Across the Street: Wade Cook's Cult of Personality?
By Ellen Leventry
Staff Reporter
2/27/98 11:31 AM ET
...I anted up $22 to sit in. At 8:40 a.m. on Saturday
morning, I took a seat among another 100 or so "Cookies"
at the Marriott East Side Hotel, with no special press credentials,
no tape recorder, no special questions to ask, not even a free bagel
or muffin. (Wade is a little cheap with the refreshments -- only
ice water was served.) So here's the skinny on the Off-Broadway
version of the Wade Cook Show.
-- Dan Colarusso
Early morning weekend meetings? Sleep deprivation.
Ice water and no bagels? (This is NYC after all.) Malnutrition.
Masses of devoted followers with silly nicknames? Cookies. Sounds
like the classic outline for cult indoctrination as described in
Combatting Cult Mind Control by Steve Hassan. So, we decided to
take a light-hearted look at the eerie parallels between your run-of-the-mill
cult and Wade Cook seminars.
CULT OF PERSONALITY? QUESTIONS FOR IDENTIFYING
CULTS
WADE COOK SEMINARS (WADE:Nasdaq)
* Who is the leader? What are her/his background
qualifications? Is it possible that there are misrepresentations
or falsehoods? Wade Cook, former cab driver and motivational entrepreneur.
* Are there exclusive claims made to wisdom, knowledge,
love and truth? Wade Cook seminars can give you the knowledge to
get massive returns that could bring you financial freedom.
* Are total submission and obedience required? Some
are convinced that any variance from the dogma will result in financial
loss.
* Does he/she have a criminal record, a legacy of
allegations against him/her or a history of misconduct? Let's just
say that regulators know him by name.
* Does the leader drive expensive cars and wear expensive
clothes while extolling the virtues of renunciation? Is the group
leader's driveway habitually filled with luxury cars while ordinary
people find him or her inaccessible? In his book, Business Buy the
Bible, Cook warns readers not to covet worldly possessions, but
that earning them is just fine. In fact, he earned a Benz and a
Jag in the same week.
* Are questions and doubts permitted within the organization?
Cook soundly discourages any negativism.
* Is the organization open or closed? Are there restricted
teachings for initiates only? Is there real financial accountability?
Yes and no. It's open to those with money and closed to those without.
As for financial accountability, talk to one participant about her
refund, or lack thereof.
* What structural checks and balances exist within
the organization to prevent abuse of power? Not many -- Cook owns
60% of the company. YOU'VE GOT ME UNDER YOUR SPELL
* Use of deception or distorting information to make
it acceptable One ex-seminar-goer says, "The examples are so
unrealistic, yet work to serve his ultimate goal of indoctrination."
* Extensive use of cult-generated information and
propaganda The Vatican's gift shop has nothing on Wade's mini-mall!
* Adopt "loaded" language (characterized
by "thought-terminating cliches," or buzzwords) Not sure
whether you eat "Bear Market Baloney" or read it? Check
out one unbeliever's glossary.
* Ritual and often public confessions of "sins"
-- no happiness or fulfillment outside the group Confessions and
testimonials from the faithful.
Questions taken from Combatting Cult Mind Control
by Steve Hassan.
Freedomofmind.com fully supports religious
freedom and the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
The fact that a person’s name or group appears on our website
does not necessarily mean they are a destructive mind control cult.
They appear because we have received inquiries and have established
a file on the group.
The Freedom of Mind Resource Center Inc. was established by cult expert Steve Hassan.
