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The Death Of Sun Myung Moon

September 4, 2012/4 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

Sun Myung Moon was an addict. He was addicted to power and money. He acquired a great deal of both in his lifetime. The psychological elements he was able to exploit – to feed his addiction – are similar to those utilized by Hitler, Jim Jones, and leaders of Al Qaeda.

Driven by his desire to have more and more power – and more and more money, Sun Myung Moon was able to convince many people, including myself, that he was the manifestation of God and that I/we should devote our lives to him. I would have done ANYTHING for him.

“Us” versus “Them”

July 17, 2012/0 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

The concept of a memeplex is critical to a more peaceful and cooperative world. I know that’s a strong statement, but I believe it to be true.

This concept gives us a means to view, from an evolutionary perspective, how and why we have tended to clump together into groups with highly polarized ideologies. We can start to understand the pull to view the world from a “Us” versus “Them” perspective. To fully understand how memeplexes work we must examine the psychological elements present in the most powerful and dangerous memeplexes currently in our existence – as well as in our history.

Deconstructing Memeplexes

July 14, 2012/0 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

I just returned from a wilderness raft trip. It was spectacular. We had no cell phone or internet access for five days. I had no idea what was going on in the world outside my immediate surroundings and no way to connect to anyone outside our little party of eight people and the occasional rafters we waved at from our campsite.

Being “had”

June 22, 2012/2 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

Let’s face it; we have all been taken advantage of one time or another. No matter how cunning you are, come on admit it, at one time or another you have bought the snake oil. You have been “had”.

Maybe not as badly as me, probably not as badly as me, but it must have happened. You believed the person you loved was telling you the truth when they were cheating on you, or you bought into some pyramid scheme that was supposed to make you rich, or you thought Santa Clause brought you toys for being good. It was probably frustrating and disappointing when you realized what you thought you were getting wasn’t as expected.

What Does a Football Player, a Moonie and a Terrorist Have in Common?

June 20, 2012/0 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

I am in the process of writing a series of posts about how to prevent vulnerable minds from getting infected with dangerous memes. Memes are everywhere – coming from every direction. The danger comes when they shut down rational thinking.

It is not rational that if a football player says a prayer before a game some invisible guy named God, who created the world, will help his team win the game.

Of course, there are players on the losing team that prayed to the same God, that same day. So obviously it’s irrational to believe that this omnipresent, omnipotent God just happened to like the way the player on the winning team prayed that day…

How to Prevent Memetic Abuse

June 18, 2012/0 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

There are certain psychological conditions that create an especially high level of vulnerability to manipulation.

Low self-esteem, loneliness and cognitive dissonance are good examples.

Use Memetic Condoms – Protect Your Brain!!!

June 18, 2012/0 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

Malaria is a disease that affects hundreds of millions of people every year. Despite a clear need, no vaccine offering a high level of protection currently exists. Mosquito nets create a protective barrier against malaria-carrying mosquitoes that bite at night. It is obvious why the effort is made to prevent potential victims from being infected with the disease. At the same time, scientists work tirelessly to find a vaccine and to eradicate the disease.

Similarly, there is still no vaccine for HIV/AIDS. Much like mosquito nets for malaria prevention, the use of condoms has been widely recognized as a key to HIV/AIDS prevention until a cure or vaccine can be found.

Why I am Dedicated to Prevention

June 15, 2012/0 Comments/in Blog /by Diane Benscoter

For a number of years after I left the Moonies I was part of an underground railroad, of sorts, helping families attempt to free their loved ones from cults like the one I had been involved in.

One of the key reasons deprogramming – or exit counseling – works is that it takes the victim out of the milieu which constantly re-enforces this type of circular logic.

The need to remove the victim from their environment is also one of the main problems with the process. Families often felt their only option was an involuntary intervention. The legal issues involved with involuntary deprogramming led to my arrest for kidnapping. (It was the 80’s…excuse the mullet)