Ok, I have to reel this in some. Looking at it again, maybe I was being a bit alarmist. There are always hundreds of weird little cults in this or any other country. Most of them don't get a following of over 900 and then off themselves. Hell, most of them don't even get a following of a dozen or so and off themselves like Heaven's Gate did. But it's still worth examining whether or not the Sudweeks are running a cult and what usually does happen to people who get trapped in them.
A very handy, convienient example of what normally happens can be found right next door in the Seed discussion forum. Those people have a LOT in common w/ Whitmore, imo. They focused on troubled teens. Most spent a year or so getting the gift of enlightenment and then went on to more or less decent adult lives. (some more or less than others) Some didn't. Some spent decades; their productive years, their would have been marrying and child rearing years; before the thing fell apart in a relatively quiet and peaceful manner. It's still quite tragic, though.
And I'll be the first to say that, from what little I know, it's probably not
as bad as some other groups I've read about lately. But I just think people ought to know going in just what it
is.
You need only reflect that one of the best ways to get yourself a reputation as a dangerous citizen these days is to go about repeating the very phrases which our founding fathers used in the struggle for independence.
--Charles Austin Beard
