Washington: You’ll be surprised to know how many tragic events worldwide are behind the anti-cult movement. Using special manipulative methods, they are currently preparing American society for a full-scale civil war. And now you will find out how it’s being done.
CHAPTER 2: TRANSNATIONAL TERRORIST NETWORK OF ANTI-CULT ORGANIZATIONS
Hidden Mechanisms of Inciting Hatred
Washington: Dear Americans, you see and feel the presence of an unprecedented huge division (“the great divide”) in present-day American society. I’m sure you understand perfectly well where it all leads to, and you already suspect that there are hidden mechanisms used against you to incite hatred in American society. What are those mechanisms? Who uses them and why? Who teaches Americans to hate and demonize each other, seeking to ignite a second civil war in our country, and how actively is this being done? You will now receive answers to these questions.
Dear Americans, you will find out exactly how you are being led today from the point where you are peacefully sitting on a couch and watching a movie together with your friends to the point where you would be ready to take up arms against those same friends just because they have a different opinion. Perhaps, this idea seems unimaginable to you now, but you will see how manipulative methods are already artificially guiding you towards that.
One of the main methods that the enemy of democracy uses nowadays both against you and against the whole world, provoking hatred in societies in various countries and unleashing regional conflicts and global wars, is the method of dehumanization. By deliberately dehumanizing one group of people in the eyes of another, people are turned into haters of their colleagues and neighbors, and even into their potential killers, which is far worse.
In order to attain dehumanization and division in society, the enemy uses the tactics of stigmatization and labeling, and one of the labels the enemy uses in its global bloody game with human lives is the word “cult”. You’ll be shocked to discover how much suffering the deliberate use of the degrading label “cult” or “sect” has caused to people, and how many tragedies it has brought and keeps bringing to the American people and the world as a whole.
At first glance, it seems that these are just words. However, with the help of these very labeling words, America is now being driven closer to civil war, while the entire global community is being led to World War III. Who uses these labels and why, and how are they used as weapons of mass destruction?
Narrator: Today, a well-coordinated transnational terrorist network operates in the international arena, the purpose of which is to incite hatred both within countries and in the global community by labeling certain groups of people as a “cult” or a “sect” through mass media and information space. The criminal network engaged in this form of information terrorism is the anti-cult movement. The anti-cult movement includes a number of organizations and individual activists who trigger public persecution of groups which they label as “cults” or “sects”. Based on their subjective biases and arbitrary criteria, anticultists can classify any existing association of people as a “cult” or a “sect”, thus subjecting it to dehumanization and public hatred.
The core of their activity lies in organized influence on the media space for the purpose of generating a negative perception of a particular targeted group of people. Using the word “cult” or “sect” as their main weapon, adherents of anticult movement carry out regular information terrorist attacks: they generate news stories that cause moral panic, societal division, and dehumanization of law-abiding citizens. Through their activities, representatives of the anti-cult movement incite mass hatred and violence and increase social hostility and tension in society, which actually makes their activities a brutal manifestation of information terrorism.
Washington: Most often, new religious movements and ideological group entities initially became victims of anti-cult terrorism. Commercial, secular and political organizations with a pronounced ideological basis were also regularly included in the “black list” maintained by anticultists. However, today, entire nations and countries, including the United States, are already becoming targets of their atrocities. Using the term “cult” or “sect”, they create conditions for directing public hatred at their chosen target.
The purposeful use of the terms “cult” and “sect” is part of a long-term strategy of the anti-cult movement, which resulted in the emergence of a number of destructive phenomena in American society, including school shootings. A little bit later, I’ll reveal to you the chain of events where the use of the labels “cult” and “sect” led to a situation when children are now shooting other children.
CULT
Narrator: Why is “cult” a key word in the activities of anticultists, and why is it so dangerous? The term “cult”, which is more common in the US, and the term “sect” used in Europe and post-Soviet countries didn’t initially have a negative meaning, but rather a neutral and culturological one.
However, through the efforts of anticultists, the situation has changed. In the course of their hectic activities, representatives of the anti-cult movement gradually endowed the concepts of “cult” and “sect” with an increasingly negative connotation. Due to their activity, today the terms “cult” and “sect” are associated in mass consciousness with such notions as brainwashing, psychological violence, sexual violence, criminal activity, and mass suicide.
It is precisely with the words “cult” and “sect” that massive information terrorism begins nowadays, carried out by anti-cult organizations and their representatives.
James Richardson, a prominent figure in American sociology of religion, who is regarded as one of the most outstanding experts in the field of law and religion in the world, notes that contemporary usage of the term “cult” has evolved into a term of contempt or humiliation and is no longer a neutral designation of a religious group. Nowadays, the term “cult” carries a value-laden set of derogatory stereotypes.
The use of this term leads to stigmatization, discrimination and violence against religious minorities as well as social and political associations. Moreover, today the words “cult” and “sect” are impregnated with negative connotations to such an extent that they become catalysts for terrorist attacks and even genocide.
