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Some pull quotes, since people seem to be struggling with page loading: > his client, a woman who had recently finished her master’s at a prestigious universit
by pjc50 1y ago
Some pull quotes, since people seem to be struggling with page loading:
> his client, a woman who had recently finished her master’s at a prestigious university, had been drawn into a scam job. It was essentially a pyramid scheme built around a health regimen. Before you could sell it, you had to try it, so you knew what you were selling.
> The regimen? Multiple enemas a day. “It escalated to 40 to 60 enemas a day,”
> All groups have a rhythm, like a pulse across the calendar year. We have holidays, and we have tax season. There are highs and lows.
> Furthermore, Kelly and Ryan urge their clients not to speak with the media. The firmest “no” I ever got was when I asked Ryan if I could speak to a former client.
> One of their cases in the 90s involved a cult leader who was systematically sexually assaulting the group’s members. [NB: do you have any idea how little that narrows it down]
> the girl’s uncle, their client, had a very difficult time finding anything positive about the group or the leader who had allegedly raped his niece
> What Kelly and Ryan mean when they say these groups are “offering something” to people, it is exactly that. There is a hole a group fills: alienation from community, family, sexuality; pressure to follow a certain life plan, addiction, unrealized spirituality, economic catastrophe – all reasons to join a group
- dylan604 1y ago40 to 60 enemas a day? Per person? Even for hyperbole, that sounds like a lot.
- pjc50 1y agoIt is! It's completely insane, and apparently at that level significantly harmful. That's why it was deemed to be a cult. .. but you can also see a lot of slightly less intense grassroots health marketing or MLMs that also look very culty. Health in particular is a fertile ground for microcults.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- ljm 1y agoI knew one person--shared a flat with them--who was heavily into that sort of spiritual-esque alternative health, the sort you'd connect to the so-called Woo-to-Q pipeline these days, who would subject themselves to that kind of thing. It was all about the 'cleanse': 1. Fast on water for a week 2. Drink a cup of olive oil, straight 3. Multiple enemas several times a week 4. Maintain a raw vegan diet in between Throw in the occasional ayahuasca weekend (another cleaning ritual involving a rather extreme amount of, uh, purging). And for good measure dose yourself on some kind of poisonous frog venom for more of the same. If I didn't know any better I would say there was some cult mentality going on, the gateway to manipulation being past childhood trauma and a borderline eating disorder. None of it seemed particularly healthy. Although with 40+ enemas a day I don't know how you'd have time to do anything else.
- dylan604 1y ago> Although with 40+ enemas a day I don't know how you'd have time to do anything else This is what triggered me to questioning even allowing for hyperbole. At what point does it become kink/fetish/addiction?
- lcnPylGDnU4H9OF 1y agoMaybe "giving yourself enemas for 2 hours straight every day" is what they're referring to as "giving yourself 40-60 enemas a day". At 2-3 minutes per enema, that's plausible. It's also crazy but I think it's supposed to be crazy.
- ffsm8 1y agoThat's roughly one per 20 minutes? I think that's doable, it likely wasnt a traditional enema, they most likely just had to put some fluid in which consequently got absorbed by their column. Like 5 ml or so. Definitely mind boggling people are willing to do such, but it's within my expectations for people that fall to such obvious scams/cults.
- dylan604 1y ago>That's roughly one per 20 minutes? >I think that's doable, I'm thinking of this for someone working in an office situation. Depending on how long it takes to perform the enema, this is about the same schedule as smokers. So maybe it's not so far off?? Then again, I'm guessing you divided that by 24 hours rather than a work day. Once per 20 minutes would me no sleep which would have worse health effects
- wmeredith 1y agoSeems like a pure logistics issue to me.
- hn_user82179 1y agoThe article specifies that it was enough to cause hallucinations
- amypetrik8 1y agoit's called "ass tripping" and many have found it to be a epiphany-provoking spiritual journey. Jim Morrison was big on ass tripping for example.