We need to talk. This may end up being the most serious post I end up making on this blog, so let’s get our stern faces on.
Media personality Steven Crowder of Louder With Crowder just blew the lid on an enormous human trafficking operation that’s being run right here in the United States, where slavery is illegal.
It’s an hour-long documentary, and if you’re interested and have the time, here it is:
Say what you will about Steven Crowder, but remember when journalists actually engaged in investigative journalism? Because I sure don’t.
But here we are: there’s an enormous slavery and sex trafficking ring, right here in the United States, right in Colorado. And the one to step up to bat is none other than Steven Crowder.
Americans have a strange relationship with slavery. We pride ourselves on being among the first countries on earth to outlaw slavery, but we have little problem benefiting from it when we don’t have to see it happening, usually because it’s not happening within our own borders.
Perhaps chief of which being Jeff Bezos. The guy has a huge shipping operation going on which benefits massively from Chinese slavery, and he gets away with it because there’s a layer of plausible deniability between him and the slavery that made him one of the richest people alive.
And this brings up a difficult question: how does one propose fighting it? Americans benefit from slavery, too. If you own a smartphone, its components were likely made by slaves. If you don’t, you’re probably not competitive in the modern world. Most Americans need some form of computing in order to function in the connected world.
And it’s not just computing, it’s also agriculture. Much of what you could buy in supermarkets at least has ingredients that were produced by slaves. Not comfortable to think about.
And when it comes down to it, it’s more practical to spend less money on a comparable product to what you’ve been considering. Low income people tend towards cheaper alternatives, and it’s often slavery that makes certain products cheaper.
Even wealthier people like to virtue signal with their electric vehicles, not giving mind to the cobalt mines that resulted in their EV batteries.
For much of human history, slavery was a fact of life, and how business got done. And in much of the world today, it’s still that way.
Knowing that, how does it feel knowing you paid less for some off-brand product on Amazon, with a name consisting of a jumbling of search terms? Did you remember to leave a review for your FUNDILY Mug Cup With Handle Novelty Insulated Happy Magical Spacekitties Gift for Men Women? Your reviews make a difference, after all.
But there’s more to this issue, and that’s that the Chinese Communist Party also benefits from this. And Emperor Xi has got a chubby for his party becoming the world’s dominant power. I’m skeptical that it’s actually happening as quickly as some might think (the CCP is famously unreliable when it comes to anything that could make them look bad), it’s sobering that any faction as morally dubious as the CCP could become as prominent as they are.
Yes, I’m aware that ours is the same country that elected the Biden crime family.
But let’s stop and think about this: If the CCP is willing to look the other way when their own fellow Chinese are put to forced labor and sex slavery as long as the CCP stands to benefit, what do you suppose that they’d do to you if they’d have any power over you?
And considering that they’ve got land upon which they’re running illegal drug-growing and prostitution cartels in your very own country, it’s closer to happening than you might think.
And when you think on that, there’s an ugly thought that you might come to: it’s possible that the CCP might actually attain superpower status because they are willing to disregard any moral standards if it means getting ahead, they’re facing such little resistance in so doing, and because they’re willing to do what most others would not, sacrificing their own people in ways that most societies would not dare.
As sickening as it is to think of, those who wish to do America harm have found its weakness: it’s got millions of dumbasses who love getting high. And while these people have long been a problem for the rest of us, it looks like there’s a new way for society to pay the price for tolerating their bullshit.
So, here we are, ladies and gentlemen. Something’s gotta change. Because one way or another, it certainly will.
A couple days ago, Chris Chan complained of feeling “a bit woozy at times” on X, with his friends attributing this to his diet.
Here’s what he had to say:
#TF2AnalysisAnarchy reminded me of the 6-2-1 (Convention) Rule years ago. That was a common practice with me, in general, which aided me in weight loss.
But in recent days, my Body has been feeling a bit woozy at times. My friends made me realize that I could be eating more, especially considering how tall I am. So, I’m readjusting my meal plan for filling breakfast/brunch and dinner, while enjoying Fruits and/or Salad at lunch or snackage throughout the day.
Okay then, let’s see how Chris Chan has been eating fruits, by looking at a fruit salad that he shared weeks ago. And let me know whether this could contribute to his woozy feeling:
Okay, this looks like the beginning of a fruit salad. There’s a diversity of fruit there, with diced apple, strawberries, banana, and what looks like a peeled tangerine. As long as he doesn’t somehow ruin it, there’s nothing to object to, at all.
But he’s not done yet. To him, nature’s candy is not sweet enough, he has to add additional candy to taste:
He ruined it. First, with a mound of whipped cream and a literal chocolate bar. Sure, it’s just a small square, but it’s even more sugar.
But then, he adds maraschino cherries. They may be cherries, but they’re swimming in sweeteners such as sugar or high fructose corn syrup! No wonder the guy is woozy, he thinks that this is the kind of meal that’s so healthy, that he can snap pictures of it to show off as an example of his better judgment to the world!
Chris Chan handles his diet the same way he handles Biblical law keeping: lackadaisically. Here’s what he has to say about that:
I am thankful for the 6-2-1 Rule, but as a guideline like the Bible, we are meant to keep it as a guideline in our minds, souls and hearts and think outside of that in common sense for ourselves, respectively.
