Cult Deprogrammer Reviews Cults From Movies & TV | Vanity Fair

i've been under the protection of the fbi homeland security and the justice department because of threats on my life so i really don't want to say where i'm at but hello [Laughter] i'm rick allen ross i'm a culti programmer and i've been helping people escape cults since 1982 [Music] today i'll be breaking down clips from tv and film about cults this clip is from the valve our main emphasis our main belief is to have people experience more joy in their lives what does it mean if you're integrated you're joyful and part of it was like this is cool this is a code to understand myself anyone can be captured by a cult i've deprogrammed five medical doctors how does that happen if you're in a position where you're isolated you're alone you're hurting you're worried and a group comes along and says look we've got the answers we can help you they've got to have something good otherwise no one would be taken in by them keith developed a model called rational inquiry we refer to rational inquiry as a technology it was a process designed to produce quantifiable results the premise of rational inquiry as presented by nexium was that this is a panacea this is a cure-all you can make more money be higher functioning the problem with nexium is that wasn't all they were up to they were breaking people down in order to change them this is typical of what's called large group awareness training organizations where they bring people together in a kind of seminar setting and what we're talking about is a kind of process that goes on day after day after day during this time you are constantly with other nexium devotees you're constantly hearing their jargon you may not be getting enough sleep you may not be eating right you're kind of getting worn out and at the same time you're being subjected to a kind of inquisition in which the group expects you to cathartically divulge everything about yourself what is your ultimate pain all of this leads to a point of of exultation and a kind of epiphany and from that point forward you may be hooked mid-summer [Music] first of all when you watch midsummer it's a depiction of a kind of pagan secretive ritualistic cult and this is really kind of over amped but what's interesting about this clip that that really resonates that's real is that the woman sees something terrible and she reacts to it spontaneously and then what the group does is they encapsulate her and then they mimic her [Music] and what they're doing by mimicking her pain is they're in a sense dismissing her and she's no longer an individual she's part of a collective and what we see in that particular scene is as they're breathing in unison and voicing their grief together there's a kind of rhythm to it it can become hypnotic and it can become mood-altering and it can be a trans-inducing process and so this becomes a avenue of manipulation and many groups will handle things in different ways but the general pathway is to lose your sense of individuality autonomy critical thinking your ability to analyze alone instead you need to be dependent upon the group to experience this with you to guide you in your perception of what it is that you're seeing and that's what you're seeing in that scene it's very real once upon a time in hollywood so george gave you all permission to be here of course he did and you all take care of him we take care of george yeah charlie manson had his cult the family out at spa ranch and yes there was a man named george at the ranch but what's interesting about this clip is this is how cult compounds function people that want to visit someone that is under the control of the cult may find it very difficult well is there anything wrong with me saying hello to an old friend you can't see him right now why can't i see him right now because he's napping excuses are made oh they're away they're shopping they're busy and the idea is to separate them and isolate them and keep them within the group control what you see is this we they dichotomy where we are the elect we're the group and outsiders are really not welcome the way that the women confronted brad pitt the way they all looked at him and their body language it's very typical of many cult groups in that it illustrates their single-mindedness and that they're reinforcing each other charlie manson weaponized women to kill people and they could be ferocious so yes there were women that would serve as guards and then they would do whatever he wanted them to do charlie says well well well well well what do we have here gypsy said leslie would be happier with you what you see in this clip is this recruitment this seduction process you know charlie manson was very charismatic he could be very charming he could seem so in the moment so spontaneous but in reality everything was very carefully planned by charles manson be my mirror [Laughter] the mirroring exercise is just to basically get her to let him take charge where did you find her she was hanging around my harem for a while beautiful brother bobby he really knows how to make love to the girls that's what they'll tell me sadie's made love to bobby right i guess we all might love him at this point huh sex is being used as a lure cults do this all the time there have been a number of groups like children of god that would do what they call flirty fishing gypsy told me all about you and i can't take charlie i think we should let her stay she digs us and she's hungry she's caught up in this idea that this is a privilege this is a wonderful thing that this group is offering her a place you like her you teach her you keep an eye on her and you see if she belongs with us you don't want new members talking to new members you want a new member talking to someone who's very experienced he can rely on that will bring this person in deeper and you can stay i don't think in this film that you can see the intensity that charlie manson really had he had a way of looking at people that was so intense hypnotic really waco this morning i woke up with this funny feeling right here in my gut then i realized what it was joy i think they've captured the charisma of david koresh he was a very charismatic very convincing compelling leader what you're seeing is how he can be self-deprecating humble and that people are taken in by this he made such extreme demands on people for husbands to give up their wives for wives to have sex with him for mothers to give him their their minor children and i think if he had been less demanding but as charismatic as he was he would have had a much larger following you got your law degree from harvard was that enough for you wayne nope i think what david koresh is showing you in this particular scene is our notions that intelligent sophisticated people would not fall prey to a cult are are mistaken steve professor of theology you lived with your wife julian paradise on the beach in hawaii enough not even close not even close he's using these examples of these people to glue them in to the compound are you questioning my understanding of the bible how can you do that if steve doesn't do it they don't see it as i have given up everything for the leader and i speak as someone who who deprogrammed two waco davidians if you have no idea how total their commitment was uh they were literally willing to die for him and of course they did in the end the master excuse me some of this sounds quite like hypnosis is it not this is a process of de-hypnotization if you will man is asleep this process wakes him from his slumber the master is loosely based on the history of l ron hubbard and the church of scientology when the man questioning him says it looks like hypnosis isn't it hypnosis the most obvious explanation is yes it's hypnosis so this is really opening up the hood and seeing the mechanics of how the master really manipulates people you've also said that these methods cause methods can cure leukemia according to your book and some forms of leukemia in being able to access past lives we are able to treat illnesses that may have started back thousands even trillions of years if you make a claim that cannot be proven but it doesn't require me to do anything like you say santa claus is real it's your belief fine but when you start asking me for money and you start asking me to believe you and support you and and do volunteer work for you and everything i have a right to ask how do you prove that i find it quite difficult to comprehend or more to the point believe that you believe sir that time travel hypnosis therapy can bring world peace and cure cancer i have never been to the pyramids have you no and yet we know that they are there because learning men have told us so you really want to watch that did he answer my question or did he evade my question is he uh using tactics on me uh being belligerent being angry with me because he doesn't want me to stay on topic and continue to ask these questions all of these are strategies that cult leaders use oh this isn't a discussion it's a grilling i'm sorry you're unwilling to defend your beliefs in any kind of rational oh if you if you if you already know the answers to your questions then why ask what you see in the master is that in the 1950s the same dynamic the same methodology is being used by this leader as is being used by keith renery in the present day the leader's names change but the game doesn't change the handmaid's tale [Music] this woman giving birth is not an individual act it's a group experience what we see are all of these very intensely indoctrinated people that have accepted the group narrative of what's happening and for them this is reality what we think is crazy the group sees as reality i see elizabeth moss her character as being very similar to many people today living in north korea even though she isn't a true believer she's kind of caught up in the rhythm of it these people do not have a sense of individual identity they're merged they all look the same alfred would you like a cookie yes please thank you they know that things are not the way they're being portrayed by the great leader but they've learned that if you're a dissident you will be imprisoned you will be executed there's a book influence written by robert cialdini and cialdini lays out six basic principles of influence and one is what is called social proof and that is that we rely on the feedback of people around us to understand what is real and what is not real and to know what to do and how to react and so what happens in a cult is that the social proof is controlled by the group and so if you will it's a false social proof but it's very powerful martha marcy may marlene michael what's wrong i don't know i i should go back go back this film is the gold standard for any movie about cults it is the most realistic depiction of what a cult would be like and the difficulty in in leaving a group and the recovery process she feels like many cult members that thinking of leaving is being a traitor that i'm turning my back on god she really hasn't unpacked or sorted out what has happened to her and she's been isolated from her family for many months these are all the the emotions that real cult members feel as they walk away was it my fault am i to blame but that is how the leader wants her to be he wants to make it as difficult as possible for elizabeth olsen to leave what's happened are you okay um i have to go i can't stay gone so what are you talking about what she's really saying is the program is really strong i have been deeply indoctrinated to believe that i have an obligation a commitment to this group and this way of life holy smoke what am i looking at here peru who are these people in the photo ruth that's ruth oh my god i didn't realize she's wearing a national posture this movie is dear to my heart i worked on it uh i was a technical consultant parents will often send me a picture of what their son or daughter looked like before and then a picture after and they look totally different they may lose weight or they may gain weight they have a group uniform they don't even act like they used to their sense of humor is gone and that's why they call what people like i do deprogramming because it is the unraveling of the program that has been instilled by the group it was once called snapping in which people would have a sudden change they would go from the cult personality to their own inherent personality which had been suppressed and pushed down by the group experience what we see in this scene is kate winslet's moment of conversion and she's mesmerized she is literally feeling the power of the guru and when he touches her she's going into bliss and this is very reminiscent of bhagwan sri rajneesh and his ashram in puna india he called it massaging your third eye in lifton's book thought reform and the psychology of totalism what the guru does to kate winslet would be called mystical manipulation or plan spontaneity he's gauging her he can see where she's at he deliberately does that and it creates this anchoring subjective feeling you can talk about objective facts but what do you do with these subjective feelings she will constantly think i felt the power of the guru and that is my proof that is my validation and there's nothing that you can say to take that away from me if you're sitting in a room and you feel like you're in a cult maybe you are and if you ask someone in the group is this a cult and they look at you and say why would you ask if we're a cult why did you answer my question with a question that's an evasion that might be your gut feeling your your your intuition warning you so trust your gut thank you so much for watching and thank you so much for having me on vanity fair

