June 5, 2008
[www.huffingtonpost.com]
Huffington Post - My Landmark Experience
by Diana Odasso

Quote

My Landmark experience begins the day a trusted friend recounts his weekend Landmark getaway. Quietly, I think to myself, "Poor kid. He has up and joined a cult."

I have heard the rumors - the strict bathroom policy, the no eating/ no drinking rule, the endless hours of class, the forced enrollment of your peers and family. Landmark Education has been kicked out of France. It also has the vague ring of Scientology, and all that California self-help mind control a la Tom Cruise in Magnolia or the pick-up artist from The Game. But my curiosity was piqued so I invited myself along to his evening class and joined on the spot. (Purely journalistic, of course.)

It started out well, but by the end of the piece ... well, see what happened to her for yourself.

:(

Diana Odasso is engaing in some Landmark advertising propaganda and lies about "Zen".
Its the old "start with the Objections" approach, to put the subjects off-balance.

The goal?
Get the suckers into the tent.
Get them to come out to Landmark on Tues night, so the professional can work them over.

Man these Landmarkians are sleazy.

Quote

An acquaintance complains, "If they are really offering a life-changing experience, why isn't it free?" I think quietly of the collection plate at church, reserve my judgment in true Landmark fashion, and gently add, "Perhaps you can come on Tuesday night?

The collection plate at the church is optional, and the money is generally used for the betterment of the church and/or the community. At LE, the fees are not optional who can really say all the things that they do with the money? Where is the comparison?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/07/2008 12:21AM by yutolia.

If this person really did have the apprehensions about Landmark before that she wrote about, then it just goes to show how quickly a person can be taken by Landmark. Which inturn shows how they've perfected subtially brainwashing people. Landmark is dangerous and reading her article made me a bit quesy and uncomfortable.

I think the entire thing is a set-up, as notice how she does not reveal any "forbidden" points about Landmark? It all by the Landmark book.

Also, it looks like she has only a few other Huffington Post blogs, so its probably part of the Landmark viral "blogger" campaign. They "coach" them to go out and blog, and then start putting some Landmark posts in. We've all seen it before.

Landmark is trying to counter all of the negatives out there about Landmark Dis-Education brainwashing.

And Diana Odasso is using the new Landmark propaganda technique.
They admit upfront that Landmark sounds like a cult, and was banned from France, etc. This is to DISARM YOUR OBJECTIONS.
They use that in sales all the time, as in.."sure this Hummer gets bad gas mileage...but how much is your life worth in a crash?"

Then they start to lie.
They say "they won't let you go to the bathroom". Of course, that is from EST, and they make a joke about it. So since that part isn't true, then all the other "bad stuff" about Landmark is not true either,right?
They start the mindfuck on you right there.

And all they want is to get you into the tent, so the PROFESSIONAL BRAINWASHERS can start to work you over.

Its totally by the book.
Diana Odasso should be ashamed of herself, for such a transparent manipulation.

there is even now several pro-Landmark comments to her blog post.
its a shill, they pass the links around, and use the Disarm Your Objections technique to recruit.

"I was skeptical, but then I saw the light...try it yourself and see..."

Landmark does seem attract people who don't mind being dishonest, and lying to themselves and to others.

That blog post is a carefully written and planned propaganda piece.

I saw those pro Landmark comments. Made me want to barf.

Quote
The Anticult
Diana Odasso is engaing in some Landmark advertising propaganda and lies about "Zen".
Its the old "start with the Objections" approach, to put the subjects off-balance.

The goal?
Get the suckers into the tent.
Get them to come out to Landmark on Tues night, so the professional can work them over.

Man these Landmarkians are sleazy.

I agree. This is a not-so-cleverly constructed bit of Landmark legerdemain. Note the "trusted" friend, not just any ordinary friend, who did the "introduction." And the breezy dismissal of the ~cult~ thingie. Then the list of all the other familiar complaints without one single mention of the real and analyzed and documented problems going back thirty years. I don't believe this writer for a minute. Either she's been given a script to copy or she's a complete idiot.


Ellen

also, this same article was cross-posted in various ways.
yahoo buzz, Digg, defamer, etc...

