So glad we're back from the glitch - enough to make me paranoid! =o But a good thing for me to disengage from the mb for awhile to experience that real world we're talking about! ; )
Thanks Hitch, for the FNCC perspective. I thought the Buddah land was whereever we are "grappling in the midst of life" - not in enforced isolation! God forbid I should run into people on the outside who were enjoying life (alot more than me) without the benefit of Buddhist study!

The saddest, scariest thing was The Existential Loneliness of The Empty Pool ; p
The tricolour stripes on the lounge chairs, the red, yellow & blue umbrellas actually horrified me. Even HERE, the place for "getting away" or recreation, you are owned. There is no place for the joy of the purely sensual - the enjoyment of sunbathing and swimming, the bonhomie, flirtations and laughter that come from the absence of agendas. That would be too human, leading to unguarded, authentic conversations and connections. I guess that's why there are Divisions - and think of that word - Divisions. Hey! Finally figured it out!

Even play and relaxation has the corporate stamp. Maybe the video's narrator had a moment of cognitive dissonance, describing the pool as red, white and blue; colours associated with holidays, cookouts & patriotism, making it seem less surreal. Red, yellow and blue might as well be a security camera. No respite. It all feels so empty. I'd have more fun, and encounter more wisdom, hanging out in an old folks' home.

Hey! I sent my letter in March and I STILL haven't received MY letter of liberation! WTF!! What makes YOU so special?? >:(

I'm AMAZED, BTW, that you got a refund on your subscription! :O

I sent my original letter in on 6/6; as I wrote, I checked online on 6/21 to see if I was still getting the pubs and, when I saw that I was, I sent the following letter:

To Whom It May Concern:

Please see paragraph one of my letter of June 6, 2013 (copy enclosed); I thought I made it quite clear that all of my personal information should be removed from SGI records and that my subscriptions should be cancelled within ten (10) days of the date of that letter. That date would have been June 16, 2013.

My receipt of the e-edition of the 6/21/2013 issue of World Tribune and the July edition of Living Buddhism clearly establishes that neither of those requirements was met.

I would remind you that my personal information is my property, and I have the legal right to withdraw my consent to your possession of it at any time. In turn, you are legally required to remove it from all records at my request. Under Pennsylvania law (HB 1546, Sect. 1(a), it stipulates:

“A person commits the offense of identity theft of another person if he possesses or uses, through any means, identifying information of another person without the consent of that other person to further any unlawful purpose.”

The “unlawful purpose” in this specific case would consist of harassment.

Please be advised that I require a letter from your office affirming that all of my personal information has been removed from all SGI/SGI of America databases no later than July 15, 2013. Once again, any other correspondence (including receipt of publications in any format) will be regarded as unwanted contact.

I anticipate your prompt response.

Name
Address


Their response was dated 6/25, so they did move pretty quickly. I will quote their letter here; it was kind of odd in what it didn't say:

Thank you for your subscription to SGI-USA publications.

As per your request, please find a refund check #xxxx for the amount of $24.00.

This is for: World Tribune with Living Buddhism (32 issues)

We have removed you from our system and de-activate[sic] any account information as you have requested.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at blah-blah-blah.

It has been a pleasure serving you. Please let us know if we can be of service again.

Thank you once again,

[no signature]

SGI-USA Subscriptions Office

Don't get me wrong - I'm really glad that this went so (apparently) easily, but isn't the tone of their letter just kind of odd, within the context of what we know about das org? I honestly think that they just wanted to wash their hands of me.

I'm going to follow up the best I can to make sure that I've been eradicated from their system completely, and if I receive any communication in the future from anyone other than those I've chosen to stay in touch with, I'll hold sgi-usa accountable. The way I look at it, they are as responsible for the conduct of their appointed leaders as any corporation would be for managers that they delegate.

TaP, we never know what makes us special ( ;-p )! Maybe it was because I followed up so quickly when they didn't meet my initial demands - I'm not working right now, so I have all the time in the world to be a pain in the ass if I need to be.

