2 episodes in and this is great. Town residents are a bunch of assholes and getting exactly what they deserve so far.
3 episodes in now and still the only real takeaway is none of this escalation happens if the town of Antelope wasn't full of gigantic bigoted assholes.
Finished. Amazing stuff. Hated every one of those smug old fuck town residents. Absolutely shocked that none of them have a problem with a giant Christian camp now existing on the property. Shocked, I tell you.
Eh I don't think the documentary itself went out of it's way to portray either side in a positive or negative way. The whole story was told by archived news footage and the people that were there. The town residents were assholes back then and still sounded like assholes today. Sheela and her inner circle were nuts and did awful, awful things. They were also pushed to it by the people in Antelope. Did the Rajneeshees take it way the fuck too far? Unquestionably, and there is no excusing some of the shit they did. However, just listening to the townspeople explain it in their own words and it's clear that their concerns with the Rashneesh were never about land use, it was pure bigotry and fear.
Fear of people that literally poisoned them and tried to kill them. And then you compare it to a Christian kids camp that they have today?
Literally none of that shit likely happens without the townspeople trying to kick them off the land they legally purchased. All the Rajneeshees wanted to do was meditate, fuck, and live off their land. They only took over the town after the residents started suing them and threatening them with guns. Even the Oregon courts eventually ruled that the Rajneesh hadn't violated any land use laws, but by that time the damage had been done. Yes, I compared it to a Christian kids camp. The actions of the residents of Antelope were driven purely out of fear of a religion they didn't like or understand. Yet they have no problem with a camp that's affiliated with their own religious views. It's blatant hypocrisy.
Yeah, I agree that the town's people were shit bags, but Sheela could have done a much better job of trying to calm the locals down and reassure them. She met their ignorance with aggression and just fueled the fire. She was a massive cunt.
This entire story is just amazing. Whether the portrayal of the people of Antelope is accurate or not, I don't know. I do know that they look like just disgusting people in the documentary. I also feel like they are basically the exact same idiotic shit bags that are ruining this country now. The government attack on the entire thing is just insane and typical of how awful our system is at times. Obviously, Sheela was a pretty awful person during all of it, but holy shit at building a city the way they did in such a short period of time. That place was really amazing and ahead of it's time.
I'm 3 1/2 episodes in. The Mayor & the town residents come off as fucking assholes. Especially the grandson of the co-founder of Nike & the old guys wife with short hair. Who the fuck are you to say whether or not someone has too many Rolls Royce's.
People being upset at him being rich is just crazy to me. He didn't do it like some TV preacher or something. He sold millions of books and was paid for it. It was crazy how much money they had, but the multi millionaire choosing to ride around on his horse and play cowboy isn't one that has any room to talk. I want to find more information about the city they built. It's a pretty remarkable feat they accomplished, especially using their own money and people.
The turn from “these townspeople are asshats, GO BIG SANNYASINS,” to “holy fucking shitballs you lunatic cult members,” was incredible. The Australian lady’s level of cognitive dissonance and denial were particularly impressive.
Which is my biggest issue with the towns ppl. They are speaking out of both sides of their mouth. On one hand, everyone likes to preach that america has religious freedom and you can practice what you want. What they are really saying is "As long as your religion isn't too weird and doesn't take over my conservative Christian values. You are good in my book. It's funny how the US fed govt is quick to go after outsiders in situations like this. But haven't really touched Scientology at all.
Yeah, Christians never want ACTUAL religious freedom. They want Christian freedom to force their own beliefs on everyone.
I just finished the documentary and I have to disagree with you on a number of things. From the Mayor, to the grandson of the co founder of Nike to the old guy with glasses who keeps old pieces from that entire ordeal. Those people in that town didn’t want to interact with folks that they deemed to be different than them. It also didn’t help that some long haired brown dude in purple outfits was rolling around in 20-25 Rolls Royce’s infront of rural white conservative Christians. I’m really glad that this documentary had a large collection of recordings from back then. That way neither side could try and bend the truth I. Their favor (specifically the towns ppl). Make no mistake about it that this was an “us vs them” situation from the day the first truckload of homes came to that BFE part of Oregon. It’s a prime example that religious freedom in America is something we truly don’t mean. Lastly, I find it interesting that every town resident that’s in this documentary seems like they miss the conflict from back in the day and that their lives have not moved on in a positive light. Meanwhile the members of this so called cult have found ways to enlighten the world around them and live life the best they can Oh and I can’t wait for the Lululemon documentary to drop 40 years from now. Because if this was viewed as a cult back in the 80s. Lululemon is definitely cult by their standards fam.