So it does function as a nice under-the-radar advertising...

1) talk about the "controversy"
2) go to the meeting.

Werner Erhard always knew, GET THE SUCKERS INTO THE TENT.
Say anything to get them to come. That is all they are trying to do.

In the Huffington Post advertisement, there is also a comment by some Landmark promoter. This person claims to be a PhD, and from what I can see, that is their ONLY post on Huffington?
Obviously, its all bullshit, part of the advertising. (the guy is NOT a psychologist, they are just lying and making that up to try and con-vince people).
It might even be the Landmark "coach" who coached the Diana Odasso into the article?
Clearly, that commenter is a senior Landmark person, possibly the same person who got her to post the article. These guys are semi-smart, in that they allow for a tiny bit of criticism to make it seem believable.
but man, are they are sleazy. They will literally say anything to try and get a sale.

QUOTE:
[www.huffingtonpost.com]
steveandellen
I originally did the est Training in 1975, shortly after getting my Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Columbia University. I did the (kinder, gentler, and shorter) Landmark Forum in 1992, after Werner Erhard had sold the company to the staff and trainers, making it an employee-owned company. Perhaps "superchuy" felt "manipulated and brainwashed," but the vast majority of people who attend do not. The Forum promotes taking responsibility and positive action for having the life we want, rather than do what many do - complain about how it doesn't. When I did, and continue to do that, I often see how I am "jerked" by past experiences, beliefs I have acquired, and my own points of view to say and do things that do not produce the results I want (eg, happiness, success, loving relationships, good health, etc.). I agree with "macaniff" in applauding Ms. Odasso's courage, but at the same time I think she gives a somewhat misleading picture of The Forum. The 3 days involve considerable introspection about the ideas presented by the Forum leader, and sharing is strictly up to the participant. For me, the "gist" was the incredible possibilities we can create as human beings, not what "jerks" we are. As a result of my own and many of my friends' overwhelmingly positive experiences, I enthusiastically tell others (including my therapy clients) about The Forum - because I want them to have the value I know is available!!

The psychologist who would recommend the tripe that Landmark is, to a vulnerable and trusting client, is either a fraud posing as a psychologist, or they are a psychologist who has somehow managed to slither through their years of education and training without ever having to take a course on ethics and ethical principles and guidelines. If this character ever did take a course on ethics he obviously skimmed over the parts of the APA code of ethics that speaks to the responsibility, ethical and legal, of a psychologist toward a client/patient.


[www.apa.org]

"(d) When psychologists are asked to provide services to individuals for whom appropriate mental health services are not available and for which psychologists have not obtained the competence necessary, psychologists with closely related prior training or experience may provide such services in order to ensure that services are not denied if they make a reasonable effort to obtain the competence required by using relevant research, training, consultation, or study.

(e) In those emerging areas in which generally recognized standards for preparatory training do not yet exist, psychologists nevertheless take reasonable steps to ensure the competence of their work and to protect clients/patients, students, supervisees, research participants, organizational clients, and others from harm."


The 'protecting client's from harm' section in the code of ethics is disregarded more often than it is reported or investigated.
Even when a psychologist is indoctrinated into Landmark's world views, he or she is still being utterly reckless and unethical in recommending a forum to a client. That psychologist would know the nature of Landmark's approach to real life problems and situations, and would know, in spite of what their forum leader has drilled into their mind, that Landmark's approach is anything but humane, responsible, credible, constructive, or ethical. They would also be fully aware that Landmark's notions about what self help is, unrefutably contradicts what the Psychological profession supports in practice and in its ethical guidelines--which any registered psychologist is bound by, both legally and ethically.

The other possibility with this individual is that he is indeed a psychologist, but was never trained in counselling, and is therefore incompetent to deal with people that have personal issues, and simply finds it easier to throw them to the wolves than to seek out the training that too many people assume a psychologist has..which is training in the art of counseling.

I am endlessly appalled by the fact that there are so called professionals out there, specifically psychologists, who unabashedly confess publicly to their extreme lack of good ethical judgement and professional training, by stating that they recommend Landmark courses to their clients! Their incompetence and lack of personal or professional conscience, disgusts me to no end. They are a disgrace to the profession.