Fata Morgana: mental manipulation between skepticism and anti-proibition

1. Fata Morgana: mentalmanipulationbetweenskepticism and anti-proibition Luigi Corvaglia CeSAP, Vice-President

2. A Fata Morgana is an unusual and complex form of mirage that is seen in a narrow band right above the horizon. It is an Italian phrase derived from the vulgar Latin for "fairy" and the Arthurian sorceress Morgan le Fay, from a belief that these mirages, often seen in the Strait of Messina , were fairy castles in the air or false land created by her witchcraft to lure sailors to their death.

3. Sometimes thinghs are not what they appear to be Sometimes thinghs are not what they appear to be Isthis a grilledcheese or a portraitofVergin Mary? Isthis a grilledcheese or a portraitofVergin Mary?

4. Sold on eBay for $28,500 to a Las Vegas Casino… Illusions can lead us to make wrong choices, mirages to head in the wrong the direction. in the debate between anti cult and against cult (anti anti cult) someone plays with mirrors……

5. Sometimes, things are notwhattheyappeartobe First Illusion: Anti-cult movement belive in “brainwahing” or other form of “mental manipulation”; Anti anti-cult movement belives that manipulation is a mith So, the issue is to belive or not to belive in mental manipulation This brings us completely off course and lead us on the shoals of an empty and sterile discussion

6. Mentalmanipulation and exploitation. A synopsis • The vast majority of academic scholars of new religious movements deny that there is an objective concept of "brainwashing" or "conditioning techniques “ to change a personality. Massimo Introvigne Massimo Introvigne

7. Mentalmanipulation and exploitation. A synopsis • … also the majority of the scholars of political science and economics have difficulty finding an agreement on the "objective concept" of "exploitation", but few of them would be willing to subscribe to the idea that this does not exist. Maybe it is true. But….

8. Mentalmanipulation and exploitation. A synopsis Anarcho-capitalism Anarcho-capitalists argue for a society based on the voluntary trade of private property and services (in sum, all relationships not caused by threats or violence, including exchanges of money, consumer goods, land, and capital goods). So, any agreement not caused by violence is permissible. The libertarianargument "Anarcho-capitalism", challenges the concept of "exploitation" operated by the capitalist to the detriment of the worker in poverty, not because the first does not exploit the need of the second paying less than they would if he was less needy, but because this last one is not forced to endure the terms of the relationship with physical violence or threat.

9. Mentalmanipulation and exploitation. A synopsis Anarcho-capitalism Capitalist acts between consenting adults David Friedman David Friedman

10. Mentalmanipulation and exploitation. a synopsis Anarcho-capitalismaboutexploitation Against cult movementaboutmanipulation The opportunistic nature of the relationship is recognized, but it is considered unavoidable and typical of any type of human relationship. The concept of “manipulation", they say, is so vague and imprecise. For this reason, all laws to guarantee the individual should be dismantled . • The opportunistic nature of the relationship is recognized, but it is considered unavoidable and typical of any type of human relationship. The concept of "exploitation", they say, is so vague and imprecise. For this reason, all laws to guarantee the worker should be dismantled.

11. The kingisnaked This is not unbelief, this is antiprohibitionism Slavery between consenting adults

12. The kingisnaked Anti anti cult say if plagiarism were a crime, you should punish "any situation of mental and emotional dependence, such as the relationship between two lovers, between parents and children, between teacher and pupil, between doctor and patient, between spiritual guidance and disciple and many other that recur in everyday life…” Islikesayingthat if drug dealing is a crime, you should punish the coffee dealer too.

13. The kingisnaked • the fact that there is a continuum between conditions that do not constitute assault or exploitation, and others that meet these criteria does not mean that you can not make out the extremes. Following the “fata Morgana" indicated by the defenders of the cults, the existence of the warm water should make it impossible to distinguish the cold water from the hot!

14. Why anti-prohibition may not apply to cults • if for the worker in need to whom it is offered a cheap labor, or the girl subjected to "sexual blackmail", there is still a margin of choice, altough strongly influenced, to the person to whom you replace the prior convictions is created a “vulnus”, a weak point precisely in the function responsible for the choice. • Even if the persuasion takes place according to natural mechanisms, whatever outrage resulting from this conviction that were "voluntarily" suffered would no longer arise as the result of free and conscious determination.

15. Why anti-prohibition may not apply to cults • although there are conditions which are located in a "gray area" and in which it is extremely difficult to determine whether a conviction is unlawful or less, can not be denied the existence of undue forms whose quality, rather than in the formal aspects, is to be found in the purpose (of aggression, control, etc..) and are recognizable by presumptive elements that are rather obvious.

16. presumptive elements A cult is when old guys get to have sex with young girls to which they would not have ordinarily had access. Pat Linse, Skeptic’s Art Director Pat Linse, Skeptic’s Art Director

17. Sexual acts between consenting adults? • Slavery between consenting adults?

18. Litmus test • The shadow of exploitation is back, but, this time, to invalidate the libertarian reading of a free agreement (which, though not a little distorted by the need still remains in the economic or sexual exploitation), is the cancellation of a will so free to reach, autonomously, an agreement. • That opportunistic exploitation of a psychological subjection, then, is a type of asymmetrical agreement at all peculiar, in front of which you cannot put yourselves divided into factions of believers and unbelievers, but only in those of friends and enemies. It is the very fact that a similar proffer can take place to demonstrate the reality of this kind of subjection of the adepts. In fact, it is difficult to imagine that, in conditions different from those of a conscious psychological subjection, a senior "master" could expect from a young student to have sex as a favour to her. The fact that such offers can take place is a sign that those who produce them expect, in all probability, that his actions will not produce particular negative reactivity. This expectation, otherwise absurd, then, is the "litmus test", the unmistakable sign of a psychological dependence that the will of the person to whom the offer is made is, in fact, defused.

19. Out of the shallows. What antiprohibitionism hides. • The “anti anti cult” are members of a cultural world that we could hardly associate with that freedom of choice, relativism and tolerance of which seem to be standard-bearers only in this case. • The reason is that, given the opportunity of a mental conditioning, this construct could also be used against traditional religious groups. The clerical demand freedom for themselves in the name of the liberal principle, except to suppress it in others, as soon as he can, in the name of the clerical principle Gaetano Salvemini

20. Out of the shallows. What antiprohibitionism hides. Massimo Introvigne , the most authoritative exponent of the anti anti cult in Italy, is a leader of Alleanza Cattolica, a right-wing organisation . It is "Catholic" and hence religious, indeed the group devotes much time to reciting the Rosary. On the other hand, its objective is to set up the "Kingdom of Mary" on earth, defeating Communism and secularism and ushering in a theocratic government.

21. Out of the shallows. What antiprohibitionism hides. Out of the shallows. What antiprohibitionism hides. According to Introvigne, The People's Temple, the ultimate cult, which led over 900 people to their death in a mass suicide, was not a religious but a political movement, a Communist movement to be exact. The reason of the massacre was not a manipulation, but communism….

22. Out of the shallows. Whatantiproibitionhides. However, cult critics will say that the issue, whether the group was "Christian" or "Communist", is not the "basic question" at all. What matters is, why did 900 members of the group commit suicide?

23. The matter is… • .. can a closed group, whatever its ideology, create a conditioning climate so as to induce their followers to commit mass suicide or mass suicide was simply the sum of one thousand free and simultaneous decisions made by men, women and children?

24. Why anti-prohibition may not apply to cults: The ultimate incompatibility All ethically oriented action can be guided by either of two fundamentally different, irredeemably incompatible maxims: it can be guided by an “ethics of conviction” or an “ethics of responsibility. Max Weber, “Politics as a Vocation” Max Weber

25. Max Weber: two ethics EthicsofConviction EthicsofResponsability It produces actions on the basis of rational evaluation of the consequences. Valid choices produce "virtuous“ consequences. • It aims to identify universal rules which lay down "right" rules to be applied without regard for the consequences. • Goodchoices come from virtuous principles.

26. Max Weber: two ethics EthicsofConviction EthicsofResponsability It produces actions on the basis of rational evaluation of the consequences. valid choices produce "virtuous".consequences. Religiousethics Liberal ethics • It aims to identify universal rules which lay down "right" rules to be applied without regard for the consequences. • Goodchoices come from virtuous principles. Individualism, free thinking, antiproibitionism

27. Max Weber: two ethics EthicsofConviction EthicsofResponsability It produces actions on the basis of rational evaluation of the consequences. valid choices produce "virtuous".consequences. Anti anti cult Anti cult Religiousethics Liberal ethics • It aims to identify universal rules which lay down "right" rules to be applied without regard for the consequences. • Goodchoices come from virtuous principles. Individualism, free thinking, antiproibitionism Deeds, notcreeds

28. Max Weber: twoethics Somethingwentwrong…. EthicsofConviction EthicsofResponsability It produces actions on the basis of rational evaluation of the consequences. valid choices produce "virtuous".consequences. Anti anti cult Anti cult Religiousethics Liberal ethics • It aims to identify universal rules which lay down "right" rules to be applied without regard for the consequences. • Goodchoices come from virtuous principles. Individualism, free thinking, antiproibitionism Deeds, notcreeds

29. The impossible shift EthicsofConviction EthicsofResponsability It produces actions on the basis of rational evaluation of the consequences. valid choices produce "virtuous".consequences. Anti anti cult Anti cult Religiousethics Liberal ethics • It aims to identify universal rules which lay down "right" rules to be applied without regard for the consequences. • Goodchoices come from virtuous principles. How can antiproibition shift from a “laical” platform to a theological one? antiproibition Individualism, free thinking, antiproibitionism Deeds, notcreeds

30. So you understand that… The secondillusionis: The war against the conceptofmentalmanipulationis a struggleforfreedom and Liberty.

31. Sometimesthings are notwhattheyappeartobe… Sometimes things are not what they appear to be…

32. Sometimesthings are notwhattheyappeartobe… Sometimes things are not what they appear to be… …. and not always what appears noble and elevated really is. The End