Question From A Lurker
Posted: Wed Dec 03, 2008 6:29 am
Readers,
Below is a copy of an email that was shared with me. I asked for permission from this lurker on EMF, to post the email so that she can read the responses to it. I told her it would be posted now, so she can see what ya?ll have to say.
Whatcha
Hello,
I found your message board and have a couple of questions I didn't find discussed.
One is an observation. That the members seem to have much in common with evangelical christians and other religious groups describing some sort of end of the world coming soon and rapture. Not restricted to christian based faiths. I'd also put the concept of the hashishins in there with the wine ceremonies.
Getting out of such groups is difficult, cognitive dissonance can make it uncomfortable to give up something that we have put significant time, energy or resources into as well as having peer pressure to remain. A web search on cognitive dissonance turned up some interesting information on this. It might be a big factor in how intelligent people continuer to see clothing on the emperor's naked body.
The second is more personal. I recently joined on dating web site and was contacted politely by a man. We emailed a bit, something came up about energy fields, spirituality is an area of interest for me, and decided to talk on the phone. We never met in person. While our conversations ranged over many subjects, he brought up some that were metaphysical that were intriguing yet somehow seemed off. He suggested some ramtha books and going to an introductory event. I didn't feel pushed, never bought a book, found some partial books online that were enough to make me more skeptical. Web searching brought up your site and other info on the misbehaviors of JZ etc. Without ever directly addressing these, we continued to chat at times.
My question relates to this aspect. This man, who on the phone at least, seems kind, is funny, intelligent and easy to talk to, seemed very interested in meeting until it seemed clear to him that I was not going to easily agree and accept some differences in our spiritual beliefs. Not in and of itself anything uncommon in online dating, but overall I've found people who are truly interested in meeting out of attraction can accept such differences. Since online dating sites have had significant issues with scams, false profiles from people in Nigeria who end up asking for money, it did occur to me that a variation on this might be for JZ to have some members either deliberately try to recruit people via a dating site, or manipulate them by suggesting that they go to such sites and then invite anyone they meet there to join.
When it became clear that we had a 'ditch' too wide to bridge, we agreed to respect each other's beliefs, wished each other well and went separate ways. We still drop each other a note if something funny comes up. I hope this man is truly a good person who is blinded by the deceptions rather than a deliberate recruiter.
Has there been any indication that JZ is using members to recruit in such ways?
I'm curious as to the response on both aspects, the evangelical sort and possible recruitment. This also reminds me of years ago when I worked in a downtown city, and the scientologists were out en masse on street corners hitting people up for personallity tests or what ever it was. Some nice and intelligent people getting suckered in by L. Ron Hubbard.
Signed,
Jane Doe Anonymous
Below is a copy of an email that was shared with me. I asked for permission from this lurker on EMF, to post the email so that she can read the responses to it. I told her it would be posted now, so she can see what ya?ll have to say.
Whatcha
Hello,
I found your message board and have a couple of questions I didn't find discussed.
One is an observation. That the members seem to have much in common with evangelical christians and other religious groups describing some sort of end of the world coming soon and rapture. Not restricted to christian based faiths. I'd also put the concept of the hashishins in there with the wine ceremonies.
Getting out of such groups is difficult, cognitive dissonance can make it uncomfortable to give up something that we have put significant time, energy or resources into as well as having peer pressure to remain. A web search on cognitive dissonance turned up some interesting information on this. It might be a big factor in how intelligent people continuer to see clothing on the emperor's naked body.
The second is more personal. I recently joined on dating web site and was contacted politely by a man. We emailed a bit, something came up about energy fields, spirituality is an area of interest for me, and decided to talk on the phone. We never met in person. While our conversations ranged over many subjects, he brought up some that were metaphysical that were intriguing yet somehow seemed off. He suggested some ramtha books and going to an introductory event. I didn't feel pushed, never bought a book, found some partial books online that were enough to make me more skeptical. Web searching brought up your site and other info on the misbehaviors of JZ etc. Without ever directly addressing these, we continued to chat at times.
My question relates to this aspect. This man, who on the phone at least, seems kind, is funny, intelligent and easy to talk to, seemed very interested in meeting until it seemed clear to him that I was not going to easily agree and accept some differences in our spiritual beliefs. Not in and of itself anything uncommon in online dating, but overall I've found people who are truly interested in meeting out of attraction can accept such differences. Since online dating sites have had significant issues with scams, false profiles from people in Nigeria who end up asking for money, it did occur to me that a variation on this might be for JZ to have some members either deliberately try to recruit people via a dating site, or manipulate them by suggesting that they go to such sites and then invite anyone they meet there to join.
When it became clear that we had a 'ditch' too wide to bridge, we agreed to respect each other's beliefs, wished each other well and went separate ways. We still drop each other a note if something funny comes up. I hope this man is truly a good person who is blinded by the deceptions rather than a deliberate recruiter.
Has there been any indication that JZ is using members to recruit in such ways?
I'm curious as to the response on both aspects, the evangelical sort and possible recruitment. This also reminds me of years ago when I worked in a downtown city, and the scientologists were out en masse on street corners hitting people up for personallity tests or what ever it was. Some nice and intelligent people getting suckered in by L. Ron Hubbard.
Signed,
Jane Doe Anonymous