Alana said:
Btw, trying to find your blog i ended at this blog
-http://stuffandsuch.wordpress.com/
i knew immediately it wasn't yours though ;)
Thanks for those comments, ya'll. And thanks, Alana, for letting me know about that other one. And it looks like they've been there longer than me. I should've done a better name search before making my choice.
I thought my blog name was at least, semi-original, but I should've known better.
How many times have all those esoteric teachers told us how un-original we are? :)
Alana said:
And perhaps he had a good book publicist/manager so far who beautified his books, and probably in the last one he got full of himself and wanted to do it all his way, and that's what demystified his followers. I don't know, just speculating here :/
I have an idea about that along that same line. Laura mentioned it somewhere, but I can't come up with the right keywords to find it. It involves the knowledge of a pattern of behavior and of how flattery and acclaim can draw out certain things in certain people so that eventually their errors are exposed.
Perhaps Braden was so self-impressed with the 'success' from his earlier material, he forgot the need to keep his assumptions concealed. Or maybe he didn't realize how something that sounds so complex and impressive in a book (because it takes so many words to 'tell' the story) could be seen as so shallow in real life.
I'm still learning about all this stuff and such. :D
Edit: Added later:
I think I found it, although I don't remember the idea being expressed in this form. At any rate, I believe this tends to reveal how the dynamic works:
[quote author=http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=1879.msg11696#msg11696]
The most common example of this is the agent who will compliment the activist for his competency or knowledge or value to the movement. On a more subtle level, the agent will simulate affects and mannerisms of the activist which promotes identification via mirroring and feelings of "twinship". It is not unheard of for activists, enamored by the perceived helpfulness and competence of a good agent, to find themselves considering ethical violations and perhaps, even illegal behavior, in the service of their agent/handler.
The activist's "felt quality of perfection" [self-concept] is enhanced, and a strong empathic bond is developed with the agent through his/her imitation and simulation of the victim's own narcissistic investments. [self-concepts] That is, if the activist knows, deep inside, their own dedication to the cause, they will project that onto the agent who is "mirroring" them.
The activist will be deluded into thinking that the agent shares this feeling of identification and bonding. In an activist/social movement setting, the adversarial roles that activists naturally play vis a vis the establishment/government, fosters ongoing processes of intrapsychic splitting so that "twinship alliances" between activist and agent may render whole sectors or reality testing unavailable to the activist. They literally "lose touch with reality."[/quote]
The activist's wishful thinking is heavily involved in this scenario. With the above quote in mind, It occured to me that, not long ago, there might have been a formula calculated and implemented for "How to discredit Al Gore and the Nobel Peace Prize at the same time."
