Cult Awareness - Desteni Doomed - 2

Ivan Rauscher

(continued from Desteni Doomed - 1: The Voice of a Sane Organization?)

In a talk entitled, Cult Bashers are Con Artists, the main spokesperson for the Desteni organisation, Bernard Poolman tells listeners to be aware that exit counselor / cult expert, Rick Ross and others express ideas about Desteni being a cult in a confident way and can thereby instill fear. 

The Desteni thread at the Cult Education Forum run by the Rick A. Ross Institute began in 2008 and is over 100 pages long. Like many groups before them, Desteni dish the dirt on Rick Ross, but Mr Ross has in fact only ever made a very few public statements about Desteni, probably the most significant being:

Desteni seems to be an enterprise essentially dominated by Poolman and personality-driven. It apparently contains his conspiracy theories, seemingly denigrates the outside world and perhaps ultimately serves as a 'cash cow', which Poolman seems to milk for his income. In my opinion Desteni can easily be seen as a 'cult-like' and potentially unsafe group.

But it doesn't take an expert to figure it out: anyone can see Desteni is quite obviously a New Age-style 'channeling' cult running a Multi-Level Marketing scheme. At the Soulpancake website recently one concerned individual wrote that the Desteni website 'screams "CULT"'. Another describes it as 'a poor man's Scientology'. Similar observations have been made on countless other websites and forums: the Skeptic Project, David Icke's Official Forums, the 2012 Hoax, the Ex Scientologist Message Board, Above Top Secret, Godlike Productions and many more.

Mr Poolman repeats his catch phrase, 'what is best for all', as if Desteni has to be 'what is best for all'. It is common knowledge that cults always claim to be best for all. That is partly what makes them cults. Naturally, being cult members, those persons identifying themselves as 'Destonians' will tend to resist awareness of how cults operate. That is, in this instance with repeated use of jargon and catch phrases and claims towards being the only group in the world that is for the universal greater good.

Cults usually present themselves as unfairly persecuted by fear-mongers and liars. At the Destonian Wiki, this blog is described as 'Internet Bullying, Propagation of Lies, Individual Harassment'. URLs of this blog and many but not all of the YouTube channels criticising Desteni are listed with the warning that the reader may visit these sites 'at your own risk', as if it is somehow dangerous to read a blog or website or watch a video that merely criticises, mocks or satirises Desteni.

Criticising, mocking or satirising statements of a group or individual in blogs, forums or videos is not the same thing as 'internet bullying' or 'individual harassment'. Neither is it perpetrating a scam or hoax, as Desteni also claim.

In Cult Bashers are Con Artists, Poolman repeats another of his tiresome slogans, 'the actual practical message of Jesus', which is what he says his group represents. Then he makes an even more ludicrous statement: that atheism is also 'the message of Jesus'.

Cult leaders have very often claimed their groups represent the message of Jesus. And cults like Jim Jones' People's Temple, Heaven's Gate, Aum Shinrikyo, The Order of the Solar Temple also made doomsday predictions.

Desteni doomsday predictions -- 2007

In 2007, Desteni released a document stating that 'Heaven will withdraw World Leaders, Political Leaders, Religious Leaders, Corporate Leaders and Crime Leaders in months to come' and that 'Children will be able to see Beings from Heaven everywhere and communicate freely'.

In a supposed 'portalling' of Edgar Cayce (1877–1945), doomsday prophecies were made by the Desteni group about world-wide tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, massive earthquakes, snowstorms, volcanic eruptions. 

After their main channels were terminated in 2011 by YouTube for 'spam, scams and commercially deceptive content', and Vimeo for violation of the terms of contract, and they had become known for sporting skinheads, the 'principles of equality and oneness' group abandoned their FaceWorldFaceOff campaign to 'get at least 100 million people to shave off their hair as a statement of Standing up in no longer participation in the hair industry'.

They voluntarily removed content pertaining to Adolf Hitler from their website. They began blogging about their need for self-forgiveness on a daily basis, branding it as a 'seven-year Journey to Life'.

After initially predicting that their 'Equal Money System' would by 2020 start to become the inevitable outcome of everyone in the world voting for it, they reduced it to a 'research and development Project to formulate and investigate responses to general policies'.  

They launched an offshoot business selling the Techno Tutor software at an extortionate price. They have published numerous translations of their material in various languages. They have offered cut-price and 'blogging for sponsorship' deals for courses in Desteni 'self-mastery'.

