Sunday, January 9, 2011

Donations and Fund-Raising in the Anti-Cult Community: A Warning

In several previous posts, I wrote that not all the people in the anti-cult community (including those who are mental health professionals) are trustworthy. Not all the anti-cult people are altruists. Not all of them do the anti-cult work in order to really help people (even if they claim so). Some of them have absolutely other goals such as to gain authority over people, get their money, and so on. However, they will not tell you what their real goals are and will pretend that they want to help people. This is why there is a need to be careful and not to trust everyone in the anti-cult area only because this person is anti-cult.

In two previous posts, I wrote about a person who has been trying to become an anti-cult leader for about 15 years:
Anti-Cult Activism and Anti-Cult Leaders: A Warning
Anti-Cult "Professor Moriarty"
He created some anti-cult organizations that collapsed. He had conflicts with people who co-founded anti-cult organizations with him. However, he continues his attempts to create new anti-cult organizations with the intention to gain a high position in anti-cult community and not with the intention to help people.

Several months ago, he did fund-raising in quite an odd way. He posted an announcement that somebody gave him something and that he wanted to sell it for raising funds. However, he never explained what the purpose of his fund-raising was. Since I knew about his plans to create a new non-profit anti-cult organization, I suspected that the purpose was fund-raising for this organization, but he never mentioned his purpose.

Recently, there has been another odd situation. Authors of a certain anti-cult blog are supposedly under a danger of being sued by the cult they criticize. They are very careful about their anonymity, but the cult lawyers demand their email provider to reveal their identities in order to sue them. In order to avoid it, they need to hire a lawyer and pay them a certain amount of money. Otherwise, in several days, their identities will be revealed.

The "anti-cult leader" aka "anti-cult professor Moriarty" volunteers to help them in fund-raising. In the same blog, he publishes a post, asking people to donate. However, since he does not want their identities to be revealed, he asks people to send money to him instead of sending it to the blog authors.

Well, there are some points that make this situation quite suspicious to me:
1. This person is not an altruist at all. Neither is he honest. He uses many tricks. He uses people for his own goals.
2. The timing is quite interesting because it is just the time he was going to start his new non-profit organization (but apparently did not start it yet).
3. The money goes directly to him, not to the blog authors. I have no idea what he is going to do with it.
4. Consider two situations: you are asked to donate for a new anti-cult non-profit organization (which you do not know much about) and you are asked to donate to support anti-cult blog authors who are in a danger to be sued by a cult, who are in a desperate situation and need money right now. How many people will donate for a new anti-cult non-profit organization and how many people will donate to the blog authors who are going to be sued? Obviously, much more people will donate in the second case.

Well, I do not know if the blog authors are really in the danger of being sued or not. I do not know how the "anti-cult professor Moriarty" is going to use the collected money. However, the facts listed above make me doubt that his real intention is to collect money for the blog authors and not for his non-profit organization. Actually, even if he is going to send the blog authors some of the collected money, there is no guarantee that they will receive all the money donated for them.

Some people might think that even if he collects money for his new non-profit organization, it is a good goal. The problem is that if he is dishonest in fund-raising, it is already a very bad sign. I am absolutely sure that he is unable to help people. He is able only to use people and damage them. Thus, his organization will be damaging and not helpful for people. In addition, it is quite possible that it will collapse quite soon because of his new conflicts with the co-founders. Do you want to donate for such an organization?

In conclusion, I want to warn people to be careful when they are asked to donate money for various anti-cult funds. Your money might be used not in the way you think they will be.

9 comments:

Borz Lom (Löma) Nal said...

I received a response to this blog post by email. The person who sent it asked me to post it here. Here it is:

***************************************

I just read your new blog post. Thanks for posting it!!

See....last night I started having "trouble" again...emotionally. I realized it was because I donated to the [certain anti-cult blog] defense fund. Following is what I wrote in the wee mornings hours (1:30ish am) on my blog journal (which is not viewable to the public).

(Begin journal entry)
Tomorrow [01/09/11] begins my new year.

I will lay out some plans, goals for the year.

This evening I've felt like I've had critters crawling all over my skin. [...].My chin broke out. [...] Then tonight my finger.

And I feel an invisible creepy entity crawling my skin.

