Please be warned that this post contains details about my life that some might not be interested in reading. Any post marked as personal will contain events that are just that, personal. Feel free to continue reading only if you want to hear about my life.
My Life, time reference: Working Hard
I’ve tried to write this post for a week straight now and I keep putting it off. Some things are just so freaking insane that I just can’t put myself back in the mindset of those times. I’m referring to all the paranoia of my neighbors and my parents, mostly my father when we moved to “northern” Idaho. I really don’t want to mention the town’s name because I don’t want it picked up by search engines. My mom still has to live there, and the last thing she needs is more pissed off neighbors.
I talked about the videos we watched in St. George, firesides, presentations and “end of times” propaganda. When we moved to Idaho, of course the video propaganda didn’t stop. Every few months a neighbor would drop by a new bootlegged copy of a copy of a copy of the latest new conspiracy theory. It was like YouTube via VHS sneaker-net. It wasn’t just the videos either, someone would find a new book, read it and pass it around to the next neighbor. It was our own little book of the month club for nutcases. In fact, we had a few neighbors that were actual authors that had published their own doctrinal interpretations or doom and gloom prophetic manuscripts. Little monthly or quarterly firesides were still being held as well, at different neighbor’s homes. People would come in from all over the country telling their stories, and talking about their own visions or communications with angels.
We had all kinds of nuts around us. One little hill community might be really into spiritual topics, energy healing, priesthood blessings and rituals, they even had their own sacred grove to go pray in; and yes, you had to walk around without shoes so you didn’t defile the sacred twigs and pinecones. Another hill community were really into preparedness, guns, weapons, how to make your own snares, deadfalls and sod-off shotguns. I’m not sure why people needed an AK-47 for “hunting,” but that was their excuse. Some communities were very hippy-ish, eventually falling into polygamy now.
It was a very confusing time for me, considering all the other crap I was going through; there was also 1992 Ruby Ridge and 1993 Waco, and the Unabomber just a few hours away. It really did look like the world was ending, and Jesus was on his way to save us all. Bo Gritz was trying to move his “almost heaven” community just 30 minutes away from us. Read about it here: http://www.adl.org/mwd/gritz.asp
I remember attending that public town hall meeting that he had to hold, I was there! He wasn’t the only one of his type either. I was honestly afraid that I was going to see a mini version of the civil war break out between the different factions that had their own communities in the area.
Scary times indeed. Here is the most freaked out scary video that I watched as it was passed around the households. Watch if you don’t mind your head exploding from the insanity. Also, think how you would feel if you honestly thought, what they were talking about was REAL. http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6745627342652553091
Some days I really wonder how I made it out of that hell. Some people grow up with Church and religion propaganda. Others grow up with alternative health, quack medicine or hippy communes. Others grow up in conspiracies. I had hit the jackpot and was living in all three. If my childhood was to be defined in one word, I think “extreme” would just about be the perfect fit.
1 comments:
I appreciate the link to that looney tirade on youtube. I've always been a huge fan of kook literature and that was one I hadn't seen before.
The rise of gangs, armed cults and apocalyptic thinking is amusing, but troubling at the same time. The fact that people embrace such hogwash might indicate that trouble actually *is* on the horizon. The prophecies are often fulfilled by the followers, and all that.
It tells us something about the state of our society, that people need to stoop to such nonsense as an excuse to build a community.
The first part of the video concerned the takeover of the U.S. by the United Nations (real soon now, to be sure). I spent a few months in Yugoslavia several years ago, where I saw tiny handfuls of kids and old men with antiquated weapons hold off entire companies of U.N. troops. (LOL!) I think that's a bit farfetched.
Later on in the video, there was a portion of the lecture concerning U.F.O. phenomena. If you haven't, I'd definitely recommend Jung's exploration of this (the essay is entitled: A Modern Myth Of Things Seen In The Skies). Whether or not there really is anything to see, Jung explains that the contactees or abductees are projecting their unconscious insecurities on the experience. This video, and the idea that Satan is behind space aliens, is the most candid and revealing example of the Jungian interpretation I've seen so far.
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