Guest View: Nxivm, More Than a Weird Sex Cult, Is an Intellectual Assault on Human Dignity and Freedom

In News, NXIVM

By Smith

I’m astonished we have actually reached the point of a trial.

Hoping justice is actually done. When I consider the trial along with all the people who have cut deals, it shocks me how light a hand the government has shown so far. The fact there is only one defendant facing trial seems inadequate given the gravity of the charges.

One of the important things that could emerge in this trial is precedent on what constitutes coercion with regards to human trafficking charges. I realize the defense could cross examine witnesses on the issue of collateral and the impact it had on their decisions.

I’m hoping coercion doesn’t stop with that, and that the prosecution looks at the full spectrum of NXIVM’s activities – the social pressure, the ostracizing, the elaborate mystique, the deceitful promises of wealth/power, and the sunk costs on the part of victims as part of their formulation. It is essential to establish the facts of how these contributed to the coercion of victims so it can be recognized and punished in the future.

On the eve of the trial, something that occurred to me is the origin of the name NXIVM. Romans had a form of contract called Nexum, which allowed people to put themselves and their family members up as collateral for a contract. They would have to serve in bondage until the debt was paid and would often be subject to humiliation, physical punishment, and even death as a result.

This form of contract was outlawed around 300 BC, mostly out of recognition that it was too barbaric even for the Romans. The fact that we have to continue to stamp out this abomination under the guise of “consensual decisions by adults” speaks to a darkness of the human spirit, an ability to substitute one’s self with the quality of a good or service. The idea that anyone – on either side – could enter willingly into such an arrangement, or that such a confederation could be tolerated in a civilized society, is horrific.

Let justice be done, let the facts prove what happened, and let the penalty fit the offense for everyone involved. NXIVM is more than a weird sex cult, it is an intellectual assault on human dignity and freedom. The punishment must stand as a warning to any who might consider doing the same in the future.

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30 commentsOn Guest View: Nxivm, More Than a Weird Sex Cult, Is an Intellectual Assault on Human Dignity and Freedom

  • The key question about NXIVM is what made the cult so attractive to Mexico’s elite.
    Of NXIVM’s first line DOS slaves, five of the eight women came from Mexico’s highest social stratum.
    The current sanctuary for NXIVM is in Mexico with the sons and daughters of the elite being the backbone of the cult.

    Mexico’s society is very socially stratified with people of European heritage (15% of the population) ruling the bottom 85% who are of mixed race and the Indios or native Mexicans.
    Mexico’s society is pyramid shaped.

    If one examines NXIVM’s political essence it appears to be Fascistic in nature.
    NXIVM has a thin veneer of Political Liberalism and Political Correctness covering an authoritarian philosophy.
    Keith Raniere, the leader of the cult has a fascination with Nazi Germany telling many of the members that they were reincarnated Nazis.
    Raniere was also obsessed with the Jews , particularly Edgar Bronfman, Senior, and the Illuminati.
    Raniere was too unfocused to produce a coherent political philosophy but in style NXIVM has a clear Fascist flavor.

    NXIVM’s leader is called the Vanguard which sounds similar to Italian Fascism’s Il Duce and German Nazism’s Der Fuehrer.

    Fascist groups of the 1930s and 1940s would wear colored shirts as uniforms.
    The Blackshirts and the Brown Shirts were infamous Fascist groups in Italy and Germany respectively.
    Mexico had the Gold Shirts.
    The Revolutionary Mexicanist Action (Spanish: Acción Revolucionaria Mexicanista), better known as the Gold shirts (Spanish: Camisas Doradas), was a Mexican fascist paramilitary organization in the 1930s.
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gold_shirts

    In NXIVM the top members would wear colored sashes to denote their stations in the cult.
    https://i1.wp.com/artvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/emi-and-tjhe-greens.jpg-fit=600%2C400&ssl=1

    NXIVM members would also dance to honor their Vanguard.
    https://i1.wp.com/frankreport.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/dancing.jpg-fit=300%2C225&ssl=1

    A serious issue for the future is how serious the US government is about destroying the NXIVM cult.
    Only six top echelon members out of 150 have been indicted.
    It is unclear if the US government is eager to indict the rest of the cult, particularly the Mexican NXIVM members.
    NXIVM Mexico boasts lots of members from the country’s richest, most powerful families.
    These people have the financial resources and organizational skills to rebuild the cult.

    It appears that elements of the Democratic party in the US are lobbying to cool off any investigation of NXIVM’s Mexico leaders even though there are hints that those leaders were involved in criminal activities.
    There are rumors of a back room deal to head off any indictment of Mexico’s elite in the NXIVM case.
    ————————————————————————————–
    “We previously reported that, according to our source in Washington, DC, “Discussions are ongoing between the Carlos Slim Foundation and the Clinton Foundation about a multi-million dollar payment being negotiated or already negotiated. Possibly, it is to be added to an amount previously contributed and increased now due to the severity of the situation”.

    We also noted that our source indicated that “This is said to be a back-room deal to buy away the threatened indictment of Emiliano Salinas by U.S. DOJ prosecutors in the NXIVM criminal racketeering case”.

    We added that our source said, “It is coming down to the last moments before the indictment may be handed down. The discussions are said to be intense. Some believe the Clintons can control DOJ outcomes at the highest levels, [i.e. Main Justice in Washington DC] yet, at this moment, more heat is on the Clintons than ever before due to so many scandals already revealed in the press.”

    “One of the points of contention in the discussions is – if the donation is made to the Clinton Foundation by Slim – can the Clintons deliver enough influence peddling to guarantee the indictment will be withheld- It is unknown what dollar amount may be in play or may have already changed hands between the Slim Foundation and the Clinton Foundation regarding this matter”.
    https://frankreport.com/2019/05/16/prosecution-claims-emiliano-salinas-is-a-criminal-co-conspirator-in-nxivm/
    ————————————————————————
    The source of Carlos Slim’s vast 70 billion dollar fortune is his ownership of Mexico’s telephone system in the form of the Mexican TelMex company.
    Slim gained control of TelMex in a sweetheart deal with Carlos Salinas’ government
    In 1990, Telmex was bought by a group of investors formed principally by Carlos Slim Helú,
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Telmex
    Carlos Slim is frequently listed as the world’s richest man.

    As for the Clinton crime family they now are the de facto bosses of the New York Democratic party.
    After Hillary Clinton’s shocking 2016 loss the Clinton family is now basing their hopes for future power in the form of their daughter Chelsea Clinton.

    Chelsea Clinton says she has not ruled out running for office
    Daughter of Bill and Hillary says a move into politics in future is a ‘definite maybe’
    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2018/aug/20/chelsea-clinton-says-she-has-not-ruled-out-running-for-office

    Presumably Senator Schumer will retire in 2022 or 2028 leaving an open Senate seat for Chelsea Clinton.
    While foreign political donations are illegal NXIVM could be a useful tool for concealing illegal donations to future Democratic political campaign’s (including Chelsea’s campaign) in New York State.

  • Bravo! This is one of the best comments I’ve ever read on this site. Absolutely brilliant assessment.

  • And at the same time people demand that the state stays out of what they consider their business. Think of the stupid anti-vaxxers, putting the life of others at risk out of wrong, poorly researched and selfish reasons. These people call it an informed and consensual decision by adults as well, saying a parent knows what is best for their child.
    Let us make this clear, there needs to be a line drawn in the sand that is non-negotiable.

    • anti vaxers are not stupid ….. but your attitude sure is

      • Agree, they are extremely misguided.

      • Anti vaxxers are completely retarded:

        – they live in an echo chamber, like DOS slaves
        – they believe everyone outside of it is oppressive or a shill, like DOS slaves
        – they take up and believe everything inside their bubble, like DOS slaves
        – they harm themselves and others, like DOS slaves

      • You have finally figured that out- The guy is another vacuous leftist

      • There is no longer any science behind the anti-vaccination movement.

        It has now been scientifically proven that autism begins in the womb.

        Look it up. Once again Autism starts in the womb.
        The debate is over.

        I had a friend who in the early ’80s had mumps and measles.

        My friend’s mother was convinced that his older brother had Down syndrome from vaccinations.

        My friend was so sick he missed an entire year of school and almost died twice in the 5th grade.

        • no science or was that NO NEWS ABOUT THE SCIENCE ….. listen to minute 19

          …..https://www.youtube.com/watch-v=XMXJVT6FOBM

          4 billion dollars in quiet damages paid out over 30 years that’s a lot of fucking dough why doesn’t the news ever mention these cases

          all you self righteous mindless trust in the government idiots out there keeping spiking your arms you play right into their madness

          vaccines could be the very reason why these people suffered from no critical thinking at any point in their nxivm experience

          stay close-minded but i know my son’s pediatrician had a rude awakening when I asked him what research he ever did for HIMSELF on this subject ….he began to dig and was

          horrified and admitted so

          • Yep you can’t fix stupid. The idiots on the left love the Big Pharma lies.Science is what their brainless politically corrects heads want it to be.

    • To F.D.C – If you can’t acknowledge that no matter how thin you slice it, there are two sides of the argument – then you are part of the problem.

      • Nutjob,

        You mean a right or a wrong side-

        Just because there is to sides to every argument…. does not mean both deserve credence…..

        Down to the molecule a glass is either half empty or half full scientifically speaking….

        • Go read The Vaccine Book by Dr Sears and try to tell me he is an anti-vaxxer. He lays out both sides of the molecules and even proposes an alternate vaccine schedule that any idiot could see makes more sense for most children.

          And yes, I stand by my point that the people on both sides of the topic who can’t have a logical discussion about the vaccine issue in the US are the problem. When “it’s my way or the highway” progress will not be made, and a place of trust won’t be found.

          • They won’t read it. These left wing Marxist nuts only want to use their pwn phony science without debate. Same thing with their global warming hoax. Marxists are all about control.

  • Great, thoughtful piece, thanks.

    And good catch about nexum, I was wondering just the other day what NXIVM might actually mean. Raniere seems to have liked hidden meanings, and DOS has latin origins (Raniere’s latin seems to have been a bit rough), so it seems very plausible. Those subject to nexum were nexi, and in the genitive plural third declension that would be nexium, or, roughly, the group upon whom nexum was imposed. This may actually have cracked the mystery.

    All the points on the spectrum cited, are important ones each worth of an article. Even more than coercion, I’m hoping that the trial may address more subtle issues of undue influence and even social control.

    I’ve long thought that Scientology’s extensive and extended thought reform, including the directed construction of false past life identities through the “auditing” process, was the closest thing to brainwashing – technically, a discredited concept – that existed. However, finding out more about NXIVM’s inner circle – where Raniere also used assignments of supposed past life indentities and similar regression techniques in “EMs” – and his use of NLP and other influence and manipulation techniques, leaves me to think that he gave L. Ron Hubbard (who was also very adept at hypnotism) a run for his money.

    Along those lines, there’s a very interesting article in the NYT this weekend about psychogenic illness, including the related phenomenon known as mass or group hysteria, which challenge our comfortable late 20th century notions about mind-body divisions and even free will. As hinted at in its references to placebos and hypnosis, I think it points to questions about just how much an adept influence operator might be able to virtually control susceptible individuals, possibly even eliciting conditions essentially indistinguishable from physical illnesses.

    Was It an Invisible Attack on U.S. Diplomats, or Something Stranger-
    ‘An “unknown energy source” has been blamed for debilitating symptoms suffered by Americans posted in Cuba. The real cause may be more surprising.’
    https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/05/15/magazine/diplomat-disorder.html
    “Dozens of leading neurologists, psychiatrists and psychologists, meanwhile, have offered an alternative narrative: that the diplomats’ symptoms are primarily psychogenic — or “functional” — in nature. If true, it would mean that the symptoms were caused not by a secret high-tech weapon but by the same confluence of psychological and neurological processes — entirely subconscious yet remarkably powerful — underlying hypnosis and the placebo effect. “

    • The Times article is interesting. The Cuban embassy (non-) incident seems to be, in plain language, a case of psychosomatic symptoms. Particularly interesting was the statement by one researcher that patients’ “mysterious” twitching, when tested by MRI, appear to be entirely voluntary. Looks to me like they’re faking it. Hypochondria, like the placebo effect, is quite real.

      • The point is that the physical effects aren’t truly voluntary, or “faking it” – they operate at a something like a subconscious level that is almost indistinguishable from the entirely physical, and more or less as challenging to threat.

        Things like this that modern science is pointing to, uncomfortably challenge our notions of personal agency and free will.

        What I find to be the disturbing implication here, is that an adept suggestive/hypnotic operator could effectively plant in a susceptible individual, a physical condition virtually the same as an actual affliction – as well as possibly behavioral and psychological effects, sort of an individual hysteria effect similar to better-known group hysteria. In this case, I don’t think that Raniere necessarily had an advanced understanding of such things, but he may well have known how to exploit them at some level.

      • The Times article is more left wing crap. The same thing was happening in Communist China. You leftists are despicable

        https://theconversation.com/sonic-attacks-in-china-and-cuba-how-sound-can-be-a-weapon-97380

        https://taskandpurpose.com/diplomats-sonic-attacks-cuba-china

        • But it wasn’t quite the same thing that happened in China – which would actually be typical of psychogenic illness.

          The culty, us-against-them ideological thinking that you demonstrate is curious, as is your preference for conspiracy theories over science.

  • I believe the author Smith is an alter ego of Frank Parlato.
    That’s what he chose, if my guess is correct, because he didn’t want to express
    himself as editor and chief editor Frank Parlato, but as as a citizen and private
    person. If I am wrong, I apologize to the author. But I recognize Frank Parlato
    in his writing style and form.

    • Thank you for the compliment, but I am not Smith. I have admired Smith’s insights for quite some time.

  • Good points, but it a really difficult area. In the UK we have just introduced an offence of “coercive control” to try to assist where someone usually a woman in a relationship (but could be a man) who is not beaten by her husband but overly controlled – e.g., not given charge of the money and much else. The problem with that is distinguishing where there is consent and where not and it can be the same with cults and self-help groups too. I am no apologist for Nx but I can see why so few people have ended up charged and why the state tends to stay away from groups like Scientology, never mind mainstream fundamentalist Christianity and Islam which can require women to serve and obey their husbands. It is a can of worms.

  • That’s a fascinating insight, the link between the Latin word nexum and Nxivm. Raniere liked to show off his schoolboy Latin, it’s an easy way to impress the rubes. Fool people into thinking you’re brilliant. Toss out the occasional tag like ‘Veni, Vidi, Vince’ and everyone shuts up, overawed by your brilliance. And all it takes is a Latin dictionary.

    I wonder if any of the women in DOS bothered to figure out what Dominus Obsequios Sororum meant. Because to me, Raniere choosing that name shows just how contemptuous he was, how overconfident.

    BTW, I have just one quibble with your post. Selling oneself into slavery was not unique to the ancient Romans; nor did it really end until early modern times. Indentured servitude still existed in Colonial times in America. Apprenticeships were often paid for that way in Europe.

  • Once upon a cult

    Well said, great analysis, we are all hoping that the monster rots in jail and justice will be done.

  • Smith,

    I wanted to thank you for an excellent article. Thanks!

  • Pingback: Guest View: Nxivm, More Than a Weird Sex Cult, Is an Intellectual Assault on Human Dignity and Freedom ()

  • Que bueno que existes para desenmascarar tanta barbarie! Por cierto nadie habla del uso de drogas en esta secta para lavar cerebros.

    • Que bueno que existe para desenmascarar tanta barbarie! Por cierto, nadie habla del uso de drogas en esta secta para lavar cerebros.

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