@DavidM
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Hopefully we'll hear soon.
I don't want to sound too cynical here, but bear in mind that all these shenanigans have been going on for YEARS! The propaganda machine developed over years, and the arrogance of upper leadership developed along with it.
Most members I knew before I "Jumped ship" were very ambivalent.
On one hand they didn't like being herded like cattle or berated by the Japanese WD when they didn't cough up their money quick enough. But on the other hand, magical thinking caused them to worry that maybe, possibly, all those stories of "Batchi" were true, and by dropping out their lives would go to pieces. As a result you have mostly passive-aggressive folks who just stay around, silently grumble but who always can be counted on to sing "forever sensei". (Don't get me wrong, my experience with the SGI membership was not bad, I was always treated politely and kindly by the "members". The leaders at my level - district and then chapter - were fine people as well but were drinking the kool-aid unfortunately and as a result would parrot things that in a different setting they would have been embarrassed having done).
To also touch on the previous topic of the "split". Many of those individuals seemed to swing one way or the other, i.e. Become foaming-at-the-mouth temple bashers, or else step way back from their activity level and just return to member level (as did I for a brief period).
The "NEW" SGI is far more troubling to me after seen a lot of the evolution and I often wonder how those I knew in Chicago have fared since then.
On a side note (and I may have already told this one so please excuse my repeating). When Caesar rode triumphantly into Rome, the Senate stationed a slave on his chariot holding a crown of laurels above his head, but who also whispered in his ear for the entire trip "Remember Caesar, Thou art Mortal!"
Of course that wouldn't apply to Ikea, he can always purchase another life with all the money he has collected, can't he?
Wakatta