MEDIA WATCH | BOSS HUNTING

Sera “Bozza”: You’re Giving Criminals a Platform

Any common thug could earn substantial sums simply by billing himself a “deprogrammer,” so long as the crime was directed at individuals whose beliefs could be held up to ridicule.

October 26, 2020

Sera Borensztajn
Boss Hunting

Dear Ms. Borensztajn,

Are you sure you know with whom you are associating?

By giving the nod and wink to the likes of Rick Ross and his enablers and apologists, you are siding with a crew that can only politely be referred to as “thugs.” Ross, before donning suit and tie for “exit counseling,” has been the subject of at least three arrests for embezzlement of $100,000 and other sordid activities including theft and kidnapping.

Additionally, Ross, acting as “consultant” to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Waco, Texas, played a significant part in escalating the matter of the Branch Davidians to the point of men, women and children perishing. Ross has no religious education bonafides, nor does he care about the individuals and families he’s hurting, so long as he can make his rent, and then some, off of shattered lives.

His is the playbook of the “great” founder of deprogramming, Ted Patrick, who infamously called religion “one of the biggest rackets the world has ever known.” That includes your religion, Ms. Borensztajn, as well as mine, and everyone else’s. Ironic hand claps to Mr. Patrick for being an equal opportunity bigot.

Steve Hassan, unlike Ross, dived right into his life of crime, going directly into the deprogramming racket. One deprogramming victim, Arthur Rosen, signed affidavits detailing the mental and physical abuse Hassan subjected him to. Rosen was forcibly kidnapped by several men, imprisoned, feet bound, with his hands tied behind his back so tightly they “were badly swollen and … the color of a bruise.” Deprived of sleep for three days, he was not allowed to shave or wash and was denied all privacy, even when using the toilet. Until his escape seven days later, Rosen was subjected by Hassan to methods he later described as “brainwashing” and “mind control.” Hassan even threatened him with drugs if he did not recant his religious beliefs.

Deprived of sleep for three days, he was not allowed to shave or wash and was denied all privacy, even when using the toilet.

Your article cites psychiatrist Robert Jay Lifton defining destructive cults as having three key components—a charismatic authoritarian leader, coercive persuasion, and “economic, sexual, emotional, physical or financial abuse and harm.”

Now this is a very handy metric. Let’s look at the methods employed by deprogrammers—excuse me, “Exit Counselors”—and let’s apply Dr. Lifton’s handy guideposts to culthood: Point 1: Authoritative “leader.” I would call anyone “authoritative” who slams a defenseless person in the groin so that he or she can be sat on and made helpless. [Check.] Point 2: Coercive practices. Mind control techniques and threatening with drugs satisfies this point. [Check.] Point 3: Abuse: physical, sexual and otherwise. [Check.] Yes, yes, and yes.

Gee, Sera, you sure you’re pinpointing the right cult? Looks like the real cult here is the deprogramming-depersonalization-de-whatevering-you-can-do-to-break-’em-up-break-’em-down-take-the-dough-and-run racket.

We all have our prejudices and dislikes. We all have heard of practices that cause us to roll our eyes. And sometimes people do things that we, with our “superior intelligence” and in our bubble of propriety, view as “strange” and “weird.”

Quick quiz: Think of a rite or practice of the Catholic Church that might strike the uninitiated as somewhat “odd.” You got it. Now how about Islam? Right. Judaism? Bingo. Along with stamp collecting, bird-watching, binge-watching or a thousand thousand other practices, habits and customs that make people people. What appears odd to you may not really be so, but may be made to appear that way by someone who stands to profit by your raised eyebrow, your disapproving cluck. No one has any excuse to profit through traumatizing people simply doing what the rest of us are doing: living our lives and seeking our own truth in our own way.

I strongly advise you to do your research before the stink of the people you’re apparently keeping company with rubs off on you. People may get the wrong idea of what side of the fence you’re on.

Any common thug could earn substantial sums simply by billing himself a “deprogrammer,” so long as the crime was directed at individuals whose beliefs could be held up to ridicule.

Sincerely,

Martin Landon