Weird. Like how my blood used to feel like it was itchy.

I just went up to go to bed. I popped a Xanax to calm the skin. Yes, another odd thing.

I checked in with my heart and realize...it's ["Professor Moriarty"] crap again. I simply cannot (in any healthy way) read or interact with any of his projects.

Earlier today I donated $$ to help the [certain anti-cult] blog because it is under threat from the [the cult it criticizes]. Well...["Professor Moriarty"] is the one who set up the [certain anti-cult] defense fund. He set it up through his soon to open [new non-profit organization]. I sent a a note with my payment, which I made via Paypal:

"This donation is ONLY for the [certain anti-cult] defense fund, NOT for the [new non-profit organization]. For reasons I currently do not want to share, I am not comfortable supporting the [new non-profit organization]. I do support freedom of speech & transparency. Go for it [certain anti-cult]! Thank you, [name]"

Now I wish I never would have donated funds. I feel ... hmmm ... kind of dirty. I think now that my skin condition is actually a response to my virtual connect with ["Professor Moriarty"] via that blog...even though ["Professor Moriarty"] and I will probably not communicate.

I did want to help the [certain anti-cult] blog, but I don't want to support the [new non-profit organization].

And now I regret that I sent the money.

It behooves me to have no connect at all with ["Professor Moriarty"]. It is simply too triggering.

So...connect with my heart. Pull in my truth. What does that mean, pull in my truth? Heart connect. [...] Recognize that by donating, I haven't committed a mortal sin. I sent only [so much $$]. But I can't do it again. I simply can't.

["Professor Moriarty"] really harmed me. Some people would laugh. Probably ["Professor Moriarty"] laughs it off.

I told [a friend] today when we were chatting that I feel like a piece of dental floss. And I do. I feel ["Professor Moriarty"] used me and threw me out. I still shake my head in disbelief at times, of his treatment toward me.

Inside, I want his non-profit to fail. At the same time I don't want others to get hurt in the same way that ["Professor Moriarty"]has hurt me and [name withheld] and [name withheld] and [name withheld] and [name withheld] and the others at [name withheld]. And [name withheld]...she got hurt in all this too. It's just so wrong.

I wonder if I can cancel my donation. Hmm...

Just checked on it...too late.

"I'm sorry [name withheld]," I say to myself.

"I forgive you," I respond back to myself. "Just next time, wait a bit before you jump. You're still learning."

God I hope ["Professor Moriarty"] doesn't harm others in this process of his agenda. I simply cannot support that [new non-profit organization].

My stomach turns.... :-(
(End journal entry)

[....]

I'd post a response on your [blog] entry, but I simply emotionally can't right now. [Professor Moriarty] really harmed me. I think more than I want to admit.

Thanks so much.

Borz Lom (Löma) Nal said...

PS. The text of the previous comment was sent to me after the author read my blog post. However, the quoted journal entry was written before the author read my blog post. This person is a former client of "Professor Moriarty."

Valya said...

Is there a way to track down how it was possible for one Russian anticult activist to receive a grant from U. S. government (my translation from Russian) "My American colleagues nearly fainted after learning that I have received a grant from the U.S. government on the issue of destructive cults - for them it is an impossible dream. And I got this grant only from the third attempt, and in a year, when there has been allocated a record number of grants and under unique circumstances."

Borz Lom (Löma) Nal said...

Interesting... Who is this Russian anti-cult activist? Could you give a link to the article where it is written about this (in English or in Russian)?

Valya said...

His name is Evgeny Volkov (the first name may have variations in transliteration). He is a secular anticult activist. The link is to a post on one Russsian anticult forum
http://www.sektam.net/forum/index.php?showtopic=957&st=20

post # 31. You'll see his photo.

Borz Lom (Löma) Nal said...

Thank you for this information. I know something about Volkov, but I did not know anything about his grant from the U.S. government. Since he wrote about this four years ago, he obviously received it before that time. Interesting.

Valya said...

It is interesting to read that you know something about Volkov.

Do you know Russian?

Borz Lom (Löma) Nal said...

Yes. This is my native language.

Valya said...

My native language is also Russian. I am glad that no need to explain the content of that forum topic. Forum participant Nikolai did a very good job - found many scientific articles to support his point of view.