Well, it should both celebrate his life, and give details about his murder (yes, murder,)
I sort of disagree. If anybody murdered George it was Mel Wasserman / C.E.D. reaching out from the grave.
Something I read in Cults In Our Midst made me think... Cults are organized like an upside-down T. You have the leader on top and all the followers on the bottom. Only one ultimately has power and makes the decisions. The rest, more or less, simply wait for instructions from the higher-ups. So if they're trying to help how culpable are they really? (and I'm not saying all are, some get drunk with power, some are just naturally sadistic fucks) IMO, the leader should be shot, hung, staked, drawn, quartered, run over by a buick, encased in lead, and sent hurtling into the sun(metaphorically of course :wink: )... They deserve no mercy at all, but what if the leader is dead? What happens then?
What if the Leader's immortality is not part of the religion (and even then, it's not saying it would stop true believers... look at scientology)? What if the Leader himself is not seen as sacred, but the idea he stood for, his sacred science (the ideology, dogma, practices, language, etc). A religion is born, the worship of an idea. What stops cult members form continuing to practice what they were taught, teach it to others, and "spread the gospel". It's a bit of a monster running around with it's head chopped off.
What if the current person on top (that would be Jayne) truly believes what she is doing is the right thing, that it's the only way that is possible to save kids who are destined to die? What if she isn't the typical sociopathic cult leader, but a wayward follower spreading her gospel, trying to save the lives of others. Does she believe the way she does becuase she needs to justify what she does (a-la willful suspension of disbelief)? Hypothetically, could she ever snap out of it meaning it would entail accepting responsibility for such harm?
I once saw Joelle, Jaynes daugher, crying in Deborah's office speaking about how the program really was "not working". She had stood in between two students who were in love and couldn't really be kept apart. They AWOLed. She was devastated. I overheard, and of course, interrupted, suggesting that maybe since what she was trying "wasn't working" maybe she should change the program (and I suggested several things). This was a woman who was very upset. Somewhere in there was a heart.
Love has nothing to do with control and everything to do with letting go. A program should not be controlling, for example, the sexual lives of it's "students", judging if they are sexually enlightened, ready to date, or forbidding the choice of partner. For chrissakes, you have to write a proposal to have sex at Benchmark. Life is about learning and experiencing these things on your own. It's pretty safe to say with all the horny teenagers in Benchmark the primary cause of AWOLs (at least when I was there) does tend to be un-approved relationships (a-la elopement).
I tried to explain to Joelle that she was fighting a losing battle over the control over her "students" genitals, but she seemed to truly believe that leaving the students to their own devices would somehow result in contamination (since "two sickies(addicts to whatever)" don't make a "wellie" and since "sickies" end up dead-insane-injail 97% of the time, the multiplied probabilities almost guarantees failure.) It all comes out of AA dogma and has no basis in science, but to Joelle, it was the truth.
Who, then, do you hold responsible? What if the reason she deceives the outside world is because she feels it is necessary to accomplish a greater good (ends justify means thinking). What if i'm dealing with a rogue cult who'se leader has long since died and the followers never figured out they were getting conned. The dogma (originally designed for one purpose: making money) lives on and continues to do damage.
I'm not saying this is the way it is. It is very possible, even likely that the higher-ups at benchmark know full well that the program is designed for the sole purpose of making money, justifying it as a "working" system. Jayne preaches lifespring/est, so does Joelle... A religion that requires the virtual abolition of the conscience to the point where there is only what works and what doesn't.
It would be at this point of full realization that I would assume a cult member could be fully informed about the inner workings of a cult and still respect it as valid, a working system - becoming a member of the inner circle.
I am not looking for revenge. I just want this to stop. Ignorant or intentional, the harm inflicted needs to stop. So what happens if the program shuts down. What if the staff simply migrate as they usually do. What if cutting off one head is simply producing more and more. There are three solutions to stop growth, as I see it: jail em all, kill em all, or convince the staff that what they are doing is harmful and wrong. The first two aren't... er.. "working systems". If the latter is the only hope to stop growth of the industry, how does one possibly reach them? If Margaret Singer is right, presenting enough information should do it. What if we could somehow exit-counsel staff while still in program? What if instead of a fist, we simply offer information... What if even one was reached. What would happen, I wonder.
Anyway. sorry for the sleep-deprived rant. I really should get back to replying to several hundred emails, packing, editing many hours of DV footage, restoring SueScheffTruth by Christmas day as a present for Sue (can't forget here now)... etc...