Cult Leaders, NXIVM, White Supremacist, Legal
" ... One of the first things a cult does is to get people to see themselves as special (or especially victimized), and to see outsiders as wrong, deluded, or evil. So right there, the cult becomes protected against any outside influence. The cult begins to seal itself in.But if people outside the cult use mockery, yelling, rage, shame, or panic, that self-sealing becomes even stronger. It actually supports everything the cult leader is saying.Cult leaders somehow understand this, and often, they'll begin acting in wild ways — creating fevered delusions of conspiracies, behaving abusively, or spinning out mentally — which alarms outsiders (naturally!) and makes the outsiders even more vocal and intense.Which then makes the followers attach even harder to the leader and the group."
"It's a strange thing to consider that a cult could not only operate in modern times and under our collective noses, but that it could and would flourish. With the explosion of access to various resources and technology, all at our fingertips, to both find information and determine fact from fiction, willingly entering into a cult — let alone staying in one — seems somewhat far-fetched to the average person.And yet HBO Max's docuseries "The Vow" detailed the history of NXIVM, from its formation in 1998 — the dawn of the internet age — to the eventual conviction of founder Keith Raniere on sex trafficking, racketeering and forced labor charges last year.Yet, while the series was engaging in its portrayal of several of Raniere's real-life victims and had a couple gripping cliffhangers — in a jailhouse phone call to the documentarians, Raniere offered them an interview, which will seemingly provide some of the fodder for the series' newly announced second season — it doesn't ever quite dive fully into who Raniere was or exactly how everyone involved could afford the constant pyramid scheme-style courses he offered."
"Just days before Nxivm leader Keith Raniere's sentencing, his lawyers have filed a motion to overturn his conviction — arguing that two members of his cult were not able to testify on his behalf due to threats and intimidation by prosecutors.After a six-week trial, Raniere was convicted last year of racketeering and sex-trafficking charges for running a master-slave group within his self-help organization called DOS, in which women were branded with his initials like cattle and forced to have sex with him.Former "Battlestar Galactica" actress Nicole Clyne, 37, and fellow DOS member Michele Hatchette, 33, and said in affidavits provided by the defense that they wanted to take the stand on Raniere's behalf, but feared that Brooklyn federal prosecutors would retaliate against them if they did so."
"Twenty-one members and associates of white supremacy organizations in Utah are facing charges over gun and drug distribution.The indictments came after an investigation that started in June 2019 that focused on the Soldiers of Aryan Culture, Silent Aryan Warriors and Noble Elect Thugs."SAC and SAW are highly volatile, dangerous criminal enterprises," Mike Schoenfeld, director of the Salt Lake Area Gang Project, said Friday. "These gangs have their roots right here in the Utah prison system. It's not something to be proud of. But they also have very strong ties nationwide to other violent white supremacy groups."The indictments unsealed Friday include charges for distributing heroin and methamphetamine, possessing a firearm while selling drugs and having a gun as a felon, the Salt Lake Tribune reported."
News, Education, Intervention, Recovery
Intervention101.com to help families and friends understand and effectively respond to the complexity of a loved one's cult involvement.
CultRecovery101.com assists group members and their families make the sometimes difficult transition from coercion to renewed individual choice.
CultNEWS101.com news, links, resources.
Cults101.org resources about cults, cultic groups, abusive relationships, movements, religions, political organizations and related topics.
Selection of articles for CultNEWS101 does not mean that Patrick Ryan or Joseph Kelly agree with the content. We provide information from many points of view in order to promote dialogue.
Please forward articles that you think we should add to CultNEWS101.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment