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Getting On : All My Politics
What is your destination? | from gordon - Sunday, July 20, 2003
accessed 1314 times I need this information for a work I am writing as part of my study of culture and it's meaning. Hi to all. I stumbled onto your site while researching the hippy movement "The Children of God". I am looking for information that I can include in a general essay on culture, and its definitions. Reading through the endless articles and comments that your site offers left me somewhat confused. From what I gather, you are all children born to members of this hippie/religious culture. None of you seem very pleased to have been born to parents adhering to this culture, in the same way that the children of Jews, capitalists, negroes, communists, moslems, evangelicals, atheists, racists, or parents of any one of the million cultures which are created every day, with the mingling of people and ideas accross the globe, might feel about their parents and their childhood. Comments ranged from complaints of poverty to those of psychological abuse by some fellow calling himself Gavin, who claims to have been denied the right to practice homosexuality.
Having not experienced the culture in which you were raised, I will never be able to understand every aspect of this culture, nor be able to agree or disagree with the way you feel. In like manner, you will never be able to understand the way that I felt growing up in a culture where money dictated ones life, the amount of time my father would not spend with me due to his belief that money was everybodies first love, or the sheer awkwardness of studying in an enviroment so completely different from that in which I grew up, with most of my fellow students being either staunch communists or Russian patriots.
My question is this; the direction is perfectly clear, but the destination is far out of sight. You all appear to share a common idea of a perfect culture of which one has a born right to partake of from childhood, but what this culture entails, or where and in who it can be found, that is the information that I need from you. Anyone with clarity of mind please offer a satisfactory response. |
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Reader's comments on this article Add a new comment on this article |  from Ne Oublie
Friday, July 25, 2003 - 06:16
(Agree/Disagree?)
Gordon, contact me at neoublie77@yahoo.co.uk, I'll answer your questions by e-mail.
(reply to this comment)
| from JohnnieWalker
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 23:37
(Agree/Disagree?)
Gordon, I would be interested in getting in contact with you to give you my personal views on my cult life as well as what sense of direction I have been left with. Please contact me via my profile (click on my user name and then select "Send me an Email").
Please disregard the recent article posted by Gavin. Many members of this site still call it into question as a hoax. For a good read, the featured articles on the home page may give you a better understanding of where we are coming from.
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| from Gavin
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 17:29
(Agree/Disagree?)
You sound really screwed up man! If you are interested in the CULT, I can give you my piece! Get in touch with me at gavin5@hotmail.com!
(reply to this comment)
| | | | from mex
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 10:36
(Agree/Disagree?)
the perfect culture should have 72 virgins and 28 young boys for everybody an endless supply of food and wine, and you never have to shit.
wait ...that is the taliban heaven, fuck that.
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| | | | from Wolf
Tuesday, July 22, 2003 - 01:33
 (Agree/Disagree?)
Unlike many others who were seriously abused, my only complaint about my childhood in the cult was not being given an education. Sure, I endured lots of weirdness, but I suspect every child does in some form or another (I love “American Beauty”, it’s a real good portrayal of this). It seems people often want the opposite of what they were given, which probably explains your seeming interest in growing up in a hippie commune, an interest not shared by anybody who actually did grow up in the Children of God.
To answer your question: At this point I couldn’t care less about “the perfect culture”, but I think the closest I’ve seen to what I’d call a “perfect culture” is Switzerland. Ever been there? I might add that perfection can be extremely boring.
(reply to this comment)
| | | |  From Wolf
Wednesday, July 23, 2003, 09:48
(Agree/Disagree?)
Why Switzerland is Paradise:
• The only true democracy in the world. Each of the 26 Cantons (about the size of counties) has its own constitution, parliament and government, and decisions are made by the people themselves, not some fat elected “public servant”. How does this work? Example: Frau Schwinster gets a letter in the mail asking “how much of your income would you like to pay in taxes this year”, A. 23%, B.29% or C. 36%. The letter also explains what public services Frau Schwinster will have to do without if she chooses option A. As usual, majority vote rules, though it can be a bit confusing not knowing what’s illegal in the next village.
• Marijuana is legal in several cantons and may soon be legal in the whole country – yeah, baby!
• Switzerland is one of the only European countries not obsessed with giving handouts to bums, idiots and leeches. People actually have to work for their money here. This also means taxes are not as deadly as in the rest of Europe.
