Cult deprogramming BY fundamentalist nutjobs

[varwoche]

Recent threads involving scientology reminded me that a good deal of the anti-cult awareness and "deprogramming" services are offered by religious people -- even by fundamentalist nutjobs (http://www.carm.org/cults.htm).

Imagine some young and/or ignorant sob who gets involved with a cult, decides to leave it, and is then deprogrammed into fundamentalism. That is freaking sick.

[c4ts]

Re-programming would be a more appropriate word for it. This would be a case of "out of the frying pan and into the slightly different frying pan."

[Rob Lister]

Originally posted by varwoche
Recent threads involving scientology reminded me that a good deal of the anti-cult awareness and "deprogramming" services are offered by religious people -- even by fundamentalist nutjobs (http://www.carm.org/cults.htm).

Imagine some young and/or ignorant sob who gets involved with a cult, decides to leave it, and is then deprogrammed into fundamentalism. That is freaking sick.

Well, think of it as a heroin addict being put on methadone. :)

ETA: I should tell you the story of when I was 19 (or so) and met my very first Harri Christna (sp?) book seller while switching flights at an airport in Atlanta. What fun that was.

[Zep]

That would be "Hari Krishna", aka the Orange People.

[c4ts]

First time I saw them, I thought the Dalai Lama must be in town or something. They all used to hang out at the airport and play tambourines.

[Tony]

This page (http://www.carm.org/cults/cultic.htm) is pretty ironic.

[Vim Razz]

Not directly related, but similar and just as sick: I just thought I'd toss out a reminder that the "New" Cult Awareness Network is now a Scientology front organazation and is not a group to go to for help with recovery. (The old CAN went bankrupt and was bought out. Very sad.)

More info over at Rick Ross (http://www.rickross.com/groups/newcan.html).

The New CAN itself is here (http://www.cultawarenessnetwork.org/). I'm amazed that people can be this twisted.

[Nucular]

Originally posted by Zep
That would be "Hari Krishna", aka the Orange People. Hare Krishna, more usually I think [/pedantry]

I still haven't stopped laughing since a friend and I were in town, and a Hare Krishna bookseller approached us; I said I hadn't got any money, and my friend, a bit flustered, said "um, I've only got £10!"

Guess how much money he paid for the cult propaganda we walked away with!

[Mid]

Originally posted by Nucular
Hare Krishna, more usually I think [/pedantry]

I still haven't stopped laughing since a friend and I were in town, and a Hare Krishna bookseller approached us; I said I hadn't got any money, and my friend, a bit flustered, said "um, I've only got £10!"

Guess how much money he paid for the cult propaganda we walked away with!

The thing is with the people that stop you on the street you can usually come up with some excuse to get away from quickly. The real problem ones are the ones who go door to door; in my experience they always seem to call on Saturday mornings when you have a hangover. Also they’re sneaky about it as they don’t start off “we’re from the church of …�, no it’s usually something like “don’t you think it’s sad there’s so much pain and suffering in the world?� To which my response is normally “er…� whilst wondering who these nuters are and why they’ve dragged me from my deathbed, I usual waste minutes humouring them before they’ll go away.

On a related point are the Hare Krishna’s the ones that sometimes get you to say gironda (or however it is spelt) before they’ll let you leave? Been stopped a couple of times by them and wondered who they were, although obviously not enough to engage them in conversation.

[ReFLeX]

On an unrelated note, does anyone remember the Hare Krishna featured in the first two Grand Theft Autos?

...Gouranga!

[CurtC]

Here's part of how to identify a cult, brought to you by the link in Tony's post:B Many have a non-verifiable belief systems

i. For example, they would teach something that cannot be verified.
a. A space ship behind Hale-Bop comet
b. Or, that God, an alien, or angel appeared to the leader and gave him a revelation
c. The members are seeded angels from another world, etc.
B. Often, the philosophy makes sense only if you adopt the full set of values and definitions that it teaches.
a. With this kind of belief, truth becomes unverifiable, internalized, and easily manipulated through the philosophical systems of its inventor.

[Mid]

Originally posted by ReFLeX


...Gouranga!

That's the word! Thanks!

[ReFLeX]

Originally posted by Mid
On a related point are the Hare Krishna’s the ones that sometimes get you to say gironda (or however it is spelt) before they’ll let you leave?
Funny part is, I never even saw this... that's just the bonus message you get for running over all 6 (7?)...

[bignickel]

Cults are part of the religious systems of the world. They are everywhere. Some cults are huge and others are quite small. But all of them are false.

Pot calling kettle, pot calling kettle, come in please...