Quote
John Fox
Life was good for Werner Erhard until his family and some staff members were interviewed by 60 Minutes. The story that went to air subsequently blew away the facade for good, exposing the truth for all to see. Werner Erhard was anything but the success he presented himself to be.

You might say that the impact was devastating. Better still, Erhard could tell that the impact of the upcoming story was going to be devastating. In the weeks prior to the broadcast he sold his training company to a group of his staff members and subsequently left the country.

Getting a hold of the story has been near impossible. You certainly can't get it from CBS' archives as it isn't available due to "legal hold". It did surface on YouTube at one stage, but was quickly removed before it had time to be noticed.

The transcripts of the 60 Minutes episode have been available for years .... until now.

In the past days the whips have begun cracking over the heads of the CBS lawyers, who in turn have been churning out legal nastygrams to any web site carrying a copy of the transcript. 1991 was such a long time ago, but the copyright infringement is suddenly uber-important and the transcript is now being lawyered off the interwebs. [Technical note: CBS really do have a legitimate claim to the copyright, so the removal request really is a straight forward matter. It's theirs. Nothing worth getting emotional about.]

So ... what is happening here? Is free speech diminishing? Is the ground being swept clear for the foretold return of Werner Erhard? Do we now need another hero?

Fear not ... Wikileaks to the rescue. Our friendly fun-loving freedom fighters have posted the transcript of the story and have hoisted it high for all to see. Better still, you can also watch the video, possibly for the first time since it was originally broadcast 18 years ago.

Check it out here:
http://wikileaks.org/wiki/Suppressed_CBS_News_60_Minutes_on_Landmark_cult_leader_Werner_Erhard,_3_Mar_1991

John

PS. Anyone want to place bets on the current happiness level of Landmark General Counsel (big-wig lawyer dude) Art Schreiber? Legends tell of chairs getting thrown at Microsoft. Some choose to curse "those meddling teenagers". What ever it is that Art does, I'm sure it will create quite a racket. [Boom! Boom!] "Thank you, thank you. I'll be here all week. Try the veal."