Posted by Don’t be like Keith, but there are some things we have learned.
1. Frank Parlato is a pig. It is not OK to make a living, retirement, or reclusion out of bashing your enemies. Most of it is on the verge of vulgar. Still, is worth keeping in touch for the sometimes-impressive journalism.
Next, it is fun to read the court documents. See the logic. Is it convincing? You can almost tell from the documents alone who is going to win.
The trial is Oct. 1 and it promises to be a doozy.
c) The isolated women (and men) stand out, but right now I am thinking about cults. At first I eschewed it–Rick Ross and the cult institute and all these people writing and studying it. Bizarre rituals are one thing that is identified with cults, and let’s just put that aside. Let’s put aside the whole notion of cults and crazy people too.
Brainwashed is not a good word either.
Can a person be taught, trained, even institutionalized? Definitely. A family (e.g., parents) can be a brainwashing influence. Just about any group or individual can be brainwashing. A company, such as eBay, can be brainwashing, especially if you work there.
There are definite signs and symptoms. Limiting contact with outsiders, strong leader, secrecy, and smashing outsiders and disbelievers are just a few. You can study it because there are many examples and it has been going on for centuries. Then there are those times when it turns criminal and if you wanted to you could mimic the convicts and criminals. If you were inclined toward crime (Raniere) you could learn it that way.
It is worthwhile to know a little bit about it to reverse engineer it, to learn how, where, and why it is happening in your life. Then you can choose. That way you can decide.