Long story about the cultish personalities who never seem to stop showing up in life. Posting for your entertainment as much as to vent.

I recently ran into someone who appears to be cult-affected. All the personality traits of someone who has been through a certain kind of training were there, and she works at a place that is known to host that kind of training and spawn activists like fungal spores into the city. (yes, a community college, the place America does penance for its failed high schools.)

I can't even name the cult because it is the training in super-arrogant political correctness that is so common now that no particular cult is responsible anymore. It comes out of the fringe left in the American political scene. You all probably know the hallmarks: the self-righteous food fetishism, the demands that everyone else has to produce an acceptable resume before they are fit for human company, etc.

Garrison Keillor used to poke fun at them in some of his "Prairie Home Companion" skits, the one about the organic oatmeal company that will send you a box if you send a check for $20 and your resume, and the ones about the joke-police.

Anyway, I decided not to let this person scare me back into seclusion. I watched her chew up and spit out a man who was serving our church coffee hour because he didn't provide organic juice for the children. He smiled and showed not one iota of resentment while she made a fool of herself. I watched her tell everyone all the organic ingredients of the "queso" (melted cheese, dammit!) she brought for the buffet. I made a mental note to bring Little Debbie cakes in a Walmart bag when my turn to do coffee hour came up **evil grin here**.

When it became obvious we would be bumping into each other a lot, I took the initiative to befriend her enough to find out what I faced. Sure enough, she almost sucked me into a trust-level. She asked a little bit about my background and then told me things about herself that seemed like common interest, but she was lying. Part of my background is in home schooling and she got all interested in finding out how it can be done if you are a working mother. Anyone would have thought she needed this information because she is in that situation, and I backed away from the needy tentacles that seemed to emanate around an apparent common interest by pointing out that my experience was 30 years ago and in a different setting, completely. I made a general remark about finding other home-school parents and trading off hours and also that I stopped home-schooling when it didn't work out. She wanted details, where did I work and how did I find the other parents etc and I had to repeat that this was 30 years ago, and then I went beyond that to say flat out that those kinds of details are nobody's business, I would never ask such details. Then we talked about upbringing and regional ettiquette (invasive questioning is a Southern thing) (but she did not have a local accent, I thought she was from New England/East Coast!) and she simultaneously gained my forgiveness while alerting me to the lie: she does not even have school-age kids, just one teen who is graduating and completely involved in the local school.

The accent thing is interesting. I really did not believe that she is local and I thought I had set a boundary with the ettiquette discussion while I wondered if there was a second level of deceit. But the trainers for this super-vigilant politcal stuff are often from the Northeast and I have seen them in almost all the local nonprofits that I have encountered down here and their trainees often pick up the leaders' accents. (In fact my own accent sometimes causes me to be identified with them and that really pushes my buttons! Grr! I came here to get AWAY from all that!!)

So anyway, I continued the casual church-coffee-hour friendship and eventually heard her slip into a more local accent and I relaxed, thinking the questions must really have been just that conflict between Southern and Northern conversational styles and not an effort to gather info.

So the weeks wore on and I decided to come further out of seclusion and join a prayer/study group. All my cult antennae were activated while I compared the reading material to the leader's presentations and I watched how the leader handled various people in the new class before deciding to commit myself to the course. I was watching for bait-and-switch in the offered material and all the typical cultleader tactics in teaching style, and saw none. So I went ahead and committed myself to take the full course. I did not worry about the fact that Miss Arrogance joined the same group.

The leader asked me to do an illustration for the class. (I am listed in a local artist registry that the church uses.) I agreed to donate some work. But this was arranged privately when he saw my background and it was not public. I assumed he would not say anything until the work was done and accepted. Now, an important point is that my old cult experience has also heavily damaged me as an artist because the old cult attacked my studio along with other artists who were labeled as conservatives when we did not support their take-over of the arts in Massachusetts. So I am still paranoid. (posting about it is therapy, too, in this case.) The class leader had not done a full interview with me which would have given me a chance to explain my need for privacy. After he saw what he needed to see about my work, he thought he would do me the favor of a public announcment that I was the artist for this project!

****aaaaargh!!!!****

Sure enough, the class flocked over to congratulate me almost triggering a PTSD attack (having been mobbed in the past) and next thing was Miss Arrogance moving quickly from friendly congrats into detailed questions of how this figures into income and how did I come to be offered the job in the first place, etc etc. and I had yet a second opportunity to tell her to mind her own business. I politely said it was not a paid commission and that this is also not the first project I do, my guard was still down and I mentioned some other art I did for someone in the church, but refused to discuss the details of the project.

