware that the secret Shadow Government of the USA, (as well as the Russians), have been experimenting with behavior control using electronic methods for many decades now. One hears terms such as RHIC (Radio Hypnotic Intracerebral Control), ELF (extra-low frequency), and microwaves, which supposedly can create feelings of apathy within the population, or even subliminal messages that can be "piggy-backed" onto radio frequencies to which the human brain is sensitive.

I just returned from XXXXX city and I noticed similar towers strategically placed along the freeway. One busy junction in XXXXX has three such transmitters! Is this to improve the quality of the cell-phone conversations while people are driving along the freeway? It seems rather odd to do this, as we all know that using cell phones while driving can be dangerous, and is even illegal in some States?

There is an abundance of information creeping through the internet about the 'New World Order', and some knowledgeable people have suggested that 'mind control' is high on their agenda. Has Big Brother come to XXXXXX? Let's hope that these towers are just sinister and orwellian in appearance only, and not in function, huh? Maybe we are all just too 'apathetic' to care anyway.

Think about it.

Please no conspiracy theories about 9-11.

This is really offensive and groundless.

This is a message board about cults, destructive cults, controversial groups and movements--not bizarre conspiracy theories about the "New World Order."

There are other message boards populated by conspiracy theorists for the purpose of promoting and discussing such fanciful ideas.