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Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article |  from sarafina
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 13:17
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On a more positive note. I just read the most beautiful Eulogy just posted from Elixcia on Rick’s Memorial site if you get a chance to read it it’s truly a beautiful memory of Rick. http://www.rickyrodriguez.net/eulogies.php?id=1
Also, newly posted pictures of Rick & Elixcia’s wedding and life together after they left have been added.
Have a look here http://www.rickyrodriguez.net/photo_album.php?id=4
And here http://www.rickyrodriguez.net/photo_album.php?id=1
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| | | | from afflick
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 10:31
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While wondering what our generation of Family members thougth of the article, I ran across only one mention of it so far, on a personal blog. This from someone who I believe is a spokesman for the group, although I have not heard much from him. It is sad that he chose to comment on a small part of the whole article, rather than focus on the bigger issue at hand. Sooner or later, the bubble of delusion has to burst. "I read this gem today in the latest smear-sheet to come out about The Family. An anonymous person, identified only as a friend is quoted as saying, Growing up in modern society is an education in and of itself. You learn how to interact with people. You dont learn that in the cult. Youre virtually inbred. You have no preparation for college or for marriage. Well, yee-haw! Thanks pardner! Next time my wife tells me Im from Mars and shes from Venus Ill have a snappy comeback at the ready. Im from Alabamy"
What?? After being somewhat traumatized by this article myself, I was expecting somewhat of less flippant remark. It must be tiring to be so righteous and chosen all the time.
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| | | | | | | | | |  From afflick
Thursday, June 23, 2005, 04:25
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This is a blog where the guy posts pictures of his kids, and I am sure these same kids check into the site and read the comments. Maybe it is only a personal reflex from having to defend my own parents when I was little in their disputes with other Family members, but I feel that these kids shouldn't have to read this site's (deservedly) angry comments at their dad's insensitivety and lack of good judgment.(reply to this comment) |
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | | from euro snub!!!!!!!!
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 09:36
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i went in great haste and excitement today to the biggest newsagent to get 6 copies of Rolling Stone and all I saw was a big fucking article on the cult of Darth Vader!!!!!! has anyone in the UK got the magazine? is this an old issue??? please call on the power of the keys to help me get Rolling Stone with the Ricky article in it!
txs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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| | | | from Nick
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 08:34
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That is the best article I have read so far. Well written and has a lot of specifics, dates and even pics to back up the story.
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| from Wolf
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 08:04
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Thanks, tuneman, for posting this.
Can anybody confirm that Zerb did get into incest with her son? Not that it would surprise me, I’m just wondering how reliable the sources are.
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| From sarafina
Wednesday, June 22, 2005, 11:53
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I’m not sure what you mean by “reliable source” However, I was also aware of this incident happening as Ricky once told me about it when he was here. It was very uncomfortable and embarrassing for him and it took him a while to finally get around to the bottom line. I could see how he reacted when speaking about it as it even made my skin crawl just listening. It was then that I suggested he really needed to talk to someone who could better help him and possibly give him some therapy as these were really things he needed to work through; he refused to see anyone and said he would be fine. I know of two other friends of his who he told this too in confidence at different times. None of us to my knowledge have ever mentioned it publicly nor did I ever have intention of doing so as I swore never to tell anyone. It wasn’t till after he died and I was speaking to his wife that the subject came up. Yet once again it was never to be mentioned out of respect for her privacy and his. I agree with Nancy, certain things are sometimes better left in the closet.
I never mentioned this incident to the author of this article nor did I confirm this incident when I found out it was possibly going to be added into the final draft. In fact I urged those also talking to Peter (the writer) to discourage them from printing that part as it was very personal and something Ricky nor his wife wanted public. At the time I had no Idea it was Davida who had told them. As much as I personally disliked the idea, the fact remains Davida was there and it is her right as a victim to speak out if she wants. If anyone was going to say anything about it I’m at least glad it was her.(reply to this comment) |
| | From true
Wednesday, June 22, 2005, 21:19
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sarafina that is so bad and i suport the truth geting out . i am happy that the world now knows how bad the family is. i did not think that any of this was going on when i was in the family or even after i left it was really the death of ricky that made every thing much more open to me. it just make me mad to think about it. and i hope that some of the people in the family will see the truth. and see that what they are giving there life to is sick.......... (reply to this comment) |
| | From Nancy
Wednesday, June 22, 2005, 10:03
(Agree/Disagree?)
Zerby was not just delivering little girls like Amy, Davida and Mene to Berg to be molested. Zerby was often present during the molestation and watched. The people who can confirm Zerby's sexual contact with Ricky are those who witnessed it, like Amy, Davida and Mene. You can also get cohoberation from Ricky's widow with whom he confided much of his experiences.