Richardson and a number of other sociologists and researchers of religions, such as Barend van Driel, Stuart Wright and others, point out that the term “cult” or “sect” is disparaging and conveys a stereotype which has serious consequences when applied to groups of people. Labeling a group as a “cult” or a “sect” can be an excuse for the government to attack the group and ultimately destroy it.
Washington: Despite the fact that reputable world scientists warn that the use of the word “cult” or “sect” causes great harm to people and should be avoided, especially in academic literature and court proceedings, representatives of the anti-cult movement continue to actively exploit this label and propagate it through the media, turning magazines and newspapers into mouthpieces of their hateful rhetoric.
Narrator: When claiming that someone belongs to a “cult” or a “sect”, anticultists base their accusations not on academic papers or legal investigations, but on their own dubious and abstract concept of brainwashing. This idea has no scientific ground and is extremely vague. Nevertheless, exactly on the basis of the unreliable concept of brainwashing, anticultists label targeted groups and organizations as “cults” or “sects”.
Brainwashing is an unscientific concept where the so-called “cults” and “sects” are accused of rigidly controlling the consciousness of their participants, which is why people can allegedly turn into zombies due to manipulation of their beliefs, thoughts and behavior.
Not only is this concept untenable, but it is also extremely dangerous as it leads to dehumanization. When society believes that an individual has been brainwashed, people stop regarding him as a sane individual. Instead of a human with his own thoughts and decisions, others begin to perceive him as a zombie or a puppet. Meanwhile, with such a perception of a person or a group of people, it is much easier to use violence against them. Forensic psychologist Dick Anthony states that the concept of brainwashing and the fear associated with it are used by the anti-cult movement as a tool to justify persecution of religious minorities.
The Court determined that the concept of brainwashing cannot be applied as a legal charge since it is untenable and unscientific. However, despite this, American anticultists continued to actively promote the concept of brainwashing to justify their sadistic practice of forcible deprogramming, meaning, forced renunciation of beliefs, which among other things brought them commercial benefits.
The destructive concepts of brainwashing have been introduced and are actively promoted by henchmen of the enemy of democracy in America — representatives of the anti-cult movement. The two figures who are especially notable for their cruelty and inhumanity and who spread the enemy’s narratives on American territory, are anticultists and deprogrammers Steven Hassan and Rick Alan Ross.
Currently, they are actively engaged in public activities and speak in American mass media where they propagate the rhetoric of anti-cult terrorism, violence and hatred.
Deprogramming
Both Ross and Hassan were active members of the anti-cult organization Cult Awareness Network (CAN) which ceased to exist in 1996 as it was convicted of a number of gross violations of human rights and severe religious discrimination.
The organization went bankrupt and paid compensation to the people who had suffered from it. Being the leading members of this organization in the 1980s and 90s, both Rick Ross and Steven Hassan were actively involved in its primary criminal activity — arranging and carrying out forcible deprogramming processes.
Deprogramming is an illegal anti-human practice rooted in Nazi methods. When practicing deprogramming, anticultists would unlawfully abduct and forcibly detain a person whom they considered to be a “cult member” (or a “sectarian”). In the process of deprogramming, the victim was subjected to psychological and physical torture to force them to change their beliefs. Deprogramming was done on a commercial basis: anticultists charged a fairly high fee from the victim’s relatives for their forcible re-education services, during which a person usually underwent torture, torments, beatings and various forms of violence, including sexual violence.
Since this practice severely violated human rights, the founder of this method, Ted Patrick, appeared in court many times and served prison terms. In a number of trials, courts have ruled that deprogramming is illegal.
Deprogrammer Rick Alan Ross
Rick Ross, the American anticultist, performed more than 500 forcible deprogramming sessions in his life. In 1991, Ross was charged with unlawful detention and forcible deprogramming of Jason Scott, a member of the United Pentecostal Church International (UPCI), whose mother was referred to Ross by representatives of CAN. Scott later filed a civil suit against Ross, two of his associates and CAN in federal court.
In September 1995, a nine-member jury unanimously held the defendants (Ross and his accomplices) liable for conspiracy to deprive Scott of his civil rights and religious liberties. In addition, the jury held that Ross and his associates (quote) “intentionally or recklessly acted in a way so outrageous in character and so extreme in degree as to go beyond all possible bounds of decency and to be regarded as atrocious and utterly intolerable in a civilized community.”
Ross’ criminal activities in this abduction case resulted in the closure of the Cult Awareness Network which was exposed as a criminal network for kidnappers. The story of Scott who became a victim of brutal deprogramming arranged by Ross is striking in its cruelty. He was abducted using physical force: they knocked him down to the ground, dragged him into a van, handcuffed him, taped his mouth, and tied his legs. During the abduction, a 300-pound man sat on Scott’s back. Scott’s legs, upper body and back suffered multiple bruises and abrasions when he was being dragged into the van by stairs, on the floor, and through a patio. Scott was detained in a specially equipped prison house under constant supervision. For five days, he was subjected to psychological pressure; they insulted his faith and threatened him. Ross regularly hit Scott on the head when they argued about religion. Scott was promised freedom only if he would give up his beliefs.