If you’re wondering what the “6-2-1 Rule” is, so was I. I looked it up, and apparently, it’s a furry convention guideline that recommends 6 hours of sleep, 2 meals a day, and one shower a day. But like many rules, Chris Chan regards it as a “guideline”, similar to how he regards other rules, including the ones found in the Bible.
Apparently, to him the Ten Commandments are more like the Ten Suggestions, in that he follows them when it’s nice and convenient, but considers them something to ignore in favor of his own personal dictates of common sense.
This person is claiming to be the Messiah?
The situational ethics crowd is about as scary as those who insist that Biblical law keeping has been done away with, but they have no idea. Biblical law includes the Ten Commandments, and they say that you’re not to murder, steal, or bear false witness. Which of these things would they object to happening to them?
Chris Chan has a problem that many Americans do: he has received almost nothing in the way of dietary education, and only has vague notions of what is healthy to go on. That’s a problem when the rules of diet and nutrition are such that, if you break them and are ignorant of it, the consequences of breaking those rules still apply to you.
No, I don’t claim to be perfect in this regard. When I was in my twenties, I usually had a big ol’ heaping plate of pasta for dinner, reasoning that that was healthy enough. While it’s true that there was some nutritional benefit to be had, I was consuming a monster pile of calories nearly every evening, which was only offset by the fact that I was highly physically active, walking miles on most days.
After college, I returned to that for a short while. But as my means improved, I decided to figure a few things out about my diet.
Because we have technology that can help us with our diets, why not use it? I use an app to track my caloric intake. What’s more, I got a kitchen scale to help measure out my portions. I also did a lot of research on what foods can have what benefits for me.
Here’s an example of what breakfast can look like for me:
The Grapenuts and milk are consumed together as a cereal. As for the fruit, they are blended together with water, a scoop of protein shake, a couple scoops of powdered collagen, and the “Daily Fiber” is a psyllium husk supplement like Metamucil. The result is a super-tasty and super-healthy breakfast smoothie. The fruit volume can vary, but this is what reasonably fits in my blender.
In addition to this, I’ll often have some black coffee (zero calories), as well as supplements such as vitamin D, creatine, and perhaps even some fish oil, and maybe some other supplements.
Thanks to a diet like this, I actually feel better now than when I was in my twenties, and perhaps ever have. And if you wish to copy me, now you have an idea of what I’ve been having for breakfast, lately.
If you still have doubts as to Chris Chan’s state of mind, he closes out his statement with the following:
Every religion and scripture is a piece of the Bigger Truth; they combine in all to form that, in a way. But Meditation and Connection with the Cosmos, Akashic Records and Alpha/Omega Point well beyond our Universe’s and Timeline’s Core and Matrix puts further insights and revelations into all of us to really understand ourselves and the truths and to put them to Good use with Light Power and Righteous Paths. ⚡️💙⚡️
Though he claims to have access to the comprehensive compendium of events and thoughts in all the history of the universe, Chris Chan still doesn’t know how to eat right.
Let’s end this with a quote from a far more sensible man:
The production of artificial food as a means for causing an increase of the human mass naturally suggests itself, but a direct attempt of this kind to provide nourishment does not appear to me rational, at least not for the present. Whether we could thrive on such food is very doubtful. We are the result of ages of continuous adaptation, and we cannot radically change without unforeseen and, in all probability, disastrous consequences. So uncertain an experiment should not be tried.
After about two months of having been “released by court order”, Chris Chan has finally been found, and has been photographed minding his own business, shopping in a Walmart, presumably close to a new area of residence.
For the hypothetical few who still haven’t heard of Chris Chan, he’s a guy who became famous online for, among other things, stalking women while wearing a sign advertising his interest in a romantic partner, authoring and illustrating a shitty webcomic called “Sonichu”, flipping out at trolls on video, falling for the schemes of said trolls over and over again, and allegedly diddling his own mom.
Also of note is that Chris Chan identifies as female, but the trans community doesn’t much humor him, as there is a suspicion that he is attempting to use his transgender identity in an attempt to hook up with lesbian women.
Chris Chan is usually seen wearing a handcrafted Sonichu medallion, depicting his “original” character. This item is important to Chris, because it serves as an anchor to a paracosm where he imagines that Sonichu is real.
The guy is so fascinating that there is a huge wiki devoted just to him, his life, and his misadventures.
Nearly two years ago, Chris Chan was arrested on the suspicion that he was raping his elderly mother. He was then remanded into custody after a hearing in which he threw a fit over pronouns, and insisted on going back to his hotel room to pick up a few things, probably a few toys that he had just bought.
Chris Chan has also expressed that a dimensional merge was underway, wherein this universe would merge with various fictional universes inhabited by various cartoon characters, resulting in a reality like the one in Who Framed Roger Rabbit where humans interact with cartoons.
You’re probably thinking of a small harem of anime waifus, aren’t you?
During his time in jail, awaiting a trial that has been repeatedly issued continuances, Chris Chan started pretending to be the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, an act that seemed to come out of nowhere. The whole act was likely intended to expedite an insanity plea, which would demonstrate a lack of understanding of an effective insanity plea, which are intended for those who would not be aware of what they were doing at the time of the alleged offense, and couldn’t understand that they were doing something wrong. Chris also ascribed his sexual encounters with his mother as having a healing or shamanic quality to them, which sounds like exploitation per se, and is expressly forbidden under the law of his home state of Virginia.
