I don’t know how comfortable any given person would feel commenting here. I do know that Kerry Vaughan, who is with Leverage now, has evidently felt comfortable enough to comment. I have no idea who you are but it seems fairly apparent that you have some association with Leverage, and you evidently feel comfortable enough to comment.
You say that one of those people (presumably meaning Kerry) “has been accused of plotting to coerce and manipulate victims”. I can’t find anywhere where anyone has made any such accusation. I can’t find any instance of “coerce” or any of its forms other than in your comment above. I find two other instances of “manipulate” and related words; one is specifically about Geoff Anders (who so far as I know is not the same person as Kerry Vaughan) and the other is talking generally about psychological manipulation and doesn’t make any accusations about specific people.
You say that the other person (presumably meaning you) “has been falsely accused of trying to hide their identity”, but so far as I can make out you are openly trying to hide your identity (on the grounds that if people could tell who you are then you would be mistreated on account of being associated with Leverage).
(I have to say that I’m a bit confused by the anonymity thing. Are you concerned that if you were onymous then people “in real life” would read what you say here, realise that you’re associated with Leverage, and mistreat you? Or that if you were onymous then people here would recognize your name, realise that you’re associated with Leverage, and mistreat you? Or something else? The first would make sense only if “in real life” you were concealing whatever associations you have with Leverage, which I have to say would itself be a bit concerning; the second would make sense only if knowing your name would make people in this thread think you more closely associated with Leverage than they already think you, and unless you’re Literal Geoff Anders or something that seems a little unlikely. And I’m not sure what “something else” might be.)
Saying that someone is in a cult (though I note that most people have been pretty careful not to use quite that terminology) isn’t an accusation. Not at the person in question, anyway. For sure it’s the sort of thing that many people will find uncomfortable. But what’s uncomfortable here is the content of the claim itself, no? So what less-bullying thing would you prefer someone to do, if they are concerned that an organization other people around them might join is worryingly cult-like? Should they just not say anything, because saying “X is cult-like” is bullying? That policy means never being able to give warning to people who might be getting ensnared by an actual cult. What’s the alternative?
Saying that someone is in a cult (though I note that most people have been pretty careful not to use quite that terminology) isn’t an accusation. Not at the person in question, anyway.
“You are in a cult” is absolutely an accusation directed at the person. I can understand moral reasons why someone might wish for a world in which people assigned blame differently, and technical reasons why this feature of the discourse makes purely descriptive discussions unhelpfully fraught, but none of that changes the empirical fact that “You are in a cult” functions as an accusation in practice, especially when delivered in a public forum. I expect you’ll agree if you recall specific conversations-besides-this-one where you’ve heard someone claim that another participant is in a cult.
Maybe you’re right. So, same question as for ooverthinkk: suppose you think some organization that people you know belong to is a cult, or has some of the same bad features as cults. What should you do?
(It seems to me that ooverthinkk feels that at least some of what is being said in this thread about Leverage is morally wrong, and I hope there’s some underlying principle that’s less overreaching than “never say that anything is cult-like” and less special-pleading than “never say bad things about Leverage”—but I don’t yet understand what that underlying principle is.)
The first person was Larissa, the second person was Kerry.
The “anonymity thing” does not fall under the first category. I’d just prefer, as I stated before, not to be targeted “in real life” for my views on this thread.
The “bullying” that I’m referring to happened/happens outside of this thread, and is in no way limited to instances of people being accused of being “in a cult”.
D’oh! I’d forgotten that Larissa had commented here too. My apologies.
As I’ve said, I have no knowledge of any bullying that may or may not be occurring elsewhere (especially in person in the Bay Area), and if anyone’s getting bullied then that’s bad. If that isn’t common knowledge, then there’s a problem. But the things in this thread that you’ve taken exception to don’t seem to me to come close to bullying. (Obviously, though, they could be part of a general pattern of excessive hostility to all things Leverage.)
Do you think OP was wrong to post what they did? If so, is that because you think the things they’ve said about Leverage are factually wrong, or because you think people who think they see an organization behaving in potentially harmful ways shouldn’t say so, or what?