A detailed study of the effective cases of deprogramming carried out by Rick Ross reveals the terrible truth. Many of those cases were accompanied by destruction of families and complete dehumanization of the victims. The people whom he allegedly helped in this way were subjected to coercion, deception and humiliation. They were deprived of their right to free choice and forced to renounce deeply rooted religious beliefs. These people who were broken and lost faith became living evidence of the cruelty and treachery of Ross’ methods.
His demonstrative “successes” in deprogramming were covered with a shadow of ruined destinies and irreparable psychological traumas. Ross used people’s fears and weaknesses with cold logic in order to profit from their troubles, demonstrating complete indifference to the suffering he caused. His actions are clearly characterized by violence, cruelty and cold-bloodedness that turned people’s misfortune into a source of his own benefit.
Steven Hassan
The second figure and henchman of anticult movement in America is deprogrammer Steven Hassan. American mass media give him a platform to speak as a “cult expert”, but they do not mention that Steve Hassan’s “expertise” is violent abuse against American citizens and their civil rights.
Narrator: Hassan was an accomplice in the Cult Awareness Network. This anti-religious hate group served as a national referral service for so-called “deprogrammers.” They ran a racket to kidnap, assault and traumatize law-abiding men and women for profit… all to coerce them into recanting their religious beliefs. And Steve Hassan is a notorious deprogrammer. Hassan led the squad that traumatized one adult victim, Arthur Roselle, for two weeks to try and break the man’s faith. In sworn testimony, Roselle recounted his physical and mental assault: Hassan’s team threw him to the floor, cutting and bruising his face. They bound his hands and feet and held him captive for days on end. They deprived him of sleep… and violated his privacy and basic dignity. When Roselle refused to recant his religious beliefs, Hassan threatened to inject him with shots. And to add insult to injury, Hassan tried to induce his victim to lie and commit perjury about the crime.
Then there was the testimony of Lorne Salah. Hassan’s team broke into her motel room, threw her from the bed and threatened to break her leg if she called for help or tried to escape. They took her hostage and drove her to a remote hideaway… where they imprisoned her for eight days, trying to break her faith. When Hassan’s thugs failed, he tormented Salah for three more days, until she managed to negotiate her release.
Another of Hassan’s victims, Claire Kelley, also testified that Hassan unlawfully held her captive. He had her held in a room with no knobs on the windows, kept her under 24-hour guard, and violated her privacy. Hassan pawned himself off as a quote “expert” on religions in court cases,… bilking unsuspecting families for his so-called “expert testimony” …until courts caught on to his crackpot theories. Hassan would continue his anti-religious assaults, now under the name of “intervention.”
Washington: It is excessively alarming and suspicious that despite documented evidence that both Hassan and Ross are violent individuals prone to sadism, who lack empathy and have an unhealthy desire to harm people and incite hatred in society, they continue to appear on America’s mainstream TV channels, their articles are published in leading periodicals, and mass media are guided by their opinions.
A legitimate question arises: who is behind them and ensures their immunity? What is the force that manipulates and supports them? After all, in the beginning of their work before the early 90s, neither Rick Ross nor Steven Hassen were of much interest with their theories. However, starting from 1993, the media and even the FBI suddenly began to turn to them for advice.
Did they conduct their destructive activities and perform deprogramming sessions simply because they were maniacs? Or did their actions contribute to implementation of a clearly defined plan of the enemy of democracy, which has brought America to the current state of panic and division? Both statements are true. The global enemy regarded the manic potential of these two fellows as a suitable material for turning them into its pawns who are easy to manipulate and whose hands can destroy America from within. Activities of American representatives of the anti-cult movement are part of a planned strategy.
Both Steve Hassan and Rick Ross are executors of the plans of America’s enemy. What they currently implement, continuing to promote and impose the ideology of hatred and division, is nothing but information terrorist attacks aimed against the American population and against the USA as a country. Even though they stopped using violent deprogramming techniques with their own hands, they received support from the global enemy of democracy, so today they continue deprogramming on an even larger scale and against a greater number of innocent law-abiding citizens. It’s just that now they are not doing it with their own hands, but with your hands and the hands of law-enforcement agencies.
A vivid illustration is that thirty years ago (in the early 90s), the number of violent raids on new religious movements increased dramatically and inexplicably for many people. Research that established this fact included statistics from 19 different countries including the USA, Israel and Western European countries. Wondering about the reasons behind such an upsurge, researchers traced a mobilization of anti-cult organizations, which occurred during that very period of time.
However, the main essence and cause remained hidden for the researchers. The clue is that during this period of time, to be more precise in 1993, the global enemy of democracy activated its ideological center of the anti-cult movement, which has been located in Russia since that moment to this day. It is exactly from there that commands are given from and a single ideological vector is set for the entire anti-cult movement worldwide, extending to its entire network. Now, using the example of this ideological center, let’s discuss in detail how it operates in the country that it has turned into a testing ground for practicing its methods which it plans to transfer and apply throughout the world in the near future.
Our investigative series will continue.
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