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| Sins of the WCS Cult & Criminals |
Weekly Note #85 has two sections. This is Part One. Click here for Part Two.
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So let's talk names. There are about 300-400 highly active predators, criminal harassers and cyber-bullies in and around our on- and offline Swing Dance Council/Points communities of WCS.
Since their activity has largely gone unchecked over the last three years (cyber-attack legislation only just caught up with the times), they've grown even more aggressive - violent, even - to the point of not only recruiting other criminal elements to the sport, but driving out all healthy elements too.
They say they "love" WCS. They say everything is great with WCS- the sport, the community, the teachers... until someone voices an alternative opinion.
Or does something worse. Like executing a Push Break. Or dancing a triple rhythm.
It's a bit of a catch-22, isn't it? These criminals say everything is great... swear by it... until another teacher comes into town with blues instead of bass, a dancer leads them with preps instead of pulls or when I (gasp!) write. Write anything.
Then they make sure nothing is great. Anywhere. They are vicious in their relentless attacks. It's like a huge swarm of bees - hunting down every voice that doesn't sound like their own. They stomp them. They slash them. They beat them to a pulp. Online, at home and on the dance floors.
Mafia much?
They say they "love" WCS. They say everything is great with WCS- the sport, the community, the teachers... until someone voices an alternative opinion.
Or does something worse. Like executing a Push Break. Or dancing a triple rhythm.
It's a bit of a catch-22, isn't it? These criminals say everything is great... swear by it... until another teacher comes into town with blues instead of bass, a dancer leads them with preps instead of pulls or when I (gasp!) write. Write anything.
Then they make sure nothing is great. Anywhere. They are vicious in their relentless attacks. It's like a huge swarm of bees - hunting down every voice that doesn't sound like their own. They stomp them. They slash them. They beat them to a pulp. Online, at home and on the dance floors.
And then they go back to swearing that everything is great.
Mafia much?
So it comes as no surprise that when I took the highly unusual step of actually stating names in my writing over the last two Notes, they gunned into action with greater fury than ever. Warp speed. I haven't had that many calls about people worried for my health and safety since... oh, right. The last time I mentioned names. Way back in December of 2011. Weekly Note #9: The Results are IN!
They went after my home, my publisher, my books, my livelihood and, once again - my life - which I thought was a bit old at this point. But this time I was really struck at how hard they attacked those who didn't say anything at all. Are any of their Facebook friends also friends with me? To arms! Kill them!
Were any of their dancer friends staying silent? Traitors! What about the event directors, the politicians (well, those who weren't already participating in the violence, which weren't many) and the judges who weren't saying anything? Let's ban them too.
Is there anyway to harm those who have left my perfectly 5-Star-studded book reviews? After them! Ban them from events! Go-go-go! they cried as one and turned the social networks into nothing more than brainstorming boards on exactly how to hurt us. Every single idea thrown out was a criminal one.
They simply wanted us to die. Be erased. No longer exist. They fought, as one passer-by noted, as if it were a battle over religion, not dance. And I think that passer-by was right.
Being aware of this large wash of garbage online, especially since most of what I write is first published online, you can understand why I never chose to say any names all these years. Why I resisted and kept them to myself - giving them other names or simply using pronouns instead.
But to be truthful, this isn't the reason I kept them to myself. Not at all. It's actually because the rule of only saying names behind closed doors has been written in the Deep Water WCS book of rules for years. We don't tell stories or share names with anyone but each other. Only we understand and only we can use them.
It's as if we have a code of silence. And I have been abiding by it since the first day I became Deep Water - sitting at the tables of our legends early on - simply because I instinctively knew the rules - and I respected the history and knowledge we all had.
So when I recorded #78: The Monopoly in the first place, I never thought I'd be publishing the names. Why else was I was so completely candid with you throughout it? That was a new step for me, to tell you so much at all, and I knew the behavioral information would help.
But it didn't. Not this time. After traveling and talking with you all over America, I realized that you had grown. It wasn't enough for you to know what behaviors to look out for anymore - you needed to know exactly who to look out for now.
And that was new. I understood it. So after enough of you gave the same feedback over and over and over - when I finally figured out that you, my readers who are in dance for a living outside of conventions, kept asking me specifically to name names in order to create a safe environment for both yourselves and your students, I started giving the idea of revealing names some thought.
I figured you knew the risks I would be taking. You all seemed so light about it - like you really didn't think it would cost that much for me to say names. Actually, come to think of it, none of you thought there was any cost - any reason at all - to keep quiet. Some of you were even indignant. You couldn't understand why I'd protect so many destructive forces by not saying their names...