However, I think there is a line here. Some of the details intrude on victim privacy. This is not information for which the public or any of us are entitled, just as the details of our own abuse are private and should be respected until we personally make the decision to talk about it.
I'm not saying the information should be hidden. But, I think we need to be very careful because Amy, Davida and Mene (Merry) are private people who have each suffered more than any child should and been revictimized as adults. If they choose to discuss or verify the details of what they experienced or witnessed, then that is fine. But until then, I think we should be respectful in what we ask them to reveal or even cohoberate.
The same is true of Ricky's widow. She's a very private person, and I'm sure she wants to balance protecting the details of Ricky's most painful experiences and abuse with informing the public and authorities of what happened to him and others.
I do understand, however, that Ricky's experience with incest at the hands of his mother was not isolated. There are other children who were raped by their parents in the highest echelons of leadership in the cult. Until those individuals are ready to come forward and talk about what was done to them, then I think we have to stand back and wait. I'm sure that such abuse is different, and ridden with all sorts of conflicting emotions of shame, than similar sexual abuse committed by non-related cult members. That is most likely one reason it is only recently getting out to the public.
Suffice to say, what those of us at the roots of the cult experienced as children filtered down through the ranks from the practices and doctrines of the top. So, what I experienced was most likely a fraction of what Amy, Davida and Mene went through having lived with Berg and Zerby.
I don't have to tell you all here, because you all know and experienced it, but what happened to us all as children was systematic. Unlike the abuse which happened in the Catholic Church, the abuse we suffered was part of the doctrine and practice of the cult's religious beliefs. The perversion of basic Christian doctrine and the mingling of sexual practices with religious beliefs originated with Berg and Zerby. They promoted it in their publications. They taught and practiced it with their own children and closest associates and highest ranking leaders of the cult, who in turn taught and practiced it down the ranks to the rest of the cult until it reached children like me who were the daughters or sons of ordinary couples with no authority living in low level ordinary homes and schools in foreign mission fields.
"Love up time," "sharing," "sharing schedules," "the Love of God," "child sex," "revolutionary women," "bra burning," "teen training," "victor camps" etc. all originated with the founder and leader of the cult, Berg and Zerby. They designed and promulgated the sexual and physical abuse. Their leadership, then, took it to the rest of the cult. So, you end up with widespread, rampant abuse all over the world in nearly every home of the cult as it was not random, isolated abuse by a few rogue members. It was the core of the religious beliefs and practices of the cult itself. It permeated the atmosphere of the entire cult and originated and descended from the top. You end up with children being abused and molested in cult homes and schools run by people who had never met or seen a picture of Berg and Zerby, but were trained and controlled by leadership, hand-picked and trained by Berg and Zerby.
Berg and Zerby through their publications dictated the minutest details of life in the cult at the bottom levels, including how dishes were washed, how much bleach was put in the rinse water and how many sheets of toilet paper an individual used. Berg and Zerby assured compliance with their doctrines through varying levels of leadership, supervision and reporting. Therefore, they were able to know the details of the lowest ranking member's life down to his marriage problems and children's names. With this kind of control structure, they dictated the sexual practices in every home and school, thereby infecting the very bottom of the cult following with their personal pedophilia preferences and perversions. Given the level and magnitude of the systematic exploitation, imagine how much more was going on in their own home and WS units, the core concentration of pedophilic infection.
As I have said before, there are many, many stories which have not been told and may never. There are victims who have not even been identified. There are victims who have died. And the victims who suffered the most at the very hands of Berg and Zerby themselves have done their very best to just survive. For some like Ricky, survival was beyond his capacity.
Remember the Basic Training Handbook which outlined the "teen training" which happened in Berg and Zerby's home? The BTH was the model for which all other "teen training" was based. Let's recount who it was that underwent the "teen training" in Berg and Zerby's house which is described in the BTH. There was Mene who is addicted to drugs, homeless and barely surviving now. There was Ricky who is dead. There was Amy who is the victim of rape and unspeakable abuse and who still grapples with the emotional affects on her as an adult woman. There was Davida who was basically thrown out onto the streets of a foreign country like trash when Berg and Zerby were through with her because she didn't serve them any further purpose. And there was Techi who was knocked up as a young teenager by a cult leader twice her age. What is that Bible verse the cult quotes all the time about their children? "By their fruits ye shall know them." Well, that's a marvelous track record Zerby. By your standards, you claim success. Well, you certainly successfully destroyed the lives of every child in your "teen training" program and the hundreds of others modeled after it. When will you ever admit it wasn't isolated, random incidents of "hurt" or "unlovingness." No, it was the result of your calculated mass effort to "train" and "use" children. You give Genghis Kahn a run for his money.
