https://commoncts.blogspot.com/2025/11/breaking-schumer-shutdown-over-senate.html

I just tried to open up a carton of my usual brand of ice cream, and found the reason it was so unreasonably hard to open was that it was now sealed with a band of tough plastic, I assume to deter tampering, and also to send customers a signal if their ice cream had, indeed, been tampered with.

Funny thing about that, in the bad old days of, say, around the 40s and 50s, we didn’t have to worry about such tampering, which I don’t ever remember seeing a report of; it apparently just wasn’t thought of or done.

OK, Werner Erhard is the guy who created The est Training, a motivational program which became a cult movement in the 70s/80s. est morphed into Landmark, a milder, less sue-able form, which is still around and doing well.

Today I watched a fascinating video interview of Anne Peterson, a former Landmark insider, who even worked with Erhard. Peterson has written a book, “Is This is a Cult?” which blows the lid off the many lies and abuses in the Landmark world.

–“Speaking of Cults…The Big Problems with Landmark Forum”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFmJBxrgnsY

After a disastrous exposé of Erhard on “60 Minutes” in the 90s, Erhard had to go into exile and the Landmark organization expunged all mentions of him in their literature and programs.

The word was that Erhard had sold Landmark to its employees for a nominal sum and was no longer in the picture. Of course, no one really believed that.

But Peterson is backing it up in print. Erhard is still the mastermind behind the scenes. He is siphoning off millions of dollars, while the staff are paid poorly. He is still an abusive SOB and his example has spread throughout the organization.

I was a gung-ho graduate of est and Landmark for several years, but got burned out by the pressure to recruit new members and by the craziness of the organization.

I follow the story from a distance. My copy of her book comes Monday. This is going to be interesting.

It’s an extravagant macho thing, like the peacocks’ tails.