And I am amazed at the refund too! I didn't even mention it in any correspondence - $24 is little enough to give up just not to have to have that drivel hanging out there in cyber-space with my name attached to it.

Okay, so I see being able to laugh at ourselves as being critical to maintaining our sanity. Here's a humorous but accurate look at how we were programmed to be good little sgi-robots.

Warning: This article does contain adult language, content and little partial nudity. Oh, and it's from "Cracked," so there's also a large element of tastelessness.

[www.cracked.com]

Truly, we humans are strange critters.

The article Meh referred to is great. Will be interesting to sit down and read the comments -- all 615 of them.

Quote

I would remind you that my personal information is my property, and I have the legal right to withdraw my consent to your possession of it at any time. In turn, you are legally required to remove it from all records at my request. Under Pennsylvania law (HB 1546, Sect. 1(a), it stipulates:

“A person commits the offense of identity theft of another person if he possesses or uses, through any means, identifying information of another person without the consent of that other person to further any unlawful purpose.”

The “unlawful purpose” in this specific case would consist of harassment.

Please be advised that I require a letter from your office affirming that all of my personal information has been removed from all SGI/SGI of America databases no later than July 15, 2013. Once again, any other correspondence (including receipt of publications in any format) will be regarded as unwanted contact.

I anticipate your prompt response.

I admire the size of your balls :)

If you don't mind, I will borrow your wording for my own followup letter.

Quote

Don't get me wrong - I'm really glad that this went so (apparently) easily, but isn't the tone of their letter just kind of odd, within the context of what we know about das org? I honestly think that they just wanted to wash their hands of me.

I'm going to follow up the best I can to make sure that I've been eradicated from their system completely, and if I receive any communication in the future from anyone other than those I've chosen to stay in touch with, I'll hold sgi-usa accountable. The way I look at it, they are as responsible for the conduct of their appointed leaders as any corporation would be for managers that they delegate.

Notice that your letter was only from the Subscriptions Office. For myself, it is the fact that they have my personal information in their corporate files, potentially in 5 different locations (!) - and that of my children in at least 2 locations - that concerns me. I do not want them claiming me as a member to prop up their fake membership statistics.

Quote

Warning: This article does contain adult language, content and little partial nudity. Oh, and it's from "Cracked," so there's also a large element of tastelessness.

Yet another wonderful and wonderfully insightful and to-the-point article from Cracked.com. Isn't it interesting how we have to look to comedy to get real information any more? Most people get their news off the Jon Stewart show now O_O He's had to morph from a comedian into a reporter!! [www.dailymail.co.uk]

Trivia: The image from the top of that Cracked.com article's 2 pages is from a wonderful 1988 movie gem called "They Live," starring pro wrestler Rowdy Roddy Piper. It's 25 years old now, but its basic premise is still cool and relevant - DO check it out! The storyline is that aliens have taken over the earth - they walk amongst us, but we can't see them due to their mundane camouflage. Piper is a drifter who stumbles upon a pair of sunglasses that enable him to see what's really going on - the hideous appearance of the aliens and the real messages in the otherwise unremarkable signs (something like "Watch Fox News" turns into "OBEY" and "Smoke Pall Mall Cigarettes!" becomes "MARRY AND REPRODUCE"). Once the aliens realize he's onto them (because he's pretty stupid - pro wrestler, come on?) he's on the run. When I re-watched it a coupla years ago, I could very easily fit the general storyline to my own SGI brainwashed experience.

Something I've realized just within the last year or so is that we can't *see* things we have no experience with. Unless we know what something looks like, we won't see it. Thus, all those stealth cell phone towers are appearing in our neighborhoods, and people simply aren't even aware that's what they are! Here are a couple of examples:

[i129.photobucket.com]

Are those innocent flagpoles? Nope!

[i129.photobucket.com]

The notice on the white door behind these cell phone towers with flags attached warns of electromagnetic radiation from the transmitters. The door is protecting/hiding the base transmitter station that goes along with the installation.

