jon atack, family and friends

Kidnapping, imprisonment, and traumatic rituals have been normalized in the 'brat camps' of the US. Kacey has interviewed survivors of this American equivalent of China's brainwashing program. Including a brief segment of genius and the need to transform our educational system. Links (NOTE: Spike is still sick and her brain isn't working completely up to speed, so if there's a...

Over the millennia, many groups have predicted the End Days as an aspect of phobia induction - a way of scaring recruits into following orders by scrambling their critical thinking. The Jehovah's Witnesses have issued a string of failed prophecies (the first for 1914, but also for 1975), Moonie founder Sun Myung Moon, Edgar Cayce and Jerry Falwell were among many who offered 2000 as Earth'...

s Ruby Franke and Jodi Hildebrant join the ranks of infamous child abusers such as the Duggars, the Turpins, and Lori Vallow, Jon and Spike have some news - the Franke/Hildebrant case is part of a much larger pattern, where, as Voltaire did not exactly say, those who believe in absurdities will commit atrocities. Simply put, when the parents espouse extreme beliefs, it is the children who suffer t...

Film-maker Hoyt Richards talks with Jon about phobia induction in authoritarian cults and in society at large. We're in the midst of a panic about Artificial Intelligence which has become a bogey-man. Some of our fears may prove to be justified, but there is also the sense that we simply don't understand where AI might lead. All strong emotions - fear, anger or joy - deplete our reasoning....

eminent psychiatrist Steven Moffic has recently published a self-eulogy in Psychiatry Times. He talks with Jon about the benefits of assessing your own life. Both agree that 'enlightenment' may be the wrong goal in life and that our relationships with others are paramount. Dr Moffic mentions recent work on long-term grief and post-traumatic growth. Jon brings up the cultural context of att...

Jon and Chris talk about how Manson's 150 hours of Scientology processing might have affected him and his actions - along with what drugs the "family" was taking, Manson's ultra-conservative family of origin, and much more. links: Jon's Manson article on Tony Ortega's Underground Bunker Reconnection Magazine Indian Hemp Drugs Commission Jon's paper, Scientology, Relig...

in 2003, John Hunter had a manic episode. When he attended a Large Group Awareness Training (LGAT) in 2010, he was surprised to find that the 'transformations' promised from this intense experience lined up with the symptoms of hypomania - the euphoric state that precedes full-blown mania in bipolar disorder. John completed his PhD with a dissertation on the role of dopamine in bipolar dis...

John Andrew Collins grew up in the royal family of the William Branham Message movement. His grandfather was the senior pastor at Branham's Tabernacle. John began to have doubts when he was 37 and started research that has continued for more than a decade. He is a prolific author who has revealed the intimate connection between some Pentecostalists - including Branham - with the Ku Klux Klan f...

Janis joined Hubbard's ship at age 11. She was the first Commodore's Messenger and spent more than a decade at Hubbard's side. Her books give vital insight into the 'slave ship' and Hubbard's frequently traumatizing behavior. She is eager to have any information about her lifelong friend Andrew Barton, one of many disappeared Scientologists. links: Janis' channel with M...

documentarian and thriving survivor Hoyt Richards joins Jon for a conversation about the positive effects of membership in negative groups and the camaraderie found during wars and catastrophes. Jon starts with Biderman's Chart of Coercion first devised to explain the steps of the Chinese Thought Reform Program and more recently applied to Guantanamo Bay. As ever, many controversial points are...

Jen Senko talks about her fascinating documentary and the book of the same title which gives even more detail of the information war waging in the US. Jen's dad Frank was a thoughtful, considerate man who became a raging fanatic when his information sources were restricted to right-wing media - especially Fox "News" and Rush Limbaugh. Jen found that this plague has touched many famil...

Attorney Doug Brooks has created a website to help anyone entangled with a multilevel marketing organization. Doug shares his extensive experience in the field and offers sound practical advice to anyone who has been involved or is considering joining one of these get-rich-quick schemes which, as Doug says, benefit only the top one percent of members, often to the significant detriment of the rema...