But it seems like Chris Chan was ordered released, probably because the state somehow failed to get the charge to stick.
He’s out, he’s free, and he’s shopping at Walmart.
Just looking at him the way he is now, there’s no indication that he thinks that he’s the Messiah. In fact, putting aside the fact that he’s still wearing a Sonichu medallion, he looks like a two or three woman with bad taste in clothes, and needs to go on a diet. Not normal, but not out of place in a Walmart.
In fact, if it weren’t for that medallion, he probably would have escaped notice. Which, for him, is so appropriate. His delusions are what results in him getting noticed, and getting in trouble.
There has even been a sighting of him at a game store, playing cards:
What kind of game was the cameraman playing, by the way? The play surface seems pretty revealing, just from what little we can see.
But yeah, that seems like typical Chris Chan. He’s a free man, and has priorities to take care of. And among those priorities is to play cards at a game store. I wonder how long it would take for him to get banned, probably just because the business owner discovers who he is.
I know that this is likely to fall on deaf ears, but I’d prefer if Chris Chan were just left in peace. At this point, he’s got some problems to sort out, and he’s got a long way to go if he wants to live a normal life. And no, I’m not saying this out of pity for him, especially if it turns out he actually did rape his mom (why would he confess to such a crime if he didn’t commit it?). Many of his problems, he brought upon himself with the choices that he made.
But at this point, manipulating Chris Chan wouldn’t do any more to prove that he’s gullible, and he’s already been manipulated to the point of tragic circumstances, possibly even serious crimes. More than anything, trolling Chris Chan would bring attention to the troll, and it would probably be the kind of attention they don’t want.
Personally, I’m more for watching from a distance, and seeing what kind of choices he makes absent of the manipulation of weens, and if there’s some indication that he’s becoming less delusional or that the malign influence of the likes of the Idea Guys is wearing off, then something good is coming of this.
But we know how people are, don’t we? All it takes is one guy who refuses to let go, and insists on milking the dried-out teats of the most tired lolcow in all the world’s history, that results in the tragedy continuing on.
It’s obvious that Chris Chan is not getting what he wants out of life, such as to become a millionaire off a comic that’s famous for the right reasons, a trophy wife, and to hear the footsteps of little Crystal Chandler in his own home (but if he does pull these things off, that’d be great for him, especially considering that society is dicking even normal people around). But if he gets to at least enjoy some amount of sanity, and have a few things to laugh and smile about, that would be an immense improvement compared to the life that he’s been living.
But if things continue the way things have historically gone for Chris Chan, the Bittersweet Ending Saga will be averted.
Maddox once said that “fail” can’t be “epic”. Once again, Maddox stands corrected. This performance had me laughing so hard that the NSA agent watching me through my phone’s camera got to see the backs of my teeth. The sheer presumptuousness it takes for two guys to say that they represent an entire generation is mind-boggling.
Now, imagine spending $200,000 to hire these guys to represent you. That was the context added by Twitter users who did a bit of sleuthing on the two boys:
Republicans would rather make up BS lies about myself and Chris than talk about real issues. It’s absurd how much attention they give a couple of people in their 20’s who started social media pages from nothing and are simply passionate about the issues.
Nothing says “fighting back against the establishment” quite like being a paid shill for the current administration.
If you’ve ever wondered what a human soul is worth, it seems that depends on the soul, who each decides for themselves for how much they’d give themselves up. Those who would stand by their principles, whatever the cost, could be said to be priceless. On the other hand, there are those who would give themselves up for far less. The fact is, money runs out, however much a person receives. When that time comes, it’s already too late for the person to realize what they’re not getting back.
I hope you’re ready, because the political pushers are already out in full force, and they’re already throwing piles of freshly-minted money at their bullshit brigades. Keep your horse-puckey detectors finely tuned, because paid actors are already out masquerading as a viral uprising. We may be too smart to fall for it, but the political pushers are not out to convince the brightest among us.
Convincing the intelligent and well-informed is hard. But the kind of performance put on by Sisson and Mowrey is something that the crayon-munchers get right behind.
Anyhoo, keep up the great work, boys. I’m looking forward to your next exciting installment of Hoodie Hee-Haw!
In a person’s search for a true religion, they may eschew what’s mainstream because they see that something is wrong. As they do so, they may consider an alternative that catches their attention because it happens to be more outspoken.
One such outspoken religious organization might be the Restored Church of God (RCG), which was founded and led by David Pack.
Some have risen the concern that Pack leads a cult, and that his church is one that a person is better off staying away from. It’s because of this that I’ve decided to evaluate the RCG to determine whether it’s a cult.
David Pack’s RCG is part of a greater movement colloquially referred to as Armstrongism. This movement is named for Herbert Armstrong, who departed from Adventism over doctrinal disagreements, then went on to form his own church. Armstrong’s church was controversial for its disagreement with mainstream orthodoxy, especially concerning Sabbath observance, and for favoring Biblical holy days over more mainstream holidays, which Armstrong pointed out were of pagan origin.