• It’s obvious that this is where good people go when they die since most of the population is still walking around half dead, and, well, there are so few people here.
• A very low crime rate: you can leave your bag on a train and chances are pretty high that it will be turned in to the lost and found with your money still in it.
• Hardly any fat pigs: the only overweight people I’ve seen are a few butt-ugly Yugoslavs in the few Cantons where they aren’t outlawed yet (that part’s a joke) and a couple of French Swiss who take their fondue and raclettes too seriously.
• The only country in the world where there are 4 official languages and a number of ethnic groups who live in relative harmony.
• The Swiss manage to be racists, xenophobes and bigots without the rest of the world realizing it. They actually manage to keep the ugly, slovenly and undesirable foreigners out of their country while letting the attractive ones in to help them make money. Like the recipe for Swiss chocolate, the formula for this feat of genius will remain secret for the time being, and the Swiss will continue to be known to the rest of the world as “those lovely, harmless little mountain people”.
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| | from ummmm
Monday, July 21, 2003 - 16:22
(Agree/Disagree?)
There is a difference between a culture and a cult...
Personally, I would have liked to have been born into a culture.
(reply to this comment)
| from frmrjoyish
Monday, July 21, 2003 - 15:46
(Agree/Disagree?)
I don't think that we all believe that there's one "perfect culture" we can partake of! Although we are kindred souls in one aspect, we are very different people with different wants, needs, goals, and personalities.
What we feel has been denied us are certain basic human rights, such as, individuality, protection from sexual predators, education, freedom from emotional and physical abuse, etc.. I think that, generally, we would regect the idea of ONE perfect culture as that was what was shoved down our throats during childhood!
What we cherish now is the opportunity to choose our own destinations as well as the various paths we take to get there.
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| from JudasChrist
Monday, July 21, 2003 - 15:06
(Agree/Disagree?)
Well, if U need more info..Email me @:
MentalVisualArtist@imneverwrong.com
Peace
(reply to this comment)
| from PompousJohn
Monday, July 21, 2003 - 14:01
(Agree/Disagree?)
While many on this website lament not having had a "normal" childhood and possibly their standards of normalcy derive only from the experience of suburban Americans and (to a lesser degree) that of western Europeans, and therefore do not represent a perfect global average, there are some things we feel we were not afforded that we should have been, including in many cases reasonable protection from adult sexual predators and a functional system with checks and balances that those placed in authority over us (and especially those empowered to meet out punishments) could be held to, and also the possibility of pursuing a higher education than what the cult deemed necessary to prepare us for a life of sacrifice and eventual martyrdom at the hands of the anti-Christ.
All of this aside, the majority of comments placed on this site are placed here with the intention of seeking commiseration from fellow ex-members, and their usefulness in an objective sociological study is questionable.
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| from none
Monday, July 21, 2003 - 12:43
(Agree/Disagree?)
I seek no such perfect culture. I left the cult in order to have autonomy. With autonomy and self-rule (a condition considered highly desirable by many cultures) one has the CHANCE to make it better, more to one's liking and values. One has the chance to be true to oneself.
To put it in terms you might appreciate, since apparently a life of child slavery, sexual abuse and torture is just an average imperfect upbringing to you, imagine if after growing up in the environment you hated so, you faced the prospect of being obligated to continue living and raise your children where "money dictated ones life, the amount of time my father would not spend with me due to his belief that money was everybodies first love, or the sheer awkwardness of studying in an enviroment so completely different from that in which I grew up, with most of my fellow students being either staunch communists or Russian patriots." Instead you are free to live your adult life as you wish and to choose to raise any children as you saw fit (then it would be their turn).
I am sorry if you don't see living free as a destination in itself. To me, it is. The ability to journey was the destination I sought and embarked on, and it only gets richer and more fulfilling the more I am able to choose my fellow travelers and what is in my walkman on the way. If you have to have a static destination, I could name a few that I have reached. College degree. Professional degree. Profession, all of which I like and am more rewarded for than the menial labor I did for no recompense and with no respite. The ability to experience art and friends and thought, which only get better and better. The only destination beyond that is that which we all face, to return to the breast of Mother Earth, who hopefully will be more tender than the one who bore me.
P.S.: who forced you to go study with "staunch communists or Russian patriots?" FYI, at 23 out in the world you are an adult and can make your own choices. You also have a lot to experience.
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