By Tom
This is in response to Barbara Bouchey’s article Bouchey: The Facts Surrounding Mark Vicente’s Enrollment Into Nxivm.
Dear Barbara,
Thank you for your honesty. The tragedy of ESP/Nxivm is that it had noble intentions but underneath, it was motivated by power, narcissistic adulation, delusion, greed and lust.
I don’t understand why you and others stayed so long.
Didn’t you realize there was something wrong with someone claiming to be the smartest man in the world? Everyone knows such a thing does not exist and should have been a warning sign with someone with a narcissistic messianic complex.
Wasn’t it concerning to you that the financial structure was a pyramid scheme with the goal of enrolling people being more important than knowledge and true personal growth?
Why weren’t you concerned about the negative review in Forbes? Forbes does their homework very well.
Didn’t you see you were being kept on a string by Keith and he kept others on a string as well?
Why did you put up with that for so many years?
What fantasy did you maintain about Keith that kept you so locked in?
The story you tell about Dr. Capra and the physicists is heartbreaking. You put so much work in, but you got blamed for its failure. Didn’t you see it was a pattern of Keith and Nxivm to project their own internal difficulties on to others and blame them for mishaps?
Why did you stay in light of that fiasco?
And, what about your financial relationship with the Bronfmans? Didn’t you benefit handsomely from that?
Was that a reason why you didn’t act until that relationship fell apart?
I have no doubt that Keith is totally messed up. He’s narcissistic, arrogant, self-centered, malicious, abusive and has committed criminal acts. You deserve credit for helping to make the world knowledgeable of that.
However, I don’t believe you, Mark Vicente or anyone else should be elevated to hero status for doing only what should have been done much earlier. You made mistakes with believing in Keith and ESP/Nxivm when you shouldn’t have. These are your mistakes and it would be more truthful if you owned them. Ten years is a long time to discover and speak about something you now characterize as evil.
Furthermore, although Keith, Nancy and Clare deserve a large share of responsibility, everyone involved with Nxivm that did not leave early on or speak up early shares in that responsibility. Everyone contributed to the lie, to defrauding others, often for their own benefit, whether consciously or unconsciously.
It seems disingenuous to charge only a few people with a crime when so many played a role in fostering and enabling it.
What do you say, Barbara?