After Armstrong passed away, some members of his church broke away and formed their own sects, citing his successor’s departure from the church’s doctrine. David Pack belonged to a particularly large breakaway group which was insistent on maintaining Armstrongism’s teachings. However, Pack was fired from his pastoral position shortly after the group’s founding, citing the spiritual condition of those under his leadership.
I was already aware that, when it comes to cults, there’s something about them that inspires some strong feelings. It’s because of this that it’s hard to find someone willing to write about them with an impartial viewpoint. However, I’ve found that there’s something about Armstrongism in particular that especially upsets people, even if they can’t get an accusation against most Armstrongian groups to stick, besides that they disagree with them. I suspect that this has a lot to do with the fact that Armstrongism disagrees with their own church, and that the mere existence of Armstrongism as a movement is challenging to them. People really don’t like having their own religion challenged, even by the mere existence of people staying in their own lane. It’s because of this that researching David Pack has turned up some results that were interesting.
Before I begin the analysis, I want to point out that I’m not personally familiar with David Pack or with anyone in his church. While there may be a focus on some of his more concerning behavior, its not my intention to present the worst of David Pack to render an unfair verdict.
To perform my analysis, I’ll start with the general criteria that I use to determine whether a group is a cult. This criteria can serve a person well to form a skeptical viewpoint based on a first impression. While dangerous cults tend to be abusive, exploitative, manipulative, or deceptive, this is usually not evident upon the first impression. This list focuses mainly on what a person would likely take notice of upon first impression, or with a little research.
Also, I’d like to point out that an organization does not need to be religious in nature in order to be a cult. However, because the RCG is a religious organization, in this case that is a moot point.
Here is the five-factor criteria I use to find red flags that an organization may be a cult. Of course, there can be other signs that might make this evident to you, besides the ones listed here:
A cult tends to try to convince prospective members that they have a problem, then present themselves as the solution to that problem,
Cults tend to have an adversarial relationship with its host society, may appeal to tribalism, or has a tendency to split the world in two,
There is particular esteem placed on leadership, which is usually not held accountable,
Membership can appear exclusive or valuable, attention in marketing may be placed on prominent members,
There is an obvious mechanism with which to extract value.
With this criteria, let’s examine how David Pack’s RCG holds up.
A cult tends to try to convince prospective members that they have a problem, then present themselves as the solution to that problem,
To be fair, this is basic marketing, and most organizations exist to the end of solving at least one problem. What makes cults concerning is the amount of pressure that they place on prospective members to turn to them to solve the problem the cult convinces them that they have.
Most churches point out that humanity is in need of salvation. The RCG is not unusual in this regard. What is unusual about the RCG is David Pack’s insistence that a person is not in the true church unless they are in his church, which would be the RCG specifically. While Armstrongian churches believe that most of the Christian world has gone astray, few churches are as narrow as Pack’s RCG.
Cults tend to have an adversarial relationship with its host society, may appeal to tribalism, or has a tendency to split the world in two,
Most Christian churches believe that humanity is in a fallen state, and in need of restoration. Their general outlook when it comes to sin is “hate the sin, love the sinner”. The RCG tends to be consistent with most of the Christian world in this regard, to their credit. Of course, there may be more judgmental individuals who speak for themselves.
There is particular esteem placed on leadership, which is usually not held accountable,
The Pastor General of RCG, David Pack, is usually featured prominently in RCG’s materials. While this is interesting in itself, Pack also attempts to authenticate his authority with his claim to have known Herbert Armstrong personally. Pack refers to Armstrong as though he were a prophet, and refers to himself as an apostle.
This strong insistence on bringing attention to himself indicates that Pack has a high degree of insecurity, and desires attention. This would not be unusual for a cult leader, at all.
David Pack is famous, particularly among other Armstrongians, for his antics. More on this coming up.
Membership can appear exclusive or valuable, attention in marketing may be placed on prominent members,
Believe me: David Pack is, by far, the RCG’s most prominent member. But I get the idea that, if someone famous were to join the RCG, David Pack might not let them outshine him.
Also, prospectives should be warned that, once a person joins the RCG, they are expected to remain a part of it for as long as they live. This is due to a belief which was once popular among Armstrongians that it’s considered an unpardonable sin to leave the church. However, many Armstrongians seem to be backing away from this belief.
There is an obvious mechanism with which to extract value.
Most churches encourage tithing, which is usually just 10% of a person’s income. If that were all that the RCG were asking for, they would not be unusual in this regard. However, Armstrongian churches tend to hit their member’s incomes almost as hard as government, and the RCG is not an exception.
In addition to what’s called a “first tithe”, Armstrongians are encouraged to save up a “second tithe” throughout the year, to help them observe yearly festivals, particularly the weeklong Feast of Tabernacles, which is usually observed at hotels and resorts. I still don’t know how it’s considered religious to spend a tenth of a year’s income in a week, but Armstrongians seldom question it. Some members might keep a “third tithe”, but that’s not usually compulsory, due to the history that Armstrong’s church has with it.
In addition to all this, members are encouraged to make special offerings at festivals, in addition to other offerings that members may voluntarily make (usually in the form of money). Considering all the money that Armstrongian churches hit their members for, it’s vexing that they use the material they distribute to ask for more money. It must be expensive to run their office space while renting convention halls and other churches for services.
