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Netflix - Tony Robbins special - is this a cult?


Katy
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So we're watching Netflix's exclusive documentary called Tony Robbins: I am Not Your Guru.   I've seen him before on documentaries and in interviews and always liked him.  I think I even read one of his books years ago.  But watching this special makes me think it seems like a cult.  There's weird hypnosis and NLP tricks, and a lot of talk about magic and transformation, and people are looking at him like a god.

 

Is this just weird editing, or does anyone else think his organization is a cult too?

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I've always thought he was practically a cult leader.

 

But everything about him in that book about introversion, Quiet, really resonated with me. So... some of my feeling could be my introverted shudderings from his whole leadership style.

 

I haven't seen that documentary though...

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I don't know much of anything about Tony Robbins, but Steve Hassan is an expert on cults (he has a fascinating book on cult mind-control techniques) so you might google a bit and see if he has anything to say about Tony Robbins.  All I could find is that he does say NLP is a covert hypnosis technique, and the descriptor "covert" when applied to anything mind-altering sounds pretty darn creepy to me.

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I had to sit through a day long seminar once - our whole office was sent. That is many hours I'll never get back. He's a charismatic guy but I was not at all impressed and promptly forget all the ideas/suggestions/plans he insisted I do to better my life. It was just so over the top I was serioualy trying to figure out how to sneak out without my boss noticing.

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I would call it a cult of personality. He is the one that benefits the most. If he tells the truth, he has made a lot of money just by telling people how wonderful they can be, just like him. There are people who are grasping for some kind of magic formula to get rich, or be loved and respected. When it doesn't work for them, they don't always realize it is because his words are empty and meaningless. There are other cults of personality popular today, but I will refrain from mentioning them.

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I would call it a cult of personality. He is the one that benefits the most. If he tells the truth, he has made a lot of money just by telling people how wonderful they can be, just like him. There are people who are grasping for some kind of magic formula to get rich, or be loved and respected. When it doesn't work for them, they don't always realize it is because his words are empty and meaningless. There are other cults of personality popular today, but I will refrain from mentioning them.

But, enough people that will pay to listen and make him rich?? How sad.

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If there's one thing I abhor it's day long self help or business pep talk seminars that employers send people to under the guise of professional development. I've been subjected to a few and they all seem more or less the same brand of lame.

 

That said, he is a legit philanthropist who has donated serious money over the years so while that doesn't mean he's not a flimflam man, I will give him props for that.

 

I think cult of personality, like a pp said, is more accurate than cult. He's not asking people to turn over their life savings or isolating them from their friends and families or founding anything he tries to pass off as a religion.

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I have a friend who worked for him, and even went to live in Fiji for two years.  She definitely felt it was cultish.  

 

By that I mean, she was told not to tell "outsiders" certain things, be devoted to "the cause" and that they were the best and had it right, while others were wrong.

 

Now, she was't told she couldn't leave or anything.

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I can say at one point, when the entire auditorium was chanting ( i forget what..something about achieving our goals) and were told to yell louder, louder, and everyone was, and yes, I got goose bumps at the energy...and then realized, suddenly, "this is how Hitler did it". Yeah. 

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If there's one thing I abhor it's day long self help or business pep talk seminars that employers send people to under the guise of professional development. I've been subjected to a few and they all seem more or less the same brand of lame.

 

That said, he is a legit philanthropist who has donated serious money over the years so while that doesn't mean he's not a flimflam man, I will give him props for that.

 

I think cult of personality, like a pp said, is more accurate than cult. He's not asking people to turn over their life savings or isolating them from their friends and families or founding anything he tries to pass off as a religion.

 

That said, they did feature a woman on this documentary that had been part of the children of god cult in Brazil.  The things that happened to her - awful.  But after they went through their weird process, they revealed that she'd sold all of her belongings - furniture and all - to pay to come to the seminar.  And she was suicidal at the time, so if it didn't work, it was just wrapping up loose ends. Then after sharing the horrible story at the seminar, people there gave her $100,000, half of it in a check from one person.

 

 

I have a friend who worked for him, and even went to live in Fiji for two years.  She definitely felt it was cultish.  

 

By that I mean, she was told not to tell "outsiders" certain things, be devoted to "the cause" and that they were the best and had it right, while others were wrong.

 

Now, she was't told she couldn't leave or anything.

 

Interesting.

 

I can say at one point, when the entire auditorium was chanting ( i forget what..something about achieving our goals) and were told to yell louder, louder, and everyone was, and yes, I got goose bumps at the energy...and then realized, suddenly, "this is how Hitler did it". Yeah. 

 

That's one of the things I read when I googled this topic...  that he'd studied Hitler, Mussolini, and hypnosis to have these emotional effects, to stir people into mania.  And it was very bad if you have a genetic propensity to mental health issues...  a few people complained a relative who'd never previously had issues suddenly was manic all the time, or developed bipolar or schizophrenia.

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