The Anticult wrote:
Quote
The Desteni gang is not going to get away with this forever
Andrew Cohen has reportedly exhibited this same pattern of behavior for over twenty years and is still at it.
All this despite three books written by former members,
The Mother of God by Luna Tarlo--Cohens own mother who was treated horribly for 2 and a half years after her son turned into a guru. To save her own dignity and sanity she chose to leave.
Enlightenment Blues--Andre van der Braak
American Guru-William Yenner and other former students
In addition to the books, there is a blog (What Enlightenement?) [
whatenlightenment.blogspot.com] which exposed much of this and provided a much needed forum for abused and discarded students to meet each other and compare what they endured [
whatenlightenment.blogspot.com]
And this new website offered by Mr William Yenner, author of the most recent of the three books [
americanguru.net]
A discussion page is here
[
forum.culteducation.com]
and on this URL, one of our readers describes this, after Mr Yenner opened his website.
[
forum.culteducation.com]
Now, lets go back to the discussion per Destini.
The reason Cohen appears to have gotten away with this is that many persons were so exhausted that when they left, they needed many years to recognize what had been done to them, and by the time they recognized this, the statute of limitations for filing charges had passed.
To me the take home less is that one must LEAVE while still young and healthy to have the energy to be interested in justice and capable of making an effort to work for justice to be done in this case.
Again, the lessons I see from the Cohen case are:
Early identification of the group as hurtful
Identification of its recruitment methods (Thank you, Polo)
Contact universities and do outreach to clubs and community events where young persons hang out
Educate young persons that their health, idealism, intelligence and longing for good causes make them high value recruits for middle aged types who want to get rich off of their labor and in some cases get them to pay to be overworked to make the leader rich.
It has been suggested that the way to address the problem of a potentially cultic group is to see whether it exhibits patterns characteristic of labor violation and illegal imprisonment, and workplace harassment.
Yet other ways to examine a group is whether it encourages members to behave in ways characteristic of dope addicts.
*Do you engage in the following activities to obtain dope or money for dope?
Lie--to your employer, friends, families, yourself?
Is there a no snitch rule that keeps dangerous people in your community from being reported to the authorities?
Do you lie or 'take the rap' for your dealer and go to jail rather than tell the full truth about him or her for fear of reprisals or in hope of later reward?
Do You Steal (steal from yourself by blowing money on drugs that you need for your children, your studies, your rent? Do you spend money on drugs that was entrusted to you for your expenses or loans for university studies ? Do you steal from your family or friends or embezzle to support your drug habit? Do you steal from your company by persuading it to employ members of your group who are under qualified?
Proslytizing==dope addicts often rationalize behavior they are ashamed of being convincing themselves they are glamorous outlows and that the drug makes them creative and that non addict society is oppressive. They try to persuade non drug users to 'just give it a try, dont limit yourself'.*
*(Personal note: I do not and have never used recreational drugs having understood that they are potentially bad for me. My self knowledge is very deep. Despite this, many users of psychedelics try to persuade me that I am limiting myself. Makes me wonder why, if they are so happy with what they do, they need to proslytize. The more of us abstain, the more is left over for them and the price stays affordable.)
Many of this addict behavior patterns are remarkably similar to cultic behavior.
Again the take home lesson is, young persons have to be educated that they are high value recruits for drug dealers, whether its the folks selling white powders, or leaders of groups that inculcate addictive and deceitful behavior, getting you to depend on the group and its leader to regulate your moods and self image, as others utilize drugs.
Early prevention and education and all effort made to get people to leave while their health and minds and futures are still intact--while they are still young enough to care about justice and eager to remedy injustice.
Early prevention is also important because after a group becomes wealthy enough, the leader can hire attorneys and PR specialists and a wealthy cult leader will have little difficulty getting celebrities to associate with the group, and can purchase expensive advertising online and in magazines.
When a group is wealthy, it can also purchase the silence of persons who want to leave by giving them all or some of their money back, in exchange for dropping lawsuits and sealing records. A wealthy group can purchase sufficient real estate in an area to boost local economy and become politically influential.
Again--early prevention is the key--before the group becomes wealthy and can do all this.
All young persons need to know they are capable, through their unpaid effort, plus their donations, of making a greedy leader rich--and at their own expense.