And it finally made me think... "why don't I say names?" Was I wrong to go with the Deep Water way of life? And who wrote the rules of the Deep Water people these days anyway? We used to say names when I first arrived... so why not anymore?
And that's when I realized that the Deep Water people had sold out. They said they wanted swing but they wanted the Louis St. George's, Vann Drakes, Szekely's and Ben Morris' of the world in swing more than they actually wanted swing.
I'll never forget sitting next to Nick in the car after one of these meetings with you and asking myself what my reasons were if I were living outside of swing, and not a Deep Water person at all, but just your average citizen, participating in a democratic culture. ("Democratic" being the key word.) And here's what my brain replied back:
And it finally made me think... "why don't I say names?" Was I wrong to go with the Deep Water way of life? And who wrote the rules of the Deep Water people these days anyway? We used to say names when I first arrived... so why not anymore?
And that's when I realized that the Deep Water people had sold out. They said they wanted swing but they wanted the Louis St. George's, Vann Drakes, Szekely's and Ben Morris' of the world in swing more than they actually wanted swing.
I'll never forget sitting next to Nick in the car after one of these meetings with you and asking myself what my reasons were if I were living outside of swing, and not a Deep Water person at all, but just your average citizen, participating in a democratic culture. ("Democratic" being the key word.) And here's what my brain replied back:
1. Reporters use names.2. Politicians use names.3. Commentators use names.4. Ballrooms use names.5. School districts use names.6. Who DOESN'T use names???
But you failed me.
You lied to me.
You don't have any love for me at all - no consideration - no care - nothing. I doubt you are even thankful. If asked, would you attribute any positive changes in the sport to me at all? I doubt it. Despite the truth.
But most of all, you didn't take my risks into consideration. You didn't think, for a moment, what your requests would cost me. You only cared about yourself and your gossip, as far as I can tell. Boy, did you guys ever have me fooled - those of you who have been complaining and/or requesting that I name The Ten and everyone else I've been mentioning for all this time.
No, last week after I published the names of The Monopoly, when I did what you, YOU and YOU!!! asked me to do, I took the hit. I was criminally slandered, trashed, debauched and attacked by every event director, head judge, NASDE board person, "teacher" and club president.
You lied to me.
You don't have any love for me at all - no consideration - no care - nothing. I doubt you are even thankful. If asked, would you attribute any positive changes in the sport to me at all? I doubt it. Despite the truth.
But most of all, you didn't take my risks into consideration. You didn't think, for a moment, what your requests would cost me. You only cared about yourself and your gossip, as far as I can tell. Boy, did you guys ever have me fooled - those of you who have been complaining and/or requesting that I name The Ten and everyone else I've been mentioning for all this time.
No, last week after I published the names of The Monopoly, when I did what you, YOU and YOU!!! asked me to do, I took the hit. I was criminally slandered, trashed, debauched and attacked by every event director, head judge, NASDE board person, "teacher" and club president.
For what?
I know you watched them. I know you looked on as they screamed "How DARE YOU say NAMES!!!!!!" followed with paragraph upon paragraph of filth, along with outlines! directions! even instructions! on how to harass with the most force - which NOT ONE OF YOU apparently reported. Because I was on the road, found it all a week later, clicked on "report harassment," just as I've always said you could do and... bam! hey! removed! for being inappropriate and offensive language... by FACEBOOK.
Which means you guys love and are addicted to that which FB itself find reprehensible.
Interesting. Since they didn't find a video of someone being decapitated as against their rules.
And before you do what you ALWAYS do when you hear about online attacks like this from me in my Notes and email me with requests to supply you with direct links to the filth, I say, politely, "F U."
You are in a cult.
You have chosen to be in it time after time, again and again. Don't agree? Listen up.
When I released The Church of Jordan and Tatiana, a reader wrote back the following response:
"...it's not a church, it's more like a cult.
A bona fide church stands on its own, and members can come and go without being ostracized.
A cult is much harder to leave, follows a person more than a set of beliefs, and the members will officially or unofficially disassociate from the leaving member and make irrational excuses for why they left so they can stay in the irrational/emotional confines of the cult.
And your Weekly Notes on who knows, who doesn't, and who lies to protect the cult (usually because they benefit somehow - power, money, notoriety) all apply to the cult, too..."
Are you reading this correctly? How many check marks can you make here... The Cult of Jordan and Tatiana...:
Don't think so? Look at all the cult members who, like good little culties, escalated their actions to a criminal level -multiple times- in just the last week:
Yvonne Antonacci, Joanie Fuller, Miki Holliver, Don Welch, Jessica Cox, Victor Loveira, Serina Garrett, Tyoni Martin, Mimi Johnson, Gregory Brian Britanigan, Erica Lyons, Daniel Olivares, