A tale of two very convenient 'accidents'

The article about workplace memories was inspired by a few comments made to me by fellow workers many years ago. 

Two incidents involving another colleague surfaced in my mind recently while I was thinking about the past. Again, they seem much more significant now that they did at the time. They provide supporting evidence for some of my ideas about psychological black magic, one of the unseen influences that inspired the creation of this blog.

The first 'accident'
It all started when a colleague, a computer programmer I shall call Mrs M., realised that she had made a mistake after making some requested changes and putting the updated software onto a spool of magnetic tape for the computer operators to release into the live system. She suddenly thought of a possible problem; rather than confess and follow the proper procedures, she fixed the error and when she thought that no one was looking went to replace the original tape with the new one that she had made.

Mrs M. got caught by the operators in the act of substituting the new tape for the old one. She was not too popular with them and they had a big argument. She became very upset and said, “Why can't they trust me?” 

The atmosphere was becoming increasingly charged, then her phone rang. It was a neighbour: Mrs M.'s little girl had just fallen from her bike and the neighbour had carried her inside. She was slightly hurt, and the neighbour wanted Mrs M. to go and collect her.

So Mrs M. was off the hook – for a while at least. She had a perfect pretext for escaping from the office and the trouble that she had created.

A few points about helping cult leavers

This is the fourth and final article inspired by exit-counsellor Steven Hassan's thought-provoking book Combating Cult Mind Control, his illuminating 'Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults'. 

The first article covers some of the interesting things that Steve Hassan has to say about how cults recruit people. 

The second article contains disturbing information about life inside cults.

The third article features a few of the useful points that he makes in connection with getting people out of cults.

I now want to highlight a few of his ideas about helping people who have left a cult. I have already produced an article about life after leaving a cult, but Steve Hassan's book has inspired some more commentary. 

Would-be helpers need to understand what they are up against and dealing with; Steve Hassan has some distressing and depressing information about this. 

Helpers also need to learn what to do about it; the book has some useful and encouraging suggestions about what works best when helping cult leavers rediscover and live from their real selves, recover from the abuse they have endured and make new, productive lives for themselves.

The worst comes first
Steve Hassan has a lot to say about the many and severe problems faced by cult leavers, the biggest of which is loss of identity. They may also be suffering from arrested development, they may behave in an inappropriately dependent way, their self-esteem may have been destroyed, their critical faculties may be atrophied, they may have memory loss and find it difficult to concentrate, they may have trouble making decisions and they may have serious adjustment problems.

They may also be living in fear of some kind of retaliation by the cult.

A few workplace memories with a wider application

A few comments that were made by colleagues in companies I worked for many years ago suddenly surfaced in my mind recently and inspired an article. At the time, I just accepted the remarks at face value; now, they seem more significant and to have a wider application. 

Settling for far too little
I remember a time when a new IT manager was taken on. One of his first tasks was to go round to each workstation in turn and speed it up.

The boss said that he had no idea what had been done, but he wanted everyone to know how amazed and delighted he was with his workstation's performance after the upgrade. 

The IT man told me that he was amazed to see what the workstation users had been living with for a long time in terms of a very slow service. He said that he had seen similar situations in his previous job and couldn't believe what people had been putting up with until he arrived to sort things out.

I have often felt amazed for similar reasons myself, and in many different scenarios. How can some people put up with what they are getting? How can they settle for so little?  Do they not know how much better things could be? Probably not; Who having known the Diamond and all that.

Or maybe they are aware that what they have is of low quality, but assume that for them a better deal is unattainable.

It is always advisable to monitor what is out there and investigate the chances of moving on to something better. It is also a good idea to seek advice and assistance from someone more knowledgeable and experienced.

Seeing with new eyes
A memory that comes to mind in a similar connection is of a colleague who resisted wearing glasses for a long time - contact lenses were not an option for some reason. She finally bought some, and was amazed at how much clearer and stronger her vision was.

She told me that she wanted to cry when she realised how much better things could have been and how much she had been missing all this time.

A few points about getting people out of cults

This is the third article inspired by exit-counsellor Steven  Hassan's book Combating Cult Mind Control, his 'Guide to Protection, Rescue, and Recovery from Destructive Cults'. 

After covering some of the interesting things that Steve Hassan has to say about how cults recruit people and his disturbing information about life inside cults, I now want to highlight a few of the useful points that he makes in connection with getting people out of cults.

I have already produced an article about the difficulties of leaving a cult, but Steve Hassan's book has inspired some more commentary.

Three ways to get out of a cult
Steve Hassan comes straight to the point here:

“People leave a group in three basic ways: they walk out, they get kicked out (often in a very “burned-out" condition, both psychologically and physically), or they get counseled out.”

This summary is spot on. In addition, perhaps some people who are temporarily out from under the influence and away from other members may just decide not to go back. This is similar to but not quite the same as walking out; it could be that they mentally defected a while back and just waited for the right opportunity to cut the connection! 

Incidentally, Steve Hassan says that 'walk-aways' are often members who have been able to maintain contact with people outside the destructive cult; he also says that walk-aways make up the majority of cult leavers.

Counselling out: newcomers versus old-timers
When it comes to counselling people out, it may at first seem likely that the easiest candidates are those who have been members for only a short time and the most difficult those who have committed many years of their lives to the cause. 

Steve Hassan supports this idea:

“If I am contacted within the first few months of a recruitment, the prognosis for a successful exit within a year is extremely good. On the other hand, if the person has been in the group for ten years when I am contacted, it might be quite some time before an intervention can be successfully attempted...” 

Books, reading, and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle

There are many references to books and reading on here, not to mention a whole string of articles about public libraries. 

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has also appeared in many articles. I want to highlight a few quotations of his about books and reading that I came across recently.

The first quotation, which is from Conan Doyle's Through the Magic Door, speaks for itself; it says it all:

“...that love of books...is among the choicest gifts of the gods.”

Many people who are great readers would agree with this.

Sherlock Holmes says this about himself in The Adventure of the Lion's Mane:

“I am an omnivorous reader with a strangely retentive memory for trifles.” 

I too am an avid reader who sometimes remembers small details, even from books that I may not have read for decades. Many of the 'trifles' I recalled from the distant past have appeared in or even inspired various articles.

Another quotation from Conan Doyle's Through the Magic Door comes very close to home:

“It is a great thing to start life with a small number of really good books which are your very own.”

While I will never forget the debt that I owe to public libraries, it really was great to have a small collection of my own books from an early age. 

A few points about life inside cults

Steven Hassan's chilling, depressing and best-selling book Combating Cult Mind Control was written from personal experience. It provides independent confirmation of and supporting evidence for some of the material in various cult articles.

The first article inspired by this book is about people who join cults; this one highlights some of the things that Steve Hassan has to say about life inside cults. He provides a lot of disturbing information about how cults control their members, information that people should be aware of before even considering joining certain groups and organisations.

B.I.T.E. The four elements of mind control 
Steve Hassan says that cults control four key elements of their members' lives: their Behaviour, the Information that they are given, their Thoughts and their Emotions. 

This systematic and comprehensive approach makes sense and is very effective. It is designed to prevent cult members from leaving – or even wanting to leave.

'BITE' makes me think of the attack-dog syndrome! 

Life as a cult member

In the worst cases, every aspect of cult members' day-to-day lives is controlled. 

They are ordered to eat less, sleep less and work harder. 

They are ordered to hand over their belongings and the contents of their bank accounts to the cult.

They are encouraged or instructed to break all contact with family and friends.

They are denied access to much non-cult reading material and information.

Defence Against the Dark Arts Part XXIII: Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers stories

I discovered Anthony Horowitz’s Diamond Brothers around 14 years ago. I read the seven books that were available at the time and even reviewed some of them on Amazon. I soon forgot all about them as I was concentrating on setting up this blog. 

I recently remembered these entertaining little stories. I decided to go through them all again - this time around in publication sequence. I found enough commentary-inspiring material for an article; I also detected a possible connection with another series of books, a series that has been featured in several articles.

The first of Jonathan Stroud's books about the Lockwood & Co. psychical detection agency had yet to be published when I first encountered Anthony Horowitz’s books about the Diamond Brothers' private detective agency. I have since read the Lockwood books several times. I noticed a few small similarities in the two series recently while re-reading the Diamond books; I now suspect that Jonathan Stroud read and was slightly influenced by them.

Something about the Diamond Brothers series
The Diamond Brothers stories are light and amusing; they are a parody of classic detective fiction. They are cleverly constructed and contain subtle clues. They are full of wisecracks and witticisms; the plots are preposterous and the villains are caricatures. 

The main characters are Tim Diamond and his brother Nick, who is 13 years old in the first book and is the main narrator. Tim is exceptionally dim; Nick is very bright. After being thrown out of the police, Tim sets up as a private detective. The brothers have some intriguing cases and mysteries to solve; they have many adventures and are often in great danger. They always win through in the end.

Although they are marketed as children's books, the Diamond Brothers stories have a much wider appeal. The main attractions for me are some elements that they have in common with Leslie Charteris's Saint books - the humour and the many descriptions of London features that I know well for example. I also like the background information and small details that add authenticity to the stories and balance their incredible, outrageous, unrealistic and over-the-top elements.

There are now eight Diamond Brothers books. The stories vary in length, but each one can be read in one sitting; it would even be possible to read the lot in one day. Such short stories are not very suitable for being described in detail or extensively quoted, so I will give just a few examples of the attractions and Lockwood similarities.

Humour in the Diamond Brothers books
There is a scene in South by Southeast in which Nick Diamond in desperation bids one million pounds for a painting at Sotheby's auction house. The auctioneer exclaims: "You're just a boy!", and Nick replies: "I know, but I get a lot of pocket money."