Say, Barry, remember this from alt.m.t from 1995? I followed a link in one of Richard's old posts here just out of curiosity, and stumbled across this as well. Want to guess who it was from?
And my objection to shoki [Barry's handle at the time] is that he's drifted from one abusive cult to another throughout his adult life without a clue: first TM, then little Freddie Lenz/Rama, who knows what else -- all the while practicing the verbal abuse he learned within them on former cult members, critics, journalists, anyone with whom he disagrees. Ari is clearly courageous enough to share extremely personal details of her life with the public at large -- in the apparent hope that people can draw their own conclusions from it. Ari, I admire your consistent courage and insight. Barry Wright (shoki) is apparently cowardly enough to abuse her vulnerability. Barry, I cordially despise your verbal violence. (BTW, Wright's public posts are only a fraction of his output. Many of us, in comparing notes, receive abusive personal email from him as well.) For those reading who wonder what it's like to be inside a cult, I can say from personal experience that it's very much like a conversation with Barry Wright: abusive, condenscending, elitist, without respect for personal boundaries or feelings. The only real difference is that, in the depths of a cult, this invasive abuse goes on day after day, 24 hours a day. Fortunately, now being free, we ex-cult members can now choose not to read Wright's vile posts. Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...