She moved in for the kill. She dropped the pretense of friendliness and demanded to know how and why I was offering to do art, how much money was I "taking" for this art, etc and I bluntly told her "you are asking questions that are really nobody's business and I only show my portfolio to people who have a reason to see it." and she countered with insinuations as if independent business as an artist or any other profession is some kind of crime. I walked away, still frozen in friendly smile even as I told her to mind her own business, I even waved a friendly wave as I left.

I spent three days in bed with an ulcer. I had nightmares. I told the class leader how upset I was over the announcement. It took a few emails and phone conversations for him to understand it, and really all he understood was that I am a shy person who had a bad reaction to praise. I told him I was afraid there would be some kind of attack on the project just because people in general can get jealous about art and he said not to worry about it. He talked it over with his boss and said lets' just go ahead slowly and forget about the nervous reaction I was having and I said ok. Then I took the personal step of telling Miss Arrogance privately that if she continued to harass me with personal questions, I would take legal action, thus making it as clear as humanly possible that there is no friendship and my boundaries are very very firm.

She immediately slandered me to the class leader (thus completely displaying the full immaturity of her cult training: she thought that the class leader would take responsibility over conversations between adults in the city outside of the class! Like a cult-guru-nanny would!) He did not accept the slander, which was that I "threatened" her .

I was a real wreck while this was going on, sitting as far from her in the class as I could and sometimes just zoning out into my book instead of joining conversation. (I can't believe I am describing a bunch of middle-aged adults and not a junior high-school class! **LOL**) After a while I was able to relax, but I resented that I was made to look like a sensitive piece of damaged goods by all this. I felt that the class leader's reaction to the slander might have been that I am indeed a little crazy but certainly not a threat to anyone. And the fact that Miss Arrogance started baiting him with challenges to his own authority in small ways certainly helped me let go of it.

So, I put it all behind me. Gave myself a pat on the back for persisting past the inevitable encounter with a cult-like personality.

Then the Monty Python version of the story kicked in.

I cannot be sure Miss A was responsible for this, but it certainly came out of her corner of the universe, the art-mafia-thought-police corner. It is entirely possible that anyone else in the class could also have talked about the art project to others in that world, particularly an Asperger's sufferer (very intelligent guy) who probably talks to social workers, but Miss A is the one who was so focussed on the idea that I must be making money off this (and so what if I was? that there is something wrong with earning money is part of the cult-mentality) and she also did not appear to believe that I am not rolling in the millions all artists are supposed to be hiding in our attics.

A total stranger called the class leader out of the blue and said he "heard" that he needed an artist! (Miss A, BTW, did not know about the private decision in the church to just go ahead with my project and let the dust settle. I am sure she thought it had been successfully torpedoed by her slander.) So, he said sure, he could always use another artist, and he gave the guy a poster project to illustrate the Ascension of Christ.

(Now, the cult that fought with conservative artists in Massachusetts used death-cult images in their propaganda.
The Ascension of Christ, in full Catholic regalia, is generally not their style. Just sayin'.)


***LOL***

I was indeed slightly miffed as any artist would be when the class leader announced that there was another project and he had an artist for it, and I thought well, it would heve been nice to be offered it but after all I am already working on something so I let it go. He did glance at me as he made the announcement, probably wondering if my ego could take it. I am not naturally meek but I was working at it.

****LOL****

God does indeed reward the meek!

****LOL***

The very next day, he came into the coffee hour to ask me to help him with a problem. "I now see exactly what you meant!" he said. I was confused, what? I said. "About never making an announcement until after seeing the art."

He unrolled the poster the man had dropped off, saying "clearly he is very talented and he is professional, he makes a living with his art, what should I say?" and there it was: Death-Cult Jesus!!!!

The "Ascension", instead of being a gloriously beautiful Jesus rising into a cheerful sunlit sky with angels coming down to meet with the disciples, this looked like Neptune under the sea with an angry medusa face and a skeletal robe on a rotting corpse.

****LOL****

We talked it over and I suggested a few things to say to get the artist to make something more appropriate without upsetting his ego.

I did not even have to repeat any of what I had already intimated about having faced off with the death-cult artists. He immediately recognized it. He brought it up and we talked a little more about how common this problem has become for artists and how to control the kinds of images that get into the school programs.

I hope this story has entertained you all and if you are struggling with the aftermath of cults, where you have to learn to face off with these kinds of people if you are to be socially active, I hope this encourages you to sit back and just let them make fools of themselves. They can't hurt you anymore.

Miss Arrogance has managed to convince someone else at the church that she works for the State Department.

I do believe she is indeed working for a cult. There is one, within the Democrat party and the women's centers, that collects information as its stock in trade and openly brags of its ability to blackmail anyone with anything it wants to make up because those filthy creeps will sprinkle just enough of the accurate information they have gathered to make the rest of what ever they want to claim, appear to be true. Its members also are very adept at taking something like a common office job at a community college and inflating it to "State Department" so they can impress the impressionable.

These cultists are truly demonic. Imagine spending your life joining groups you don't believe in so you can blackmail their members and undermine their programs! What a miserable life!

I hope no one minds if I update this. It is turning into an ongoing story. My original fears that I was just being "triggered" (please note: this term does NOT denote association with the Neil Brick cult) by someone with a cult-like personality are giving way to almost absolute certainty that I am dealing with a full-cult activist.

In my original post I noted that Miss Arrogance worked at a community college and this raised a flag with me because of cult activity that happens at a lot of community colleges. What actually happened was that in a conversation in which she was pumping me for personal information and I was being evasive and trying to understand her motives, I asked her where she worked and she said "the community college" but I had once overheard her telling someone she worked "for the state" and that is when I fully labeled her as a liar in my own mind but I believed she actually worked for the college and was inflating it to be "state" when she was bullying people.

But her slander continues to be a problem and I made a comment to a colleague who knows the situation and she said she works at the "state department". I thought maybe this colleague was gullible, too? so I asked another mutual aquaintance "where does so&so work?" and she said she works for the state, over at (and she named the address) and I said "not the community college? I thought she worked at the community college" and this aquaintance said "She worked at the community college years ago. Now she works for the state department, some big math and data computer stuff, something like that..."

BINGO!!!! The TBTN cult works completely off data-base blackmailing access and info sales and it gets a lot of its training done at the community college level where it can find vulnerable people to groom while they rise in the system!

Quote
dsm
I do believe she is indeed working for a cult. There is one, within the Democrat party and the women's centers, that collects information as its stock in trade and openly brags of its ability to blackmail anyone with anything it wants to make up because those filthy creeps will sprinkle just enough of the accurate information they have gathered to make the rest of what ever they want to claim, appear to be true.

This sounds like Scientology 101.

Hi Sparky, If you want an independent look at the cult in action, read "Who Stole Feminism?" by Christina Hoff Sommers.

The exact same cult, TBTN. I was actually an employee at a small college that she describes, and I actually witnessed one of the mob attacks that she describes.

I bet at least a few of these cults have Scientology material as well as NatLFed in their training resumes. They all trade off methods with each other and watch each other for new ideas.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2010 10:07AM by dsm.

Here is a quote corboy posted in another thread on a related cult that mentions TBTN, and the related cult was famous for inventing fronts to infiltrate mainstream churches:

>>>>>>How High Value Recruits are Enticed:

>>>>Quote:
For all the attorneys, doctors and other professionals out there: the analogy between the NATLFED entities and Scientology does seem apt, as based on my own experience. I was one of the few attorneys they tried to recruit as a cadre member, probably because I was young and inexperienced at the time. However, all the other attorneys and doctors I met had no inkling what was going on or whether or not the people they spoke to actually got the help they needed. The NATLFED front groups, like CCLP, do the same sort of thing that Scientology does with celebrities: (1) the professionals get special treatment (like the ubiquitous wine and cheese parties that, by the way, are never held in the offices of the NATLFED fronts but in a professional's home or office -- another screening mechanism); (2) the professionals come in "through the back" door at the front offices. I don't mean this literally of course but, like Scientology, they prepare for a professional's visit by ensuring they will not see what actually goes on while they are visiting a front office. (3) the professional volunteers are given honorary "board member" status. However, try asking for a copy of the bylaws that govern the organization, or about its finances, like I did, and you are asking for trouble.
Comment by Anthony Palik from San Francisco on Dec 13th, 2009, 16:53 pm

[forum.culteducation.com]


Other NatLFed veterans disagree with me that TBTN had a close partnership with them, but I still beleive that TBTN could be considered almost a NatLFed entity, differentiated only by its openly lesbian character. It co-erces non-lesbians to support it and it promotes lesbian militance in all the churches and other organizations that it exploits.

Quote
dsm
Hi Sparky, If you want an independent look at the cult in action, read "Who Stole Feminism?" by Christina Hoff Sommers.

The exact same cult, TBTN. I was actually an employee at a small college that she describes, and I actually witnessed one of the mob attacks that she describes.