Jon digs deeper into the causes of the Manson Family murders with Kacey, who has also spent time researching Manson. Manson was passionately interested in Scientology while in prison. At least three other Family members were involved in Scientology. Popular works about Manson fail to understand that Scientology is an elaborate system of control techniques rather than simply a set of beliefs or rit...

Should we be outraged that Roger Waters has been accused of anti-Semitism for a dramatic piece that shows the downfall of an authoritarian leader? We believe with John Stuart Mill's On Liberty which insists that we should never close our ears to disagreeable ideas and always be open to discussion.   The Roger Waters video Jon mentions

Joe and Jon have both spent their lives delving into belief systems, fascinated by the twists and turns that convince people to behave in benevolent or malevolent ways to those around them. A wide-ranging discussion about human perception of the divine that will doubtless unsettle some of the devout. Link: https://youtu.be/mdKst8zeh-U

documentarian, actor, and activist Hoyt Richards talks with Jon about Sebastian Junger's Tribe: Homecoming and Belonging and how ways in which authoritarian cults are tribes where recruits mistakenly believe they indeed found their home and feel they belong. Velasquez – the men of pleasure and the cretins UN figures on modern slavery

Professor emeritus Steven Moffic shares insights from his discipline of social psychiatry in a wide-ranging discussion about the prevalence of sociopathy in our society and the need for highly trained professionals to take a role in helping us to evolve towards better solutions and outgrow warfare. Including ideas about political leaders and the various forms of narcissism and anti-social behavior...

Chris Shelton explains the model of behavior he is developing to understand cultic involvement. As ever, a lively discussion! Links: Hassan's BITE Model Lifton's Eight Criteria of Thought Reform Cialdini's 7 Principles of Persuasion our "human predator" poster , prinatble and shareable John Oliver on Solitary Confinement Jane MacGregor's SEAT model the Spiritual Death of...

Nick Child spent his working life as a family psychiatrist. He has turned his attention to the prevention of parental alienation with the international Two Wishes Foundation. The aim of Two Wishes is to replace the adversarial approach to parental separation and focus on the needs of the children involved. Nick and Jon start by talking about aspects of coercive control as they relate to parental a...

Anke Richter is one of the few journalists who has seriously researched authoritarian cults. Her own positive experience with a neo-tantra group helped her to understand the devastations caused by three very different cults: Centrepoint and Gloriavale in Aotearoa, New Zealand, and Agama Yoga in Thailand. Centrepoint was a free-love cult whose leaders were eventually imprisoned for sexual abuse and...

For this part of Mark's story, he and Jon do a deep dive into Scientology's financial systems and the intricate rules of how staff are paid - if and when they are paid at all.

GPT-4 has caused a storm, including a petition signed by Elon Musk and Steve Wozniak for a moratorium on research while we ponder the ethical implications. Chris and Jon react to Jean-Pierre Jeunet's excellent comic take on AGI, Big Bug, and delve into the deeper issues, including Microsoft's admission that GPT-4 'hallucinates'. Links: AlphaGo beats human Fan Hui at Go; Deep Blue b...

Bad Cadet is an excellent addition to the welter of biographies by former members. Katherine Spallino was born into the Sea Org in Los Angeles and gives a vivid description of her childhood and coming of age. I had intended to skim the book before talking with Katherine, but found the material so compelling that I read from cover to cover. Katherine reads a few passages and tells us about life aft...

Mark continues the story of his amazing journey, including the shocking contents of the "cadet org / cadet estates org establishment eval", one of the most incriminating of all Scientology issues. This is part two; part one may be found here links: Mark's website cadet org / cadet estates org establishment eval Lisa McPherson story Spike's note: Qual = qualifications, where one h...

Mike Rinder worked closely with both Ron Hubbard and David Miscavige before escaping Scientology. Mike talks with Jon about Hubbard's strange daily schedule, his self-auditing, his foul temper and his decline after his first heart attack in 1974. Mike and Jon also discuss peak experiences and the part that expectation or placebo plays in them, along with 'reverie' states and the inerti...