All that to say, worse than what we experienced happened in Zerby and Berg's house, but let's be careful and respectful of the people who experienced it as children when we ask for confirmation. I'm sure it will all come out eventually, but hopefully, in the victims’ time when they are ready. That was the essence of the concern with Jim La Mattery. While he is right that abusers need to be identified and exposed, doing so must happen at the discretion of the victims, as they own their abuse, the story itself and all the accompanying emotion and pain. (reply to this comment) |
| | From tuneman7
Wednesday, June 22, 2005, 11:41
(Agree/Disagree?)
Stands on table and claps. True that Nancy.
The group repeatedly says: "Mistakes were made." -- The biggest understatement known to mankind if you ask me.
What happened: Crimes were committed, repeatedly and mercilessly against many young children and teenagers.
Then lies were told. Child abuse occurs in society a lot more than most people are willing to admit to themselves. Usually in the familial environment an abuser uses the same tactics on a micro level that the group has used at a macro level.
Any sexual act between an adult and a minor is an act of rape to my way of thinking, and most if not all of the serious scientific research in the social sciences agrees with me. A child cannot give consent, ever! Period end of story. If someone tells you otherwise or suggests otherwise, I would strongly suggest that you distance yourself in way not previously imagined possible from said individual. They are very sick and possibly/probably criminal as well.
Nowhere is this truer than in cases where relationships of power exist. A child being raped by someone in a position of authority is, to my way of thinking, the murder of a part of that child's soul.
Where is the group's sense of moral outrage for even a single one of the crimes committed against children?!!!
Where is their parenting?!!
Where is their humanity?!!
"Mistakes were made"?!!!
Difficult to have any moral outrage about the crimes committed against children, when you are the criminal ringleader or busy covering for them.
I digress. In the familial setting an abusing parent will tell a victim, "this may not be right, but if you say anything the police will come, your brothers and sisters will suffer, daddy and/or mommy will be sent to jail and our family will be shamed, all because of you."
This is exactly what cult leaders have done to their children through the years. "Some mistakes were made. " -- they will tell you if in the group, but the message is clear. "Everyone will suffer if you speak up." This is what happened in Argentina and all these places. "Let's pray for the spirit of forgiveness. …. " or some other such perverted nonsense.
It's the same banal nature of abuse, which is seen, repeatedly in the small family setting happening on a massive scale. All the abuses and perversions came directly from the top, Berg, Zerby, Peter, Gary, Matthew, and the rest of the "WS Leadership" and Berg's personal household. Everyone there was involved in pedophilia. Berg mandated sexual acts and activity in his own household all the time. The current CROs are extremely culpable in most cases as well.
Those characters like Vas ought to be massively ashamed of themselves. Vas was at the summit outside of Ocean City Maryland in early 1996 where Peter Amsterdam ordered the cameras turned off when one of the second generation Summit attendees asked the question of whether or not "Dad had sex with minors." while the cameras were off he as much as admitted that the founder was a pedophile.
Vas was there, Vas is lying, or at very best deliberately misleading himself, his peers/younger brothers and sisters, and in this case, the general public. Where's the honor? Where's the manhood? What an utter joke. - Berg would be proud. :-(
Good post Nancy.
Take it easy,
Tuneman7
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| | | | | from Solo
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 07:08
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Thank you tuneman for putting that into PDF for those of us who don't have subscription to that magazine and can't get one. I appreciate that really.
(reply to this comment)
| from jumpin' jack flash
Wednesday, June 22, 2005 - 06:37
(Agree/Disagree?)
This is the best expose of Zerby & Berg I've read to date. Everyone who contributed information for the article should be applauded for divulging what they know. The range of interview sources and varied pieces of information were woven together in a way that left little doubt in my mind that key facts about Rick's tragic life have been accurately documented.
Given the sensitive information that came out in the article about Zerby's incest of her son--as well as traumatic impact that Zerby's horrifying brutalization of Merry Berg had on Rick--I can understand so much better what drove him to do what he did. I can't imagine living with nightmares of a sister-friend-lover screaming in the basement...lesser men than Rick would have blown out their brains long before he did.
This article should give the general public a better understanding of why Rick and others like him can't "just get over it and move on." Zerby's apologies will never suffice. Given the cruelty & devastation she visited on the children in her household and other TFI homes, it's like Hitler telling the Jews, "I'm sorry."
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| from Peter
Tuesday, June 21, 2005 - 23:39
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Thank you very much for making this available. I've been having some trouble finding this issue locally (I went to a few different places and none of them had the newest issue) so it was great to be able to read it. It really is an excellent article and one of the best I've seen in awhile.
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