Sometimes, I suspect that Armstrongism is as unpopular as it is because normal people cannot afford to join.
Before I continue on, I’d like to point out that I have no animosity against Armstrongism. I bring this up because a lot of material that I found while researching was evidently written by people with an axe to grind. These people really need to get over the fact that there are some people who have religious viewpoints that are different from theirs.
Having said that, David Pack is a seriously interesting guy. While I can write an essay on some of his more concerning behavior, I think I can get the point across by briefly mentioning some select antics, which should be plenty to paint a picture of the kind of guy he’s like.
David Pack, as pictured on RCG.org
Why focus on Pack? Because he’s made himself such a central figure in his own church that examining him provides clues as to what kind of church he runs.
For one thing, Pack seems completely serious on the idea that these are the end times. Armstrong himself claimed as much, but Armstrong made the mistake of setting a date on which he believed that Jesus would return, by saying that the Great Tribulation would begin by the year 1975. While Armstrong did change his mind when it became clear to him that his prediction would not come to pass, the fact is, it was a prediction that he made based on his interpretation of Bible prophecy. What’s especially disappointing about this in Armstrong’s case is that Armstrong was a former Adventist. Adventism’s most famous failure was setting a specific date for Jesus’ return, but the date passed without this occurring. Being a former Adventist, Armstrong should have known better.
Nonetheless, Herbert Armstrong was the kind of guy that David Pack could look to and think, “prophet”. So, Pack would later attempt to establish a connection between himself and Armstrong in an effort to establish his own apostleship.
But remember, Pack believes that his small church (of perhaps 1000 members) is the only true church, so because he believes that this is the time of the end, he believes that the two witnesses of Revelation would be in his church. Pack has suggested that he may be one of the two, though he seems to go back and forth on this.
This is to say nothing of the 144,000 or the innumerable multitude, but perhaps Pack is enthusiastic about his church’s potential for growth.
While it may not be specific to David Pack, there is a popular opinion among Armstrongians that Herbert Armstrong was the “Elijah to come”. But Jesus said that John the Baptist was the fulfillment of that prophecy. Did all these people somehow miss this when they read the Gospels?
While this says a lot about Pack and his background, he also likes to combine his passion for false prophecy with his hatred for competing ministers. And boy, how passionately he hates them.
In the early-to-mid 2010s, David Pack made a prediction that three prominent figures from other Armstrongian congregations would all die, all on the same day. And he somehow arrived at this conclusion from some supposed hidden message that he somehow read from the book of Haggai.
Don’t feel intimidated about reading the book of Haggai for yourself to see what it says, as it’s only about 1 or 2 pages long in most Bibles.
David Pack should have lost whatever following he had the moment he made that prediction. But he didn’t. You probably won’t be surprised to hear that the date that Pack set came and went without any people of repute in other Armstrongian groups dying. It seems as though Pack didn’t learn from Armstrong’s mistakes concerning setting specific dates when making predictions that end up not coming to pass.
In any case, Pack should have lost whatever following he had left, but he didn’t. This can seem confounding, but not so much when you understand that when someone is in a cult, they tend to be less critical of the shortcomings of their leaders. In light of this, consider the fact that many Armstrongian sermons place a heavy emphasis on “being a good follower” and obedience to leadership.
Also in David Pack’s list of prophecies is his prediction about a reunification, which would supposedly see a few Armstrongian groups coming together. This must have sounded nice to most Armstrongians, considering that with all the divisions in their history, a reunification would be a change of pace. But because it was a David Pack prophecy, it would have a David Pack twist: they would be united under his leadership.
Of course. No surprise, there. What’s also not a surprise is that it was yet another David Pack prophecy that did not come true.
Another interesting fact about the RCG is that it purchases a high amount of advertising on social media. One might imagine that such outreach attempts would be strongly successful. Or, they would be, except most people don’t seem to respond to them. Perhaps it’s evident to many people who see these ads that something is wrong. Some of these ads contain the names of other Armstrongian groups, which makes it evident that Pack was trying to pluck away members of Armstrongian groups which aren’t as cultish.
Also, the RCG once celebrated the fact that their website has been accessed at least once from each country in the world (though I imagine that there were some exceptions). They took this to mean that the Gospel has effectively reached the whole world. That the Gospel would reach the whole world is accepted by Christianity as a precondition for the end of the current age. Apparently, the RCG only counted access to their own website, because apparently they think that other churches don’t count. Perhaps RCG is using the accessing of their website as the metric for their success because the RCG sees itself as an “online ministry”.
Considering all this, you might be able to predict my verdict as to whether David Pack’s RCG is a dangerous cult. If you were to join the RCG, it would be very dangerous to your pocketbook. Putting that aside, when one considers how narcissistic and out-of-touch with reality it’s leadership apparently is, it’s strongly likely that there is exploitation taking place, especially when considering much of Armstrongism’s heavy emphasis on submission to leadership.
The mechanism for the extraction of a high amount of financial value is abundantly obvious. What’s also obvious is that Pack uses the RCG as a mechanism for the extraction of admiration, which would be a dream come true for a narcissistic person, which David Pack evidently is.
