Last gasp, fresh start, and a movie!

And yesterday I worked on Out Of Bounds.

Just a little editing of the next part, setting up the order of scenes, getting back into it. Do we have the doctor's office first, or John skating and then the doctor's? I learned yesterday that I have have a last gasp chance at my English paper, if I get it in today.

But this felt good. Like stretching after I've been in a very cramped space.

God. It is possible to keep endlessly busy with wanks, isn't it? I mean, they're like waves. First there's one, and then the next, and then the other, and the other.

I don't think that's how I want to spend my fandom time.

WG wants to see a movie. Folks, tell me: which should we see (if I get this paper done, otherwise he's going without me):

- Spiderman 3
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- No, you fool, there's a much better movie I'll tell you about in comments!

Thanks!

Methods of Manipulation: Heatherly's Post and that Queasy Feeling

Methods of Manipulation: Heatherly's Post and that Queasy Feeling

A few of you might know that I did roughly six years of research into LGATs (large group awareness training) and cult methods of linguistic manipulation. I say "six years" because it was more than that, but I picked the subject up and put it down many times and only seriously dedicated time to it from 1996-2002. I relied heavily on research by Marc Galanter of the World Health Organization, as well as psychologists such as Dr. Margaret Singer and a local psychologist I'll call "B" who had 12 years of experience with former Scientology members. I also attended two Est trainings (the children's training and the adult training, though apparently it's called The Forum now), and attended LifeSpring years later as well.

So, yeah, I know what their methods are and can recognize them.

What sparked my interest was my mother's involvement in Est in late 70s to mid-80s. She went very high in the hierarchy, was part of an elite group called the GSLP (Guest Seminar Leadership Program) and was flown to meet with the head of Est, Warner Erhardt. Her role was to sell Est. For me, cults are not a huge scary Thing Out There. Because of my mom's involvement I more or less have one in my back yard, so-to-speak. I know people in cults the way most people know their mom's bridge club, or the local PTA.

I find heatherly's post highly manipulative. It uses many of the same linguistic techniques I found used by Est and LifeSpring, whether heatherly was conscious of this or not. While the content of heatherly's post bothered me, these methods of communication disturbed me more. There's no doubt in my mind that heatherly means well, but most people who use these methods have extremely good intentions, so much so that they don't question the means.

My purpose is two-fold: to debunk heatherly's post, and to provide interesting information on how cults convince people using heatherly's methods as an example. Hopefully this demystifies cult methods, and gives people the tools to dismantle heatherly's argument. I could have just as easily used Logic 101 to do the same thing, but the textbook is gathering dust somewhere while cults I know off the cuff. Sorry, I'm lazy.

( 1 - Invoking a false authority: Why is being a health worker even relevant? )

( 2 - Equating actual rape with rape stories through juxtaposition: two half-truths to make a whole truth. )

( 3 - Contradiction and Cognitive Dissonance: People should feel free to write what they choose, at the same time they should only write responsible fiction -- Huh? )

( 4 - Overriding the Intellect: The ever-effective emotional fog. )

( 5 - After contradiction and confusion: The repeated phrase goes in. What was repeated? 'I do not like these stories.' )

( 6 - Peer pressure and fear: Wait. Everyone in the world is on Heatherly's side? )

( 7 - Deliberately vague and deceptive language: Just what does 'writing responsibly' mean anyway? )

( No, no, I'm not saying Heatherly's serving Kool-Aid. )

( Reading, fortunately, waters down the effectiveness of these techniques. )

Readers of heatherly's post who feel queasy about it, but can't quite put their finger on why, should be aware that virtually the entire post is dedicated to one or another of these methods of manipulation.

Even if I agreed with her position, I find these methods to be unethical, damaging when used in concert, dangerous, and flawed. Rather than engage fanfiction writers as equals, heatherly relied upon coercion and emotional deception.