I don’t know how comfortable any given person would feel commenting here. I do know that Kerry Vaughan, who is with Leverage now, has evidently felt comfortable enough to comment. I have no idea who you are but it seems fairly apparent that you have some association with Leverage, and you evidently feel comfortable enough to comment.
You say that one of those people (presumably meaning Kerry) “has been accused of plotting to coerce and manipulate victims”. I can’t find anywhere where anyone has made any such accusation. I can’t find any instance of “coerce” or any of its forms other than in your comment above. I find two other instances of “manipulate” and related words; one is specifically about Geoff Anders (who so far as I know is not the same person as Kerry Vaughan) and the other is talking generally about psychological manipulation and doesn’t make any accusations about specific people.
You say that the other person (presumably meaning you) “has been falsely accused of trying to hide their identity”, but so far as I can make out you are openly trying to hide your identity (on the grounds that if people could tell who you are then you would be mistreated on account of being associated with Leverage).
(I have to say that I’m a bit confused by the anonymity thing. Are you concerned that if you were onymous then people “in real life” would read what you say here, realise that you’re associated with Leverage, and mistreat you? Or that if you were onymous then people here would recognize your name, realise that you’re associated with Leverage, and mistreat you? Or something else? The first would make sense only if “in real life” you were concealing whatever associations you have with Leverage, which I have to say would itself be a bit concerning; the second would make sense only if knowing your name would make people in this thread think you more closely associated with Leverage than they already think you, and unless you’re Literal Geoff Anders or something that seems a little unlikely. And I’m not sure what “something else” might be.)
Saying that someone is in a cult (though I note that most people have been pretty careful not to use quite that terminology) isn’t an accusation. Not at the person in question, anyway. For sure it’s the sort of thing that many people will find uncomfortable. But what’s uncomfortable here is the content of the claim itself, no? So what less-bullying thing would you prefer someone to do, if they are concerned that an organization other people around them might join is worryingly cult-like? Should they just not say anything, because saying “X is cult-like” is bullying? That policy means never being able to give warning to people who might be getting ensnared by an actual cult. What’s the alternative?
No comment on your larger point but
“You are in a cult” is absolutely an accusation directed at the person. I can understand moral reasons why someone might wish for a world in which people assigned blame differently, and technical reasons why this feature of the discourse makes purely descriptive discussions unhelpfully fraught, but none of that changes the empirical fact that “You are in a cult” functions as an accusation in practice, especially when delivered in a public forum. I expect you’ll agree if you recall specific conversations-besides-this-one where you’ve heard someone claim that another participant is in a cult.
Maybe you’re right. So, same question as for ooverthinkk: suppose you think some organization that people you know belong to is a cult, or has some of the same bad features as cults. What should you do?
(It seems to me that ooverthinkk feels that at least some of what is being said in this thread about Leverage is morally wrong, and I hope there’s some underlying principle that’s less overreaching than “never say that anything is cult-like” and less special-pleading than “never say bad things about Leverage”—but I don’t yet understand what that underlying principle is.)
(edit: moved to the correct reply area)
The first person was Larissa, the second person was Kerry.
The “anonymity thing” does not fall under the first category. I’d just prefer, as I stated before, not to be targeted “in real life” for my views on this thread.
The “bullying” that I’m referring to happened/happens outside of this thread, and is in no way limited to instances of people being accused of being “in a cult”.
D’oh! I’d forgotten that Larissa had commented here too. My apologies.
As I’ve said, I have no knowledge of any bullying that may or may not be occurring elsewhere (especially in person in the Bay Area), and if anyone’s getting bullied then that’s bad. If that isn’t common knowledge, then there’s a problem. But the things in this thread that you’ve taken exception to don’t seem to me to come close to bullying. (Obviously, though, they could be part of a general pattern of excessive hostility to all things Leverage.)
Do you think OP was wrong to post what they did? If so, is that because you think the things they’ve said about Leverage are factually wrong, or because you think people who think they see an organization behaving in potentially harmful ways shouldn’t say so, or what?