I don't really feel like you disagreed with me very much, if at all. I agree that it was great that so much original footage was used.
Have yall looked into the things that went on within the cult? Truly evil stuff. Some disturbing takes in here.
Prostitution, drug running, drug dealing, fraud, tons of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse, bioterrorism, rape, statutory rape, pedophilia, totrure, currency fraud, money laundering, illegal wire-tapping, child neglect, much more. Not to mention another list of despicable behavior that isnt technically illegal but plenty fucked up. But yea the dirty white christians are who we should be reviling. Who are they to want to resist these people taking over their town right? This board can be really disturbing at times. https://newrepublic.com/article/147657/outside-limits-human-imagination
Well you think the town's people weren't total backwoods hicks? I think everyone in this thread was going off of what was in the show If they left out all of that stuff, shame on them, but that in no way changes the fucktards and their shitty attitudes and the piss poor way they handled people buying land outside of their town. Also, I don't think anyone has given a pass to the Rajneesh for how shitty they handled it. It feels like people itt all placed blame on both parties and you just want to go with only the "Christians" were good.
Being a “backwood hick” doesn’t put you anywhere close to equal footing as the cult, and anyone who can’t see that very clearly is disturbed and has an irrational hatred for a huge swath of people. Again read that article and you can understand why you would want those people far away from your town.
Feel free to explain how a tiny town of retired country people freaking out about a giant cult coming in and taking over their town is at all similar to the behavior the cult engages in as laid out by that article.
Well, you've decided one group was totally fine in their behavior and that the other wasn't, all while ignoring numerous facts. Meanwhile, I think they were both shit bags in certain ways and it's all been laid out in the posts above. So the way I see it, it's best for me to just let you do your thing and not worry about explaining something you won't get anyways.
“Both were shitbags in certain ways.” The townspeople put together political moves to block bussed in homeless people (who the cult drugged and then abandoned) from voting in local elections, the cult literally tried to murder them. Throw the facts out there that show the townspeople did anything remotely as fucked up as the cult.
Its not, your reaction is rational and consistent with the way the series unfolded. Others not so much, and it’s nuts.
The same way he only saw bits and pieces that he wanted to start a dumb and disingenuous argument about. He didn't actually read and attempt to understand shit.
Lol the point is they really weren't that ignorant were they? Just look at what you posted about Sheela who very clearly displays sociopathic qualities. Man that psycho lady was being a real bitch for not properly manipulating those unwashed hillbillies.
You fucking retard. The point is, they didn't know shit about them and acted EXACTLY like dumb hillbillies. Just because the Rajneesh didn't handle being attacked by the town's people correctly, that doesn't absolve the town's people. They both fucked up and escalated something. God damn, quit trying to give a pass to the people that call themselves Christians. If they would have acted like Christians, I would have applauded them. They didn't though.
I truly wonder what would’ve happened if the residents of Antelope just left them alone on the ranch from the beginning. I have zero doubt that the cult would’ve ended up doing insane cult things, but it’s kind of interesting to think about the alternative.
Agreed. I think they would have been fine for a while until someone from inside left and told on them and got an investigation started. Ultimately I believe they would have collapsed regardless, but the town's issues were almost completely self inflicted.
They knew they were a cult and that the people behaved very suspiciously. There is no christian imperative to ignore whats going on in your community, and there certainly isn't any requirement to ignore or accept a sex cult trying to manipulate your local elections. It's silly to write those suspicions off as them just being dumb hillbillies when their suspicions were proven to be completely warranted. As if that would be so hard. You're in the middle of nowhere and all of a sudden a giant sex cult wants to move in and build a 10,000 person city based on false pretenses? You would have to be brain dead not to be immediately suspicious. The townspeople didn't attack them either. The bomb was placed by a muslim fanatic from LA. Convenient of the series to leave that out huh?
I thought it was a great documentary. Valid arguments for both sides. You have to remember the whole Jim Jones thing was like 1-2 years before they came into Oregon. But if you read any articles on it, it seems fairly clear that the documentary painted a brighter picture of the Rajneesh than what was probably the case.