Since the late 1990s, an estimated 16,000 people have enrolled in courses offered by Nxivm (pronounced Nex-e-um), which it says are designed to bring about greater self-fulfillment by eliminating psychological and emotional barriers. Most participants take some workshops, like the group’s “Executive Success Programs,” and resume their lives. But other people have become drawn more deeply into Nxivm, giving up careers, friends and families to become followers of its leader, Keith Raniere, who is known within the group as “Vanguard.”
Sarah Edmondson, one of the participants, said she had been told she would get a small tattoo as part of the initiation. But she was not prepared for what came next.
Each woman was told to undress and lie on a massage table, while three others restrained her legs and shoulders. According to one of them, their “master,” a top Nxivm official named Lauren Salzman, instructed them to say: “Master, please brand me, it would be an honor.”
A female doctor proceeded to use a cauterizing device to sear a two-inch-square symbol below each woman’s hip, a procedure that took 20 to 30 minutes. For hours, muffled screams and the smell of burning tissue filled the room.
“I wept the whole time,” Ms. Edmondson recalled. “I disassociated out of my body.”
Self-help? Check!
Homeopathy? Check!
Pyramid scammery? Check!
Sex slavery? Check!
You know I’ve never understood cults. I mean, you’ve got like a dozen women willing to be naked with you all the time. Congrats! You’ve “won”, I guess? Enjoy your hard won orgy lifestyle. Just make them all happy and keep on, keepin’ on.
Instead you always get all these weird emotional and physical abuse things.
Well, that’s the thing. You don’t have a dozen women who are inherently willing to have sex with you, you have a dozen women who you have conditioned to accept you through abuse and psychological fuckery.
“The Knife Media” a site that supposedly graded news articles on an objective set of criteria then assigned the sites a rating for their bias was a front for the cult.
I think acting as a career tends to attract people who over-index on a wide range of emotional issues. If you think about it, if you have a need to be the center of attention, or to be continually validated by others, acting is one of the few careers where you’re going to find that.
Of course there seem to be plenty of well adjusted actors, but for every Ryan Reynolds there are two or three Lindsey Lohans.
And that’s just at the upper echelon. I dabbled in theater late in high school and through college, and by and large, actors are just weird. Fun weird, but weird.
Menzo brings up good, valid points. I’d also like to posit the following:
Imagine you’re a famous actor. Most people will think of all the surrounding hubbub; beating paparazzi, adoration by fans, fantastic wealth, lots of travel, etc… That’s all fine and good, but then you have to consider why you’re so famous. Fans typically don’t love you for being you, but rather for being a pretend character on their favorite show or film.
Then you start to think about all the people who tried and failed at your craft. People you studied with, worked with, admired and looked up to. Your wealth and success is dependent not only on your skill, but also on having the right look and a huge amount of luck. You may start to question your worth more and more even as all the accolades from outside start pouring in. Then one day the offers for roles start to dry up. Maybe you can’t look “young” enough, anymore. Maybe you had the audacity to be human and the public can’t accept it. Who knows? Just as Menzo says, being an actor draws a certain kind of person, but it’s also an industry which seems almost hand crafted to emotionally wreck its workers.