There are obvious signs that David Pack’s RCG is a dangerous cult. It’s not acceptable that as much value is extracted from its members as the RCG extracts from them. While we don’t currently have more immediate evidence that it’s members are being exploited, if the RCG were to be more carefully investigated, it wouldn’t be surprising to discover some more serious abuses.
While Jack Murphy is not as relevant today as he was a year ago, he does sometimes still come up as a prime example of a grifter. In light of this, I’ve decided that it might be fun to hold his little club, The Liminal Order, under a microscope to determine whether it is a cult.
The answer to this endeavor seems obvious, when you consider that Jack employs imagery that indicates that he’s doing absolutely nothing to run from the image of a cult leader. However, when his organization is examined, Jack Murphy’s peepee club is not merely the pillow fort that it might appear to be.
Before diving into the evidence, I’d first like to share the general criteria that I use to help determine whether an organization is a dangerous cult. Keep in mind that organizations don’t need to have a religious or spiritual element to classify as a cult. Also, please note that this list is non-exhaustive.
Here we go:
A cult tends to try to convince prospective members that they have a problem, then present themselves as the solution to that problem,
Cults tend to have an adversarial relationship with its host society, appeals to tribalism, or has a tendency to split the world in two,
There is particular esteem placed on leadership, which is usually not held accountable,
Membership can appear exclusive, with attention in marketing placed on prominent members,
There is an obvious mechanism with which to extract value.
Cults are dangerous because they tend to be exploitative, and they tend to employ deceptive or manipulative practices, such as control of information, to create or maintain a following. However, these practices tend to not be as obvious as what’s listed above. The above list works well at raising flags from the perspective of being on the outside looking in, when exploitation isn’t immediately evident.
Also, to answer those who may raise the suspicion that I’m presenting the worst of The Liminal Order in order to render an unfair verdict, please know that the information mainly compared against the points above will be what The Liminal Order says about itself, as revealed on its own website.
Now, let’s get started.
A cult tends to try to convince prospective members that they have a problem, then present themselves as the solution to that problem,
This is Marketing 101. And, to be fair, pretty much every organization exists towards the end of solving some problem. Cults tend to place a particular emphasis on self-improvement or living up to one’s own potential, and are sometimes strong in an insistence that that self-realization can only be achieved through them, or that it’s at least hard to come by.
Here is what The Liminal Order claims to offer on their site:
We are men who seek to improve ourselves so we may better serve our family, community, and the Nation.
We know that strong men make strong countries and we have committed ourselves to a collective action that emphasizes accountability, personal choice, and leadership.
The Liminal Order places a heavy emphasis on self-improvement, focusing on young to middle-aged men, to help them to develop leadership qualities and become societal difference-makers. To this end, online sessions are held, with Jack Murphy usually being involved, which often involves brainstorming and coaching.
Basically an expensive chat room where the economy revolves around Jack Murphy’s time.
Cults tend to have an adversarial relationship with its host society, appeals to tribalism, or has a tendency to split the world in two,
Tribalism tends to be a powerful motivator, and cult leaders exploit this by convincing prospectives to take a side. Or, they may point out all that’s wrong with society, and paint the group as being one of the few “fighting the good fight”. Or, more cynically, they may point to the existence of “enemies” in an effort to stir up fanaticism.
What path does The Liminal Order take?
In this postmodern, post-Truth era, people in your proximity may be your literal enemy. Today they frown at your public display of patriotism. Tomorrow they may turn you in to the re-education camps.
Your coworkers might blast your religion on social media and call for your church to be burned to the ground. If you’re a police officer, you’ve got to watch your back. Even while you’re mowing your lawn. Because anyone can find out where you live.
That escalated quick. It would seem like Jack Murphy is going down the paranoid delusion route in inspiring his members. Whether he believes what he’s writing, or sees something to gain in inspiring schizophrenics to action, it’s not a good look.
When a cult is convinced that they have literal enemies who are literally out to kill them, they tend towards extremes, quickly. Based on what we read above, I wouldn’t be surprised if a member of The Liminal Order made the news, for a very bad reason.
There is particular esteem placed on leadership, which is usually not held accountable,
Just about everything about The Liminal Order revolves around the character of Jack Murphy, who presents himself as an example of manliness to aspire to. Like many such people, he eventually became a disappointment. More on him later.
Jack Murphy
Membership can appear exclusive, with attention in marketing placed on prominent members,
Jack Murphy vets his prospective members through an interview process, which places an appearance of value on membership. Those who make it in are less likely to take their membership for granted. Because acquiring a membership requires an investment of time and finances, and not everyone overcomes the vetting process, it’s to be expected that members would avoid the risk of losing their membership, and perhaps even tend towards extremes in an effort to demonstrate their loyalty.
What’s more, Jack touts the positions of influence held by members of his club:
Some of our members are:
– Former Military Officers – Hedge Fund Operators – Tech Entrepreneurs – Medical Doctors – PhD Academics – Lawyers – Government Officials – Media Publishers and Personalities – Authors – Artists – Truckers – Riggers – Tech Specialists – and recent graduates finding their way.
I find amusement in that entries such as “PhD Academics” and “Lawyers” are mentioned in the plural sense, as though any lawyer or doctor would consider it a good idea to associate with Jack Murphy. But, as I’m well aware, there are many different kinds.
