? Perhaps I am behind the times... But I have no idea what Landmark is.
Is it one of those religious recruiting-drives disguised as free social activities? Or Alcoholic Anonymous, where they demand that you convert to Christianity before they are allowed to help you with your drinking problem?
Or some sort of American-made Christian-Play about how those who are not hetero-sexual are doomed to die, and they need to turn them away from the darkness? (I got dragged into one of these by my sister. She meant well, but even though I don't know any gay person personally, the play still made me sick whenever I recollected it in my mind.)
This reminded me of how Catholics had a secret institution where they take kidnapped Jewish boys and brainwash them as Catholic priests. The conversion is remarkably simple, and effective enough to make the victims abandon their own families afterwards.
well you said it with fewer words than I could manage which is good... you know you should be a journalist, bring some badly needed integrity and objectivity into that field
from my viewpoint, landmark was an education. like most education experiences, it involves a way of thinking that is not usually familiar to you when you begin, and so, quite naturally, it seems strange and different. it is a big plunge into deep waters when you first commit to doing the landmark forum, but i think you do emerge with at least a different perspective on your life. the thing is, it doesn't hurt to gather different perspectives. and you can always abandon it if it doesn't suit
( ... )
i'm glad you replied, because i've been wanting to ask your opnion.
and i'm a bit relieved to hear that people can come out thinking they're not changed that much.
but! i've done some research and i've found lots of very negative reports... and an very shocking french doco about what really happens inside. and all the heckling afterwards.
when landmark attendees saw the doco they refused to believe it. that's pretty scary to me.
landmark aside, given a brain-washing cult, i feel the cult-members are the least capable of objectively recommending people to join.
how different is landmark? maybe you know better than I do, or the scarier answer is maybe you don't... i just don't know.
anyway, in either case your someone i respect and i'm glad you 'shared' this with me. it makes me feel a bit more comfortable ^^;
The french doco is laughable in a real ironic way. It was funny as hell one of the specific things critics of landmark often attack in brainwashing claims is the music between lessons depending on the 'teachings,' when this doco played that hilarious foreboding sound segments. Still, the journos did a very good job of infiltrating the structure and some things just plain stand out. One thing that bothered me is the entire office of just volunteers. The janitor is a volunteer... what...
and agreed, it is good to read Dans post. I didn't even know you went. :p
i'd like to have a look at this doco, if you have the link or pass it on the next i see you.
i've never been part of a cult (although i'm a pretty old hand at attending 'introductions' to various things - assemblies of god, pentecostal youth groups etc.). heck, i even invited a pair of mormons into my house for a bit of prayer time (one of them was a huge tongan and he came back a week later which kinda freaked me out a bit) so i would need something to compare landmark against before i could say it were a cult.
again though, these are just my opinions and accounts of my expriences, and i'm no cult expert by any means. and i'm not even sure whether i've been brainwashed or not. i'll leave that up to others to decide, since a madman does not truly know that he is mad.
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Is it one of those religious recruiting-drives disguised as free social activities? Or Alcoholic Anonymous, where they demand that you convert to Christianity before they are allowed to help you with your drinking problem?
Or some sort of American-made Christian-Play about how those who are not hetero-sexual are doomed to die, and they need to turn them away from the darkness? (I got dragged into one of these by my sister. She meant well, but even though I don't know any gay person personally, the play still made me sick whenever I recollected it in my mind.)
This reminded me of how Catholics had a secret institution where they take kidnapped Jewish boys and brainwash them as Catholic priests. The conversion is remarkably simple, and effective enough to make the victims abandon their own families afterwards.
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in my opinion its not THAT different to some of the things your talking about.. only with a modern twist-it's all about motivation and self-help.
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Start there.
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well you said it with fewer words than I could manage which is good... you know you should be a journalist, bring some badly needed integrity and objectivity into that field
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and i think it's be the last straw in my 'becoming like dad' complex :P
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and i'm a bit relieved to hear that people can come out thinking they're not changed that much.
but! i've done some research and i've found lots of very negative reports... and an very shocking french doco about what really happens inside. and all the heckling afterwards.
when landmark attendees saw the doco they refused to believe it. that's pretty scary to me.
landmark aside, given a brain-washing cult, i feel the cult-members are the least capable of objectively recommending people to join.
how different is landmark? maybe you know better than I do, or the scarier answer is maybe you don't... i just don't know.
anyway, in either case your someone i respect and i'm glad you 'shared' this with me. it makes me feel a bit more comfortable ^^;
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and agreed, it is good to read Dans post. I didn't even know you went. :p
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i think the doctor introducing his patients to landmark was quite disturbing too...
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i've never been part of a cult (although i'm a pretty old hand at attending 'introductions' to various things - assemblies of god, pentecostal youth groups etc.). heck, i even invited a pair of mormons into my house for a bit of prayer time (one of them was a huge tongan and he came back a week later which kinda freaked me out a bit) so i would need something to compare landmark against before i could say it were a cult.
again though, these are just my opinions and accounts of my expriences, and i'm no cult expert by any means. and i'm not even sure whether i've been brainwashed or not. i'll leave that up to others to decide, since a madman does not truly know that he is mad.
i await the video :P
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http://thepiratebay.org/tor/3537369/2003_Inside_Landmark_Forum.avi
it used to be on youtube. maybe it's on some other video sharing sites too, but this is all i could find
dunno if anyone's brainwashed, but the techniques landmarks uses have similarities.. according to the video :P
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