Channel: Vanity Fair

Views: 1,022,193

Keywords: charles manson, charles manson cult, cult, cult deprogrammer, cult deprogrammer reviews, cult deprogramming, cult explained, cult movie, cult movies, cult review, cult scenes, cult tv, cults, cults explained, cults vanity fair, expert review, getting into cult, how to get out of a cult, midsommar, nxivm, once upon a time in hollywood, reviews, rick alan ross, the handmaid's tale, the vow, vanity fair, vanity fair cults, vanity fair review, vanity fair reviews

Id: WLoVHyuYVBY

Length: 17min 59sec (1079 seconds)

Published: Fri Oct 15 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/Eclectix]

As someone raised in a cult, this was both triggering and enlightening.

[u/Ghost_Farter]

I learned about cults and was entertained. Bravo.

[u/nauticalsandwich]

The thing that isn't often addressed about cults is that, while sometimes they are deliberately fabricated orders of control by the cult leaders, more often than not they are spontaneous social orders that arise out of particular feedback loops of natural, social behaviors. They are, at their core, the most extreme manifestation of common social traits.

[u/norieeega]

Once upon a time a bud and me looked into cult deprogramming organizations because we had our reasons. What we found was a subset that was a mesh of organizations with dubious claims that kept referring to each other for validation.

From a brief browsing through their material it seemed very much like a meta cult that prayed on those that were trying to exit, with very similar promise of divinity, community and answers as regular cults.

Proper bottom feeder cunts.

Should have reported it somewhere but we were sort of dumbstruck by it at the time and now plenty of time has passed.

[u/FknRepunsel]

Really really interesting!

[u/rayz0101]

wonder what he thinks of twitter, or reddit for that matter.

[u/SenchoStadium]

CLEAAN