Here's a cell phone tower (left) that's being replaced with the stealth installation on right ("flagpole"):

[i129.photobucket.com]

When I drove by that morning, the "flagpole" was open and you could see the antenna panels inside, but I was on the highway and couldn't pull off. When I returned that afternoon, they'd already closed it up. And the original tower, the bare one on the left, was removed by the next day. Can't have people seeing what's there!

[i129.photobucket.com]

If I didn't tell you what to look for, would you recognize those cell phone antenna panels on the corners of this clock tower?

Think this is an old-style redwood water tower? HA!

[i129.photobucket.com]

What's REALLY going on:

[i129.photobucket.com]
[i129.photobucket.com]

Is this a normal street light?

[i129.photobucket.com]

uh...no O_O

[i129.photobucket.com]

One of these things is not like the others:

[i129.photobucket.com]

(You're right if you guessed the palm tree O_O)

What about this lovely pine tree?

[i129.photobucket.com]

Fake fake fake: [i129.photobucket.com]

Notice how the trunk is *bolted down* and the thick power lines connecting it to that building-sized base transmitter station on the left.

Here's an older one that doesn't look quite so convincing - notice the size (house-sized) of the base transmitter station.

[i129.photobucket.com]

Thanks for bearing with me. Now YOU will be better able to recognize these installations when you see them (which I'll bet you never noticed before).

So much of life is like that, and the master manipulators of cults take full advantage of the fact that we can only see what we've already been made aware of, that we have already experienced and understood. All this stuff they throw at us, rapid-fire, knowing we'll accept it for a moment before we can think about it to reject it (just keep it all coming fast-fast-fast so we never get the chance to think about it) and suddenly, we've got this cultbot living in our heads and doing our thinking for us.

I used to think that "taiten" was some sort of emotional, even hysterical, "phase" that people succumbed to as a form of adolescent rebellion or just plain perverse rejection of all that is good and true. It was *definitely* a depraved and twisted state that no sensible person would choose - the wise steered well clear of such a self-destructive path! Now that I am firmly taiten, I understand - it's not that at all! THAT's the cult-speak! It's quite the opposite, actually. What "taiten" really means is that you've woken up and smelled the bullshit! And you're certainly not going to be swallowing any of THAT any more, now that you realize what it is! Once you realize, there's no going back. THAT's the REAL danger of "taiten", and it's only a danger to the predatory, money-sucking organization. "Taiten" is actually good for you - feel free to try it out!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/01/2013 05:24AM by TaitenAndProud.

TaP - I agree, the letter was only from their subs office. Of course, nobody knows how many systems they have our information in? We can only verify so far, and we can only take their word that they've done it at all. Wish I had hacker skills! You mention five locations - do you happen to know what they are? I know the member box is one, the subscriptions report . . . in my experience this isn't the most technologically advanced org I've ever seen and they use a fairly simple reporting system. I'd definitely be concerned about them having my children's info.

Please feel free to use my letter if you like! I just googled "Pennsylvania law personal information" to find the legal stuff. I don't know about the balls - seriously, what can they do to me?

I tried to find a literal Japanese-to-English translation of taiten, but the couple of online dictionaries Í tried didn't recognize it. A former friend (the one that I got an ugly letter from) once told me that it meant "sleeping member"; I suspect that's an sgi-originated definition, from which I could make all kinds of unseemly jokes.

Taiten = eyes and ears open, mouth closed, bullshit detectors fully engaged

TaP, I do believe that if I don't receive a confirmation from the membership office (as opposed to just the subs office) that my information has been removed, I will rattle their cages again. I gave them until 7/15 to get back to me on that, so I'll be ready the morning of the 16th to launch again. When running into stubborn opposition, I've often found it helpful to add a cc line at the bottom of a letter. As in "cc: First Name/Last Name, P.A." There are times when it's okay to pretend you have a lawyer; I don't like to lie, but after walking in the foothills of Mt. Bullshit for seven years, I really don't mind.