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In Reply to: Re: To X-Family second generation in general. posted by on May 02, 2002 at 13:32:20:
Listen Donny, whoever you are, all Im saying is that people should get over it. I suffered just as much under the leadership in the family as anyone. The hell my family and I were put through during my 15 years in the family, the 1st 15 of my life, I might add, cannot be put into words without filling up a volume or two, so I'm not going to get into it here.
What makes me different from you, judging by the obvious anger in your post(and also assuming that you were ever a member), is that I got over it. I'm not letting some bullshit that I struggled to get away from for 15 years affect the rest of my life. However, I do still remember what excited people about the Children of God in the first place, which is more than I can say for some people who were there from the beginning, and I wasn't.
You want to know what really pisses me off though? It's not that he said the things that he did. It's not the fact that he lost track of reality, and started coming up with some really far-fetched bullshit that nobody in their right mind would fall for, let alone fashion an entire belief system around. It was the complacency and utter gullability of his followers. Herd mentality. Those spineless fuckos, excuse my language, stopped thinking for themselves long before my generation came along, and tried to force us as children to fall for the same shit that they were too weak-minded to see through. I for one never took anyones word for anything, whether it was something that was supposed to have been written in the Bible, or something that came down from David Berg through a letter or tape or something. I read everything, and listened to everything, and came to a realization at a very early age that my parents and our appointed "shepherds" were full of shit. In other words I figured out how to think for myself, and as a result, I missed out on my entire childhood.
What I was trying to say in my post, is that it is a crying shame what happened. In the GOOD OLD DAYS, people were drawn to the family because of it's anti-establishment anti-system beliefs. The same system that even today tries to curb individual thought with a constant barage(did I spell that right?) of propaganda through corporate-owned media, and government-regulated schools, and self-righteous bible thumpers.
What I'm saying is that the same herd-mentality that the original members were rebelling against became all of our downfall. I don't hate David Berg. I reserve my anger for those who would allow that bullshit to make it to their childrens ears, and affect their lives in the ways that it did. I endured the abuse, both verbal and physical, but I shouldn't have had to. My parents could have left anytime that they wanted, and the same could be said for anyone in the family. Those people made the choice to stay and follow the herd instead of take control of their own lives. I dare say many stayed out of pure laziness, because it was alot easier to let everyone else raise their kids, and live in communal situations where they had the benefit of everyone else's work to support them. I remember plenty of people who never did shit to help themselves. The did what they were told and kept their mouth shut because they were getting a free ride, sending their kids out to do all the legwork, so the home could have "donations" and "provisions" to "help us spread the word of God".
I cry when I think about the birthright that I lost. I was born into something awesome and potentialy world-changing, and watched it all go down the tubes because there was nothing I could do about it.
No Donny, I do not condone any of those things that you are pissed-off about. I just wanted people to remember how it all started. I wanted people to remember that the end result was not what people had in mind, back in the good-old-days. I for one wish I could have been there at the beginning. Not to toot my own horn or anything, but if there would have been more people then who thought like I do, then maybe they would have spoken up and left, taking as many as they could with them. Maybe they could have salvaged something of the original ideals that inspired it all in the first place. I wish we could start again. Knowing what I know now, I would still try again.
Peace and love to you Donny, I hope you are not angry at me for the things that I said. Remember, the guys dead, and he has no power over anyone that they don't give him themselves. Like I said, people listened to him for a reason. He knew what he was talking about. He just went crazy later on, and people were too stupid to notice. Of course, who am I to say. I was excommunicated in '89 when I right before I turned 15. There must have been a reason for it. Later all. :')
