The Way was to appear on 60 Minutes

[spectrum49]

I remember once in the 70’s when we all heard that an “official spokesperson of The Way" was to appear for an interview on a Sunday’s primetime broadcast of 60 Minutes. We were all excited about that and were telling everybody we could about the upcoming event.

Sunday came -- but completely unannounced, a programming change had been made –- what was aired on 60 Minutes instead was a documentary about The Moonies (headed by Sun Myung Moon), a group labeled as a cult who sold pencils on the street, etc.

Needless to say, nearly all the people we had talked to had absolutely NO INTEREST WHATSOEVER in The Way after that! Even when we tried to "explain", most just ignored us -- they didn't want to hear any more about it !

Looking back now with hindsight, I can say TWI deserved that !

Anyone else find this interesting?

Spec

:)

[waysider]

I never heard of it. Sounds to me, though, like a scheme to get people to witness.

[GrouchoMarxJr]

I do remember the incident...we were all excited, sitting in front of the tv...and the moonies come on instead of us...we kept watching, thinking we would be next...but alas, Vic's little cult never made it on the show. A testamony perhaps, to his overall obscurity and insignificance

[waysider]

A testimony perhaps, to his overall obscurity and insignificance

Vic who?

[OldSkool]

ROFL!! Beat out by the Moonies. I'm sure the debil did it.

[Broken Arrow]

I remember that. Man, that is something I hadn't thought about in a long long time! It wasn't 60 Minutes, though. It was another one of those news magazine shows like 60 minutes. I think it might have been 20/20. Anyway, isn't that the one where they ended up showing that guy who at the time was "legally" deprogramming people? Mike Trawler, I think was his name. I remember calling my dad and telling him about the program and The Way never came on. I remember walking away from the show thankful that The Way was not discussed.

Edited December 4, 2009 by erkjohn

[spectrum49]

Erkjohn - I believe these were two separate instances - 60 Min one time and 20-20 another. Both got all botched up!

And the deprogrammer (or at least one of the main ones) was Ted Patrick. I heard some horrible stories about the legal kidnapping which went on. And it seemed to work because those "felonies" were authorized by terrified parents of those in The Way Cult.

What a mess things were at the time! And all that seemed to provide VPW more fire for his "ministry", claiming "We must really have something here, or the devil wouldn't be trying to hard to stop us!"

SPEC

:)

[Broken Arrow]

O.K., I don't remember the 60 Minutes one but that was quite a while ago. You're right, Wierewille played all of that to his own advantage. I remember feeling horrified when the deprogramming stuff started happening around '75. For me the whole thing engendered more of an "us vs. them" way of thinking and entrenched me more. It gave me an enemy to fight. VP would actually show these stories at big meetings and get people jazzed up. If there were a deprogramming that went wrong, Wierwille would have the victim testify in front of large meetings. I think he loved it. If you think about it, those were years TWI grew the fastest.

[Rocky]

I remember that. Man, that is something I hadn't thought about in a long long time! It wasn't 60 Minutes, though. It was another one of those news magazine shows like 60 minutes. I think it might have been 20/20. Anyway, isn't that the one where they ended up showing that guy who at the time was "legally" deprogramming people? Mike Trawler, I think was his name. I remember calling my dad and telling him about the program and The Way never came on. I remember walking away from the show thankful that The Way was not discussed.

Michael Trauscht who was (and still is) an attorney in Tempe, AZ.

http://www.manta.com/c/mm3tmgv/michael-e-trauscht-law-office

[Thomas Loy Bumgarner]

Hey, Kris Skedgell was suppose to be interviewed on Fox News Channel's Fox and Friends, a morning show about 18 months ago. But it never occured. btw, after a month of computer login problems I am back.