The obvious draw to listing all these different professions is to create the impression that, if you were to join Jack Murphy’s cult, you’d get to bump elbows with some highly influential people. Of course, that all these heavily-educated and influential people would see someone like Jack Murphy as someone to look up to requires quite a suspension of disbelief.
Because to me, he seems like a guy with a fetish.
There is an obvious mechanism with which to extract value.
Jack’s little chat room costs $99/month to access. Of course, there are other pricing tiers for those willing to commit to Jack Murphy’s brand of manliness. Last I heard, Jack Murphy has been raking in about $200,000/year, so he’s doing pretty well for himself with his little grift.
Now that we’ve analyzed his little group, let’s move on to the main feature of Jack Murphy’s cult: the man himself. For this analysis, we’ll be sticking to the public aspects of Jack Murphy’s character, as this is most relevant to his cult. It would seem that Jack himself would prefer this, considering that “Jack Murphy” is a pen name.
Jack Murphy was a lesser-known left-wing influencer who rose to prominence as part of the “walk away movement”, which saw left-wing personalities turn away from the left, and identify as conservative (or, at least, decide to vote for Trump after having previously voted for Obama). Jack Murphy even authored a book on the matter, titled, “Democrat to Deplorable”. During the height of Jack Murphy’s influence, he was a guest on various podcasts, including the one hosted by Tim Pool.
However, Jack Murphy’s past would come back to haunt him. In the year 2015, he had penned a blog post touting cuckolding, explaining an experience in which he allowed his own girlfriend to get intimately involved with a man the two met through Tinder.
Obviously, to act on a fetish for being cuckolded is not befitting a man who is prominent in the manosphere. Or for a man who would claim to coach other men on manliness. Or any man, for that matter. The reason why the term “cuck” is considered derogatory is because it implies that a man lacks the strength or confidence to protect or keep for himself what most men would be expected to.
Jack’s article, titled “Cultivating Erotic Energy From a Surprising Source”, was brought up during a podcast with a streamer named Sydney Watson. During the stream, host Sydney Watson read a superchat asking Jack to explain his article about cuckolding. Jack responded by lashing out at the host, in a manner which was disproportionate and uncalled for.
The following is a video from Sydney Watson, offering her take on the matter:
That was the moment in which Jack Murphy’s career began to collapse.
As men began to withdraw from The Liminal Order, Jack set out to attempt to fight back against his critics. In so doing, he made himself look worse. He set out to scrub his own article from the internet, even going as far as having it removed from The Wayback Machine.
Not that you’d have much trouble finding it if you were to go looking for it. After all, once something is on the internet, it’s on the internet forever.
He was so desperate to save face, that he even tried recruiting from his own super-expensive The Liminal Order chat room to create his own personal war room.
If you’re wondering why the photograph, Jack Murphy has measures to attempt to disable screengrab attempts in his chatroom, and notify him when screengrab attempts are made.
I wonder how many of his loyal followers experienced a moment of clarity and decided to nope out at that point. There’s something about spending $99/month for the dubious honor of doing damage control for a fetishist that merits a hard pass.
It is entirely possible for a person to recover from an embarrassing past. However, this usually takes handling the matter a certain way. Jack Murphy failed to do so spectacularly, and in so doing, became another victim of what’s called “the Streisand Effect”, where an attempt to hide something results in more attention for what one is attempting to hide.
If someone is presenting themselves as a pinnacle of manliness, odds are, they’re a narcissist. And if he’s trying to sell you his self-improvement plan, he’s likely running a cult. For a cult to be successful, it doesn’t need to convince the majority of people, it would only need to convince just enough to make the cult leader rich.
Is The Liminal Order a cult? Yes, I believe that The Liminal Order is undoubtedly a cult. But even if not, it’s apparent that Jack Murphy is selling a faulty product. And Jack Murphy himself is that product.
Elon Musk just revealed that when Twitter audits for bot accounts, they only poll 100 accounts at a time. Because of this, Musk is putting the deal to buy Twitter on hold, and subsequently, Twitter is accusing him of breaking a non-disclosure agreement.
Oh, no! Don’t go telling people that the product you plan on buying might be faulty!
When a platform is as huge as Twitter, 100 is a trivially pathetic sample size, especially when sampling for bots, which is a huge problem for Twitter.
But the problem goes beyond just Twitter being annoying for humans to use. The fact is, advertisers pay a premium to advertise on Twitter because of Twitter’s perceived value. For advertisers, to be seen by more human eyes means more value. However, if a huge chunk of Twitter’s value is actually bots, then that’s a huge chunk of Twitter that advertisers would consider absolutely worthless.
When you know this, you see a greater problem. If Twitter is only putting forward a pathetic, statistically insignificant attempt to poll for bots, Twitter may be greatly overstating its own value to advertisers.
It might not be overselling it to say that Elon Musk may have just uncovered the greatest fraud the tech world has ever seen.
In any case, I think we can agree that when a platform’s daily active user count is in the hundreds of millions, a sample size of only 100 is pretty pathetic.
There are a lot of advertisers and investors who are going to be pissed.
If you’re like me, you pay attention to job postings for your field, to see how your current hourly rate compares with what’s being offered, considering your level of experience, or whether your raises are keeping up with inflation.
