Rick Ross

And then there's what Lifton calls doctrine over person, which is basically the subordinating of everything to the sacred science of the group so that everything you see must be seen through that lens. And you are doing this also, again, to yourself,

where you feel that any doubts, any misgivings you have are impure, are negative, are wrong, and therefore need to be purged according to the doctrine. So what Lifton would say is if these eight criteria, and there are eight of them, if they're evident in a group, whether they admit it or not, they're using thought reform.

where you feel that any doubts, any misgivings you have are impure, are negative, are wrong, and therefore need to be purged according to the doctrine. So what Lifton would say is if these eight criteria, and there are eight of them, if they're evident in a group, whether they admit it or not, they're using thought reform.

where you feel that any doubts, any misgivings you have are impure, are negative, are wrong, and therefore need to be purged according to the doctrine. So what Lifton would say is if these eight criteria, and there are eight of them, if they're evident in a group, whether they admit it or not, they're using thought reform.

And what Schein would say is this process of coercive persuasion likewise can be identified. And he first studied it through the re-education programs in communist China. And so this is really kind of the seminal research that forms the foundation for our understanding of what process goes on inside cults

And what Schein would say is this process of coercive persuasion likewise can be identified. And he first studied it through the re-education programs in communist China. And so this is really kind of the seminal research that forms the foundation for our understanding of what process goes on inside cults

And what Schein would say is this process of coercive persuasion likewise can be identified. And he first studied it through the re-education programs in communist China. And so this is really kind of the seminal research that forms the foundation for our understanding of what process goes on inside cults

that changes people in such a way that we from the outside look at them and we say, wow, those people are crazy. Why do they believe that stuff? But what we don't get is the process they have been put through to get where they're at and how controlled that environment that they're in really is to the extent that

that changes people in such a way that we from the outside look at them and we say, wow, those people are crazy. Why do they believe that stuff? But what we don't get is the process they have been put through to get where they're at and how controlled that environment that they're in really is to the extent that

that changes people in such a way that we from the outside look at them and we say, wow, those people are crazy. Why do they believe that stuff? But what we don't get is the process they have been put through to get where they're at and how controlled that environment that they're in really is to the extent that

they have been, in a sense, forced to accept a new normal, which is the beliefs and the behavior within the group that we would regard as bizarre. But within that bubble that they exist in, that alternate reality, it's seen as totally normal. Wow. Wow.

they have been, in a sense, forced to accept a new normal, which is the beliefs and the behavior within the group that we would regard as bizarre. But within that bubble that they exist in, that alternate reality, it's seen as totally normal. Wow. Wow.

they have been, in a sense, forced to accept a new normal, which is the beliefs and the behavior within the group that we would regard as bizarre. But within that bubble that they exist in, that alternate reality, it's seen as totally normal. Wow. Wow.

Well, this all started in around 2001, 2002. And I was approached by a family in New Jersey that their son and two daughters were involved in NXIVM. and I had never heard of it. Actually, at that point, it was called Executive Success Programs, or ESP, and the people involved were called espions. And they followed a guy named Keith Ranieri,

Well, this all started in around 2001, 2002. And I was approached by a family in New Jersey that their son and two daughters were involved in NXIVM. and I had never heard of it. Actually, at that point, it was called Executive Success Programs, or ESP, and the people involved were called espions. And they followed a guy named Keith Ranieri,

Well, this all started in around 2001, 2002. And I was approached by a family in New Jersey that their son and two daughters were involved in NXIVM. and I had never heard of it. Actually, at that point, it was called Executive Success Programs, or ESP, and the people involved were called espions. And they followed a guy named Keith Ranieri,

who at one point had been an Amway distributor, and then he created a big MLM multi-level marketing company called Consumer Byline, which was sued out of existence by attorney generals in different states. And then after that folded, he created ESP, Executive Success Programs, which evolved into NXIVM.

who at one point had been an Amway distributor, and then he created a big MLM multi-level marketing company called Consumer Byline, which was sued out of existence by attorney generals in different states. And then after that folded, he created ESP, Executive Success Programs, which evolved into NXIVM.

who at one point had been an Amway distributor, and then he created a big MLM multi-level marketing company called Consumer Byline, which was sued out of existence by attorney generals in different states. And then after that folded, he created ESP, Executive Success Programs, which evolved into NXIVM.

And that was a seminar-selling company that basically marketed courses, very expensive, that people would attend for self-improvement. And Ranieri had what he called a philosophy that he taught through NXIVM, which was called rational inquiry. And really what I came to find out was that NXIVM was actually an amalgam of things that Ranieri had copied, largely from Scientology.