Okay, I'm getting long and rambling again:
I think it is good for WWASPS to face the lawsuits and the monitoring of these forums and the loss of people.
Even though the us vs. them aspect of groupthink insulates them from realizing that some of the things they're doing are terribly wrong, it does give them *some* feedback from society at large and reality that they would be lacking if the rest of us weren't talking about the problems with some of the things they do.
Society at large is probably more concerned with the misbehavior of "bad kids" as the participants on this forum. But society at large is *also* very opposed to some of what appear from survivor and parent accounts to be WWASPS practices.
WWASPS doesn't catch more flack because they just don't register on the radar screen of most of society.
Where WWASPS reality check is bouncing is in not understanding that sometimes and in some cases, the "cure" is worse than the disease.
So if they're reading this thread and start worrying about people carrying hidden tape recorders into seminars, and they start worrying about liability, then those worries will subtly modify some of their behaviors for the better. Either that, or they'll go totally wack and start strip searching people, holding seminars only in states with restrictive wiretapping laws, or making people sign intimidating sounding releases.
Any of those things are likely to tip at least some parents off that these people are a bit detached from reality and will reduce some of the effectiveness of their brainwashing/indoctrination techniques.
To people who ever end up going to something like this, or end up at some kind of high-sales-pressure seminar---pyramid scheme, religious cult, psychotherapy cult, MLM scheme, timeshares, shady investment scams, whatever---*one* of the tricks to avoid brainwashing in these situations is instead of making eye contact, to look at the bridge of the nose of the person talking to you.
It's indistinguishable to anyone from actual eye-contact, but insulates you somewhat from the trance-induction effects of what they're doing.
Also, carry protein-based snacks in a fanny-pack or purse, insist on carrying them in on the grounds of special dietary needs (lie and say you're diabetic). Then for refreshments, avoid the sugary drinks and snacks. Eat your protein snacks and partake of sugary snacks slowly and very sparingly. Take a folding cup in case you need one (neat gadget, that) and drink water instead of any offered sugary drinks.
Break up the rhythm of "mood music" by thinking of tunes with a *very* different beat, asynchronous with the mood music, and playing it in your head.
Avoid personal participation by, whatever your real personality, claiming to feel very shy. Your posed reluctance makes them feel really good at getting even minimal participation from you---which is all you should give.
Make up a cover personality with a cover story and concerns, problems, needs, personal feelings very different than the ones you have. Make up a few totally fictional (and minor) childhood traumas that you can "reveal" and speak passionately and realistically about their emotional impact on you.
"Revealing" the fake personality while concealing your real personality insulates the real you from emotional manipulation---hey, if they're not trying to manipulate you, why would it matter to the value of the information they give you whether you "let them in" or not?
If you're not sure how to construct a cover personality, work ahead of time with a friend who role plays or writes that you can trust to keep things confidential.
If you have these strategies in place *before* you get into a manipulation situation, you'll be much safer from being conned by anybody.
How do you identify a manipulation situation?
1) Think of charming as a verb. Instead of thinking, "Oh, this person is charming," think, "This person is charming me. Why?"
2) If it sounds too good to be true, it almost certainly is.
3) If you're desperate, and someone offers you salvation, examine *very* carefully before grasping at the offered straw. Desperate people are fertile hunting ground for the predators of this world.***
4) Any away-from-home situation where you're going to be there for three days or more, look at it as suspect for manipulation. Sure, on a trip to a client site to install a product, your chances of being sucked into a con are minimal. On a trip to talk about an opportunity, organization, philosophy, "training" of any kind, or seminar, or "free" or discount "vacation"---treat it as suspect and watch out for charm (charisma), "motivational speakers," mood music, sugary treats, funky lighting, meditations, prayers, prompts for personal revelations, doses of disapproval or approval, offers of anything you really want or need, or any kind of time pressure for any kind of decision or commitment.
5) If it's a really such a good idea, then it can wait two weeks after you're out of the place or group's influence for you to make a decision in the cold light of day after discussing it carefully with people who *didn't* go to the event to get a sanity check.
6) Opportunities--for salvation, for money, for personal growth, for weight loss, for helping a sick or troubled child---they don't only knock once. They knock over and over again throughout our lives. Any person or group that can't wait two weeks of you totally out of their control for you to make a decision is *very* likely to be seeking their own interests with indifference or malice towards *your* interests.
7) Con men are good liars and apparently nice, sincere, genuine people. No, you can't tell when a good con man is lying to you---no matter who you are. Con men often suck in reputable people and use them to suck in the people who know and trust those reputable people. Be *very* wary of referrals or testimonials from friends and family to anything you can't buy at a chain store.
:cool: You will be better off turning away nine genuine opportunities for every one genuine con than you are exploiting nine opportunities and getting bitten by one bad con. If it has the red flags of a con, skip it---even if that particular offer was for real, you will be much better off in the long run by avoiding the cons. There are enough genuine opportunities or remedies that *don't* throw up the red flags associated with cons to keep you busy all your life taking up the *good*, *clean* opportunities.
Timoclea
***Any time you're tempted to take a chance on something because you're desperate, think of the (real life) girl who took a hand offered by a man to save her from the tsunami. He pulled her out of the water, all right. Then he raped her. Before, she had aspirations to become a journalist. Now, her (admittedly horrible) family hopes some man will feel sorry for her and they can marry her off.
Would she have survived if she hadn't grabbed the hand of a guy who turned out to be a rapist? Is she better off alive and raped than chaste and drowned? Maybe she *is* better off. Barely.
Still, the moral of the story is that a desperate bargain is usually a bad bargain. The times in life when you're desperate are usually the times when it's *most* appropriate to be cautious and wise and wary of offers by people to "rescue" you---would-be rescuers frequently have hidden motives of their own.
Which applies to "rescuing" family members, as well, come to think of it. They may not *understand* their motives, but parents who rescue their child from natural consequences of bad behaviors from small childhood on up certainly aren't doing it for the sake of the welfare of the *kid*. So what are their own reasons?
Things that make you go "Hmmmmmm...."
Program "consequences" are draconian human-invented punishments. They aren't the same thing as sticking your hand on a hot stove and getting burned or treating a friend badly and losing that friend. Natural consequences are negative results of bad acts that happen in ordinary real life out in ordinary society. They're organic to the environment of society and nature--not invented by an authority figure or group to modify behavior. Natural consequences would also include punishments by a relatively non-authoritarian government for acts that are malum in se or otherwise directly harm or endanger others or their rights. Parental consequences aren't natural consequences, but as long as they're proportional, are a necessary learning tool for raising children. Proportionality is the difference between a teaching tool and an abuse.
Gosh, seems to be my day to ramble on again.