There is a trend that I’ve been noticing, and that’s that more employers and recruiters are offering sign-on bonuses in an effort to entice applicants. Many of these sign-on bonuses appear to be substantial. After all, who wouldn’t like to receive an extra $3000 to the checking account after about 6 months on the job?
Except, it’s not really a great deal. And if you’ve noticed that many employers and recruiters are not specifying the hourly rate in the same posting as the sign-on bonus, you should consider that a great big red flag.
What it comes down to is an attempt to impress you with a big-sounding number. But when you perform some simple math, you see that a sign-on bonus of $3000 is not a big screaming deal.
Let’s perform that simple math. There are 40 hours in a work week, and there are approximately 26 weeks in six months. That comes to 1040 hours worked in six months. Using this number, we can determine pretty quick how $3000 divides into that time to determine the hourly rate.
And it’s only an additional $2.88 per hour.
That’s it. And it’s a one-time bonus, so after six months, there goes the equivalent of $2.88 from your hourly rate. And considering that the $3000 gets taxed, you’re not getting the full amount.
And it gets worse. When it comes time to negotiate a higher salary, that $3000 number may come back to haunt you when your cheap-o employer will come at you by saying, “What? We just gave you $3000. And you want even more money?”
Even worse is the initial grift, that the $3000 number is a nice, big, attractive number that’s designed to override your better judgement so you’d be more likely to overlook that your hourly rate may be substantially below industry average. It may even be at least $2.88 below industry average.
Suppose that you’re an engineer looking for work. On the one hand, you see a posting offering $48/hr, but on the other, you’d see a posting for $39/hr, but they’re offering you a $3000 sign-on bonus if you stay on for six months. Hopefully, you’d go for the $48/hr job, because that gets you nearly $50,000 in six months. If you’d instead go for the job that would get you $40,560 in the same time with an additional $3000 bonus, you’d probably be too stupid to be an engineer.
Cheap-o employers have found another way to cheat people out of wages. Please stop falling for it.
Oh, you’re wondering what happened to Major, right? The Bidens just handed him over to a new home. Why? You may remember Major as Biden’s presidential show dog, which had problems with biting White House staff.
As anyone who has owned a German Shepherd should know, what a German Shepherd needs is a strong leadership presence, otherwise, it will test limits and misbehave. And considering that Major’s leadership presence was Joe Biden, it’s quite predictable how things turned out.
I don’t see much reason to be nice about this, as few things are as upsetting as people who purchase animals for frivolous reasons, then get rid of them when they require too much attention. It’s even worse when these people then proceed to adopt another of the exact same animal. When people do this, it’s obvious that it’s just a show animal, purchased for narcissistic reasons.
I know that it’s somewhat of a tradition for presidents to have dogs, and it looks better when that dog furthers an image of strength. A German Shepard is indeed a manly dog to have and properly take care of. But when Major ran wild, biting people as it pleased, that goes to show just what kind of leadership that Major had to look up to.
That Biden got another German Shepherd immediately afterwards goes to show that he did not learn his lesson. And it might be interesting to pay attention to just how things go with the new dog, but we’re getting a far more interesting show as we watch Biden’s inability to run a country.
There is a story going around that makes the claim that NASA hired 24 theologians to help determine how humans would respond to news of finding aliens.
Except, that’s not entirely how the matter went down. As pointed out by Inverse, NASA provided an $11 million grant to a Princeton study that looked into how humans would respond to finding extraterrestrial life. What’s more, the team didn’t consist entirely of theologians, it consisted of a variety of experts, a theologian being among them.
Most people alive today are religious, so the question of how religious people would respond to the idea of extraterrestrials is a valid one. I suspect that the Christian world would take the news well, considering that it was out of a predominantly Christian background that we got Star Wars and Star Trek, with Star Wars having more apparent religious themes.
The religious group that I’d be more concerned about would be the Muslims. They have a tendency to respond not-so-kindly when anything challenges their worldview, which happens to be easy to do, even accidentally. It doesn’t help that their worldview is seriously narrow. If the first land that aliens were to set foot in was the Middle East, we might be in trouble.
Some have taken what they heard to mean that NASA has made a huge discovery, and they decided to look into how to deliver the news to the world at large. That sounds plausible, considering the amount of money they invested into the project. But it might be that they were curious as to the possible sociological impact of a potential discovery in the near future.
The story got some folks from the Project Blue Beam crowd buzzing. If you’ve never heard of Project Blue Beam… I’m hesitant to call it a “conspiracy theory” due to the sheer number of things conspiracy theorists have gotten right, lately. Maybe we need to think up a new term to use for crazy, crackpot fringe ideas. But if you’ve never heard of Project Blue Beam, look it up. You might get a laugh out of it.
And before we get carried away, ”extraterrestrials” doesn’t necessarily mean “advanced interstellar civilization”, it could just mean, ”we found some moss on Mars” or something like that. Which would still be an awesome discovery, but not necessarily a childhood dream-come-true.
But if we did find some interstellar travelers, one thing to be concerned about is that they might not have our ideals. It might be that they’d be giving socialism its 5482nd chance to fail tragically, and our own lives might become miserable again for the time it takes for the hundred-or-so million people to be killed to realize that it’s still a garbage economic philosophy.
But hey, if they’ve managed to master interstellar travel, they had to have figured it out, right?
Magnetricity 