Today’s the day that Shiny Happy People season 2 airs today. A number of us alumni are doing a watch party, thank the gods that we have the internet to do such. I decided to “pregame” by rewatching Mind Over Mania before the party starts and thought it’d be interesting to try and almost live blog this experience. I haven’t watched it in 3 or 4 years. My wife is joining me in person. Always have a buddy, folks!
Right off the bat it’s wild hearing Ron Luce and Dave Hasz again. Of course, hearing the “pain is weakness leaving the body” mantra… I don’t even have the words.
@12:40 has an interesting quote:
“[The average person] doesn’t understand mind control. He doesn’t know what questions to ask and what behaviors to watch out for. The average person assumes he could never be sucked in.” — Steven Hassan “Combating Mind Control”
The blog has been getting way more hits and emails with the new documentary and I was just explaining to a person reaching out how the first step for recovering from a cult is acknowledging that you were even in one. My wife comments that even at sporting events, it’s really easy to get caught up in the moment, emotion, and crowd of it all and she doesn’t even like football!
@16:00 Raven talks about the opening ceremony of ESOAL and seeing Hasz for the first time in the event. This is most likely 2 or 3 in the morning for her, at least it was for my year. It’s disgusting to me that Hasz was yelling at people for uncontrollably shivering from the cold and anxiety. My year, we had half a dozen or so people pass out before even really starting any of the evolutions.
@16:50 Ron talks about how ESOAL is Fear Factor meets Navy Seal training. In my second year, while I was participating in Intensive Elective Training Phase 3, we were required to read a biopic about a graduating class of Hell Week. So much of ESOAL was in that book. Looking back, I find it disgustingly negligent.
@23:55 Doug Duncan talks about Robert Lifton’s criteria for thought reform. I’m no expert on the theory of mind control but I do wonder if it’s an outdated source. There is a “scholarly article” in response to Mind Over Mania that specifically refutes TM’s cult status using this criteria. Somewhat recently, I’ve learned about the BYTE model (or BITE?) that sounds like a simplified but broader way to gauge an organization’s cult status. It’s been on my to-do list to look at Teen Mania through the model and make a post about it.
They’re going through Lifton’s criteria and showing each girl’s response to each criterion. I’d add my own commentary here but I’m almost late to the launch party!
I’ll update this post when I can revisit Mind Over Mania again. Which’ll most likely be when I get in a better head space after the documentary. Hours leading up to party has had me anxiety-ridden and slightly triggered, but I’m still excited.