None of this seems to have made any difference to their membership count. Their free Desteni I Process Lite course is another attempt to increase numbers but as with their other schemes typically lacks both the potential for popular appeal and any business acumen. 

Not only do Destonians appear incapable of addressing the question of the cult-like attributes of their group, they fail to recognise that 'Desteni' has no social, cultural or political credibility.

Unsurprisingly, since 2007, after publishing thousands of videos, articles and hundreds of blogs, Desteni have still only recruited around 100-150 active participants world-wide.

Desteni Doomed - 3: Cultish Behaviour Patterns

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Equal Money System: spreading the FAQ?

Ivan Rauscher

[note: Since July 2013, Desteni's Equal Money System has been superseded by Living Income Guaranteed.]

In one of his videos on 'equal money system' (EMS), called Media and spreading the message of equality - Equal Money FAQ, Bernard Poolman says Desteni don't 'use the media like television' because they can't afford it. As if they'd have to pay for advertising airtime. Social and political campaigns are given free airtime on the radio and TV every day of the week. None of it costs them any money whatsoever. And they have articles written about them in newspapers and magazines.

Sending out a press release costs nothing. If EMS can bring about 'equality for all', why aren't Desteni approaching the radio, TV and print news media to spread their message? They could hold a press conference. Members of Desteni could also promote EMS through the alternative media, for example, indymedia, Democracy Now! or AlterNet. There are hundreds more such outlets for free discussion, specifically on the issues of equality. All of them could be informed of EMS.

Why don't they try to gain support from well-known critics of social inequality, such as Max Keiser, Michael Moore or Naomi Klein? They could contact Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, co-founders of The Equality Trust and authors of The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone.

If Desteni are standing up for world equality, why don't they speak with the public face-to-face, in the street or door-to-door? Why not hold public meetings or lectures? Why not take the idea of EMS to political parties or governments to gain their support? Why don't Desteni host a book launch to promote their series of Equal Money books and get reviewed on Amazon or by political bloggers or in any other publications? All these things can be done with very little or no money.

But the Desteni core group in South Africa are not interested in getting involved in politics or changing society. They do not want to communicate with the mainstream or alternative media, the general public or with governments. They do not wish to co-operate, discuss or debate with any other groups or individuals concerned with issues of equality. They just want people to send them money.

Destonians are selling their wares, apparently as a form of online entertainment. They are v-logging and blogging about their personal lives and 'self-forgiveness'. In supposedly answering Frequently Asked Questions about EMS, they present fantasies about an imaginary future world. Any outsider who asks questions without agreeing with them is banned (they have banned well over 2000 YouTube channels). They try to discuss news items only to say: 'join Desteni'. They indulge in self-help mumbo jumbo which claims to be an antidote to the failures of capitalism, but in doing so they are only supporting the social capitalistic status quo.

They are promoting EMS to sell the Desteni I Process, which they describe as a 'lifestyle product' for 'self-development' and 'leadership'. They offer affiliate programs and commissions. That is internet sales, business as usual in capitalism. But they lack ambition. They confine themselves to a small corner of the internet, where they carry out an obscure marketing strategy which goes no further than targeting potential passive consumers on YouTube, Facebook and their own web forums.

Desteni are deliberately avoiding spreading their so-called 'message of equality'. They don't want to speak to the press. They don't want a wider audience. This is because Bernard Poolman is fully aware that the Desteni Equal Money System is an obvious scam and therefore he has to make sure it remains under the radar as much as possible.

The Desteni group has been exposed several times over as a dangerous cult by newspaper journalists, ex-Scientologists, atheists, ex-Jehovah's Witnesses, Christians, skeptics, members of the Zeitgeist Movement and the Anonymous group, comedians, Marxists, anti-Communists, anti-fascists, New Agers, YouTubers, anarchists, conspiracy theorists, free market libertarians, critics of conspiracy theories, cult experts; all kinds of social, spiritual or political commentators and the general public. They have been rejected by Wikipedia, violated copyright of Apple Inc, and banned by the web hosting company, Hetzner, as well as both YouTube and Vimeo. Any doubts or questions as to Desteni being a cult and its 'equal money system' a scam have already been resolved.

Bernard Poolman knows that if Equal Money System and the real questions surrounding it are publicised any more than at present, then his Desteni gang will risk further exposure as a money-grabbing, destructive cult, and much more than ever before, by people with far greater influence than any of their previous critics. He can't afford that.