Rocky

You can always ask. You may or may not be satisfied with whether you get answers to your questions. But it never hurts to ask. I don't really have recollection of any serious confrontations by LCM or VPW wannabees. That could partially be because I didn't take them seriously. I think the key may be in the word "wannabee." Young children learn by imitating their parents, siblings and others with whom they come in contact. That's what happened a LOT with the way corpse. But it took, IMO, a special kind of arrogance and hate to instill the kind of terror in people that LCM and VPW did. But then again, it made enough of an impression on me that I let it adversely impact my family relationships. Which is what I was saying that perhaps inspired the first post on this thread.

FWIW, Raf didn't need to read minds or exercise any form of clairvoyance. He simply read what you said, Skyrider and articulated reasonable inferences easily made from them.

I've worked in government and journalism covering government. I'm not aware of anything more detailed proposing control or mitigation of cult risk in society. Instead, I am aware of how huge of a sociological conundrum the entire notion presents. At this point in world and US history, I don't know that anyone has or can have any detailed plan, that doesn't infringe on religious liberty, to control cults. If you're so inclined to commit to years of study of public policy, psychology and sociology, maybe you can come up with something... eventually. It's such an overwhelming idea that it's difficult to imagine what such a solution could look like.

Of course. But also that LCM and VPW were not only the archetypes of people who influenced me, I got dosed with their wrath directly, as opposed to second or third hand.

Actually, having been in the 9th way corpse, it wasn't just imitating people who imitated Dictor. I was a target of his wrath personally a couple of times.

What do you propose?

Along with that education -- which probably is most feasible in the family/home -- there would need to be nurture of each person's emotional development to maturity... which is not something society today seems to do well across the board. Some do, some don't.

Are you saying your comments are just idle chatter? You asked questions. Have you actually pondered how they might be answered? The road I've traveled includes pondering questions of group development and maintenance as well as, on many additional issues, awareness of political processes such as legislating.

Why would I need to block you? And more to the point, if you don't care whether anyone has any idea what you are trying to communicate, why bother?

Thanks for that, Waysider.

I'm totally on board with what Waysider has posted in this thread. And I think JavaJane's comment above is wonderfully on the mark. I still don't get what Bolshevik's ultimately getting at.

Having lost my feline companion of 15 years less than a month ago, this idea is among the issues I wrestle with.

The mother is still in RRF, VB's TWI offshoot. Darn tootin' she's just as culpable. I hope Carmen and Lindsay reconcile someday. It took a lot of guts for both Lindsay to come forward and make the whole thing public and for Carmen to come as far as he has so far in accepting responsibility. I realize he's got a ways to go still.

What kind of law did you have in mind? The questions you ask about preventing "more cults from popping up" are not answerable in sound bytes that would be readable on a forum. These are complex sociological, psychological questions/discussions. Get into the realm of legislation or constitutional law and it gets even more complicated. I'm really wondering what your overall intention is with these threads.

That's pretty darn good... and plenty concise.

Not really relevant to this discussion.

My sources tell me that the radioactive by product story is a false myth. Indeed, my understanding of Solyndra comports with what WordWolf said. And when the business plan becomes economically unfeasible, that's not the same as some government agency saying they aren't allowed to open for business.

And YES, what Wierwille built was a cult.

It can be explained. It has been explained. Just because you don't understand it enough to explain it doesn't mean someone else hasn't. The wikipedia article Twinky cited has a couple of dozen references/citations/articles by scholars who have studied the phenomenon. Philip Zimbardo, an emeritus professor at Stanford, studied and . He's also one of the references in the wiki on cult.

And that choice, thankfully, was revocable.

Skyrider is right on the mark. If you were ever in a private meeting with Wierwille, or in a corpse meeting, you witnessed his ungodly meanness. In those situations, if ever he was displeased about anything, he was not shy about it. Twinky, I wasn't comparing the two "mogs." Clearly, Wierwille showed Loy how to do it and that it was just fine to unload on people. Loy, of course, had a major problem with moderating his behavior.

Dependent? Not to the degree Big AG would be unable to adapt. Maybe you're being a bit too pessimistic there, Galen. I'm connected with people who have their fingers on the pulse of the solar industry and I've never heard that about radioactive waste. Got a source? I'd be interested in evaluating it.

Where do you think Martindale learned to be so harsh? Wierwille was, indeed, VERY harsh.

While that may be true, and I'm certainly no fan of what JAL preaches, it's his battle and his life. I wish him well and don't blame him for trying to figure out how to beat the illness.

I will give you a hearty AMEN to that point.