I bet at least a few of these cults have Scientology material as well as NatLFed in their training resumes. They all trade off methods with each other and watch each other for new ideas.

I know of Christina Hoff Sommers writings well (I have read her). She was one of the original founding members of NOW (National Org of Women), correct? She has been mystified by the insanity and intensity of the "feminist"(leftist) attacks on fellow feminists who do not walk in mental lock-step and the cult-like attitude "feminists" and "leftists" toward one another to force a "group-think" upon members or drive them out if that fails. While she still is an active and powerful feminist, she has distanced herself from the people (neo-cultists) she once called friends.

I normally try to ignore political/cultist ties, but in this case it seems to hold water and you have made a valid point which I will give you.

The fact that Sommers does not follow the cult-fighter's line makes her material even more important. She goes at it from only one perspective, and that is the persepective of "honest data". As far as her assisting in the founding of NOW, that also supports the story, since the original purpose of NOW was supported by many people and it quickly veered off course. Which is to be expected when a cult grabs the steering wheel of any organization. Most people will find alternative explanations to "cult", such as personality disputes for example, but if they are honest and thorough, when a cult is involved its' profile will eventually emerge out of their critiques.

Nothing is better than supportive evidence gathered by someone who does not share your own bias, right?

Oh, here is a HUGE alert: I just looked at a parish newsletter and there appears to be a person in our church hierarchy who uses both an anglo and a hispanic last name. At first I thought there was just a co-incidental common first name (with an odd spelling) but they share the same phone number.

NatLFed, my old cult, that I also identify with TBTN, the one I think is involved with Miss Arrogance, is notorious for the fact that its original cadre were non-hispanics who all took Hispanic pseudonyms.

I may be facing off with one of NatLFed's cadre-sets, after all. Miss Arrogance might be cadre but she might be a tool.

She appears also to be slightly mentally ill, and that fits the profile. Mentally ill disabled often get into community colleges and both NatLFed and TBTN are good at spotting them and helping them get past obstacles to get work, but then they call on them for favors and if the mentally ill person does not comply, arms get twisted and the job disappears.

I have been pressured several times, directly, by these cultists because of my PTSD which has me on disability. I've been able to prove each time that I was pressured almost to the point of extortion (except I did not comply, thus did not get the jobs, thus faced their blackmail each time. They always discover that I have already contacted the authorities and told them to flag my file for an incoming complaint **LOL**. )

This is the Catholic Church. The NatLFed entity that is operating inside the Catholic Church is the group "Call To Action" [www.google.com]

I think I am facing off with one of their main Texas groups, this being Austin. I have not seen them openly but they don't openly show up in parishes. They quietly recruit people who then take leadership positions in various strategic committees while relying on their background support.

And yes, I am sure at least one of them is reading this, so hello there, my Progressive friend, Coward that you are.

I don't care. I have nothing left to lose. I am at peace with God. It is "Make My Day" time.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 06/14/2010 01:11PM by dsm.

Wow, that is a scary story! It has been at least 20 years since I walked away from the Catholic church--in fact, from organized religion in general; my experiences, which I have written about elsewhere, have given me a healthy distrust of any group that is based upon an ideology, whether religious or secular. It sounds like the situation has gotten worse in the Church since I left, as none of the groups you mentioned were operating 20-30 years ago (or if they were, they hadn't yet made it to my part of the country.

I feel for you, because I have seen some ugly things take place within parishes, and I am very sad to say that some of my own family has been involved in promoting disruption within the Church. I tried to talk to them about how what they were doing was hurting the average person like myself who has no desire to get involved in factions and got nowhere. They feel that they are doing what they are doing because they care about the Church. If it means being rude to others who do not see eye to eye, too bad. They are on God's and the Pope's side. And of course their "opponents" feel equally strongly that they are in the right and that they have a monopoly on caring about the Church. And the people in the middle? There is no room for us.

Like I said, my solution was to walk away and just say no to the whole thing. I realize that is not always easy to do. And there is so much pressure to be part of a church--any church. But I am firmly convinced that those of us who have been in cults or cult-like groups (they don't always have to be a formal cult to do harm) need to steer clear of faith- and/or ideologically-based groups, much as an alcoholic needs to stay away from bars. The tendency for addiction is still there. Some people can handle church, just as some people can handle alcohol. Others cannot. This is something most church people would not understand but for those who have been there, you know what I am talking about.

It may be that your best choice is to leave the situation entirely and try to find people who are not "politically" or "ideologically" motivated, in order to practice your art. I am sure there must be other artists in your area that you can find common ground with without having to deal with the BS. Life is too short to waste time on crap.