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rattyboy
It was the most enthusiastic YWD (Young women's division member) in our group who the leader chose to get up and speak. This leader was not explicitly introduced as a leader. She was, seemingly, just a part of our group of 10 - 15 people. All these group mouthpieces had nothing but good things to say.

"That was Great!" shouted even louder instead of "Wasn't that Great?" saves the thinking and immediately puts everyone on the same page. I was seeing that more and more. The response from the emcee after the MJ song singer on a posted video is an example.
These are seemingly passing comments on the microphone but keep everyone in agreement.

Spending so much time cheering about how far we drove and whooping it up for our own district. I guess that's what it means to be a "Youth!"

This drove me crazy when I was in SGI -- all the manufactured emotion. Leaders would mention some upcoming big meeting -- and everyone would start cheering. It was as if they'd pushed a button. All this excitement -- for what? The chance to hear some mid-level leader give us the party line? The chance to hear some amateur singing or instrumental music? What's the big deal?

That's an SGI trait -- they manufacture lots of emotional drama...from the rah rah rah over Ikeda, or other SGI activities -- to the intense level of hatred that SGI has had for the priesthood. (And let's face it, the priests were not doing anything that Ikeda and his cronies weren't.) Experiences.....the sorrow someone has about some difficult problem in their life, to the frustration that they feel as they try to solve it, and nothing is working --- to the elation that they feel when, through lots of chanting and dedication to SGI -- THE BREAKTHROUGH!!!!!!! They've got their benefit -- and you can too! Hooray for SGI!!!

Why would they do this? Manipulating people's emotions --- is a good way to alter their thinking. I love the blog, www.baggagereclaim.co.uk/ It deals primarily with relationships, and how certain men and women manipulate the people that they're involved with. Yet -- manipulation is manipulation. I can also see examples of these manipulative behaviors in families, in the workplace, and in groups like SGI. Here is what the writer has to say about special effects and emotional manipulation:

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[www.baggagereclaim.co.uk]

I was drawn (and I have no idea why) to The Art of Creating Awe by Rob Legato who is behind the special effects for films including Titanic and Apollo 13. Right at the start he says that making the latter film taught him “…how our brains work is that, when we’re sort of enthused with enthusiasm or awe or fondness… it changes and alters our perception of things. It changes what we see. It changes what we remember.”

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"Enthusiasm, awe, fondness"....exactly what SGI tries to promote for SGI activities, and for President Ikeda. It's NOT real, it's manufactured. Are we stupid because we may have allowed our emotions to be manipulated? No, what we are is human. A well-done play or movie can move viewers to anger, excitement, or tears, --- even though we know that it's only a performance with actors, costumes and special effects. Of course, SGI was that too -- most of us just did not realize that in the beginning!

This article doesn't mention anger -- but arousing people's anger is also an effective way to manipulate people -- using a common enemy, fear, and paranoia, to unite people and keep them from questioning. Someone pointed out that keeping people busy is also a way to keep them from thinking. SGI knows ALL these tricks! Most of us did not know this when we first encountered SGI. Our denfense against the dark arts, is exactly what we're doing now -- educating ourselves about how groups like SGI manipulate people.

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Freeheartandmind
Does anybody know what happened to the "Taiten" group on Yahoo?

It appears to be dead in the water. Maybe the SGI did it in?

I'd just like to say I've really appreciated all of the recent discussion on the forum. Very enlightening to this affected family member.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2012 09:35PM by ScoobyDooby.

"This drove me crazy when I was in SGI -- all the manufactured emotion. Leaders would mention some upcoming big meeting -- and everyone would start cheering. It was as if they'd pushed a button. All this excitement -- for what?"

AAO! AAO! AAO! We didn't even know what AAO meant, but it didn't stop us from screaming it with fanatic fervor. I HATED AAO, so fake for Americans. Manufactured emotion...you betcha.

[www.scribd.com]

"To my husband Richard, my daughter Megan,my parents George, Gertrude, and Ariel,and my Sensei, Daisaku Ikeda, for their support"

BARF!!! How can she pretend to have a valid academic publication when she is an ikedabot? Oh, the blindness of the kool-aid drinkers.

"Experiences.....the sorrow someone has about some difficult problem in their life, to the frustration that they feel as they try to solve it, and nothing is working --- to the elation that they feel when, through lots of chanting and dedication to SGI -- THE BREAKTHROUGH!!!!!!! They've got their benefit -- and you can too! Hooray for SGI!!!"

Confirmation bias in one of its finest manifestations.

"I can also see examples of these manipulative behaviors in families, in the workplace, and in groups like SGI."

In the workplace, I knew it was BS, a game. Some families are cults (anybody familiar with 19 Kids and Counting?). In NSA, I had no clue I was being manipulated until I was long out of the org. That's the difference with workplace and family manipulation, you can sense manipulation in those settings, and even resent it, while cults can have you dangling from a string, a real puppet, blissfully unaware of the puppetmaster's control.

"Kathleen H. Dockett, Ed.D., is professor of psychology and former Chairpersonof the Department of Psychology and Counseling at the University of the Districtof Columbia. She is author of Resources for Stress Resistance: Parallels in Psychology and Buddhism (1993). A community psychologist, her research and numerous presentations focus on Buddhism as a resource for the promotion of personal and societal well-being, and it’s application to diversity and ethnic conflict."

By Buddhism, she means SGI. Resource for promotion of personal well-being? I think not. In the US there have never been (and will never be) enough ikedabots to impact society at large, so what is she talking about? Grandiose thinking has always been a prime characteristic of the org,that's why the so-called "leaders" are so full or pride and haughtiness. Legends in their own minds.

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Freeheartandmind
Remember how when somebody went taiten, it was whispered like they had a dread disease or something. Certainly they would be hit by a freight train! Chant for them! What absolute silliness.

They were treated like lepers. That is until they could be cured by the magic chant and welcomed back to the one and only TRUE "special" cult colony.

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Freeheartandmind
Hitch, back in NSA days we were never told what Soka Gaikkai meant, it was rarely talked about. Full disclosure was not (and apparently is not) the norm.

I was one of those "YOUTH!" that pestered certain people for explanations. The explanation that I got from those early days was that "NSA stands for Nichiren Shoshu Soka Gakkai of America." The nichiren shoshu part was pretty self explanatory (orthodox school of nichiren), but the nebulous "soka-cult-gakkai" portion always struck me as deceptive weasel vocabulary.

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Freeheartandmind
In the US there have never been (and will never be) enough ikedabots to impact society at large, so what is she talking about? Grandiose thinking has always been a prime characteristic of the org,that's why the so-called "leaders" are so full or pride and haughtiness. Legends in their own minds.

HAHA! Exactly! The entire cult org. is a manufactured alternative delusional reality. When all is said and done, there is only one leader who really matters and shall be remembered - The DEAR Leader. Even Williams learned that lesson, the hard way.

A big part of religion, unfortunately, is manipulating and fooling ourselves (and others), precisely because we *are* human. I agree fully with your words "In the US there have never been (and will never be) enough ikedabots to impact society at large,". I even went so far as to tell a "senior leader" that to their face and ... Oooohhhhhh ... boy, they did not like that, at all! As an example of the calibre of individuals they have out there, I submit Rep. Hank Johnson [en.wikipedia.org]. An intellectual tour de force on display [www.youtube.com] (see 1:20 min. mark). (But, on a serious note, back to the theme of being human, if you read the portion of the wiki article about his personal life, you will find some of the reasons he has clutched to the gakkai cult philosophy. It's a very common trigger - serious health, life, or personal issues that one has no control over - with many hardcore believers/members.) Hank as even gone so far as to travel to Japan and present the dear leader with official congressional certificates/awards (more meaningless epaulettes).

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Freeheartandmind
http://www.scribd.com/doc/56499952/Psychology-and-Buddhism-Kathleen-Docken

"To my husband Richard, my daughter Megan,my parents George, Gertrude, and Ariel,and my Sensei, Daisaku Ikeda, for their support"

BARF!!! How can she pretend to have a valid academic publication when she is an ikedabot? Oh, the blindness of the kool-aid drinkers.

Very hard to take any book or "scholar" seriously that is dedicated at the outset to a cult leader or fails to address the elephant in the room. Something tells me that the authors are missing some key portions to the overall equation. Again, skeptical alarms bells should be sounding off, warning that one should proceed with caution.

@Freeheartandmind - You said there was little info in NSA on what Soka Gakkai meant.

I recall back in those days, if you wanted to dig around in the literature you could find out the full name of Soka Gakkai - Soka Kyoiku Gakkai, a creation of Makiguchi. The cult literature translated that into "Values creation society" and Makiguchi (who was a middle school teacher I think in Japan pre-WWII) was trying to equate Nichiren's doctrines over to education and teaching.

Now for the lay member, what the heck does all that mean, really? Which is why they always told us to "don't wolly 'bout dat, just do lahhhhtttts ub Daimoku and ebbysing will be gureato!" (or something like that).

(When I first started practicing in the USA after returning from Japan (where I was shakubuku'ed) the NSA Japanese leaders really didn't want to even discuss the Soka Gakkai at all!)

In Toda's "lecture on the sutra" there were some references to the name and it's history as well but they were pretty obscure (except for what I mention above) so you really didn't have much to drill down into if you wanted to find the real roots of what the name meant. I don't ever recall seeing any articles like "The Soka Gakkai, NSA's roots to Japan" (Heh!) It was all just a big mystery.

As a native speaker Hitch can probably touch on the finer details. I recall asking about some related detail during toban at the Foster avenue Kaikan and getting told a long story all about Kansai and the "Never Givu Oppo!" spirit. I never asked again :)

Have a nice holiday all

Wakatta1



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2012 06:45AM by wakatta1.

"I recall asking about some related detail during toban at the Foster avenue Kaikan..."

Wakatta1, I am sure we practiced during the same time in Chicago. I remember when the Foster Ave. CC was opened, the CC was on Lawrence Ave before that, an extremely tiny location. Even though it took 90 minutes on buses and trains to get to the far north side from the far south side where I lived, I was up there several times a week. Foster Ave. was bigger than Lawrence but was still woefully inadequate, I'm sure fire regs were routinely violated due to overcrowding. For those who drove, parking was also a problem and the neighbors didn't like us too much because we took up all the spaces on the street. Planning by NSA HQ was poor, or they just didn't care how uncomfortable we were. It's not like money was an issue, I find out decades later. The Soka Gaikkai probably had hundreds of millions of dollars back then!

I remember a mysterious room in the CC that was kept locked, only special people could enter to clean it. I think it was an office for George Williams or Ikea in case they came to town. That space would have been better used to serve the members who were squished together like sardines. It was clear who ran the CC-Japanese WD, without a doubt.