Keith Raniere and NXIVM
Date: August 11, 2006 05:02AM
I met with a couple of their people once. I was considering joining because a friend of mine loved it and I have a deep found respect for Ayn Rand, BUT I had some serious issues about people who have nothing bad to say about someone. I mean, I love my parents, but I can name all their shortcomings and everybody has them, and I mean EVERYBODY.
As for Ayn Rand, that man is not true to her. He has taken what she did, merely the redefining of words to help out a generation of those who found themselves struggling in an increasingly collectivist culture, and turned it into some sort of game. I love Rand for her portrayal of women and her ability to write. She would be absolutely furious with him.
My friend and I, though well meaning, have little to say because he is caught in their "language," and when I say something, he hears something else, and of course, I'm wrong. I digress...
In the forbes interview, Raniere described himself as a "church mouse." Anyone who has ever read Rand's, [i:5c37466f8b]The Fountainhead[/i:5c37466f8b] would know that the term is not good and all giving, but manipulative and self-negating on purpose, he wants everyone to assume very little about him. Tis a shame too, his birthday, astrologically, is of someone who is giving.
In the end, I realized I already had the tools of introspection that I needed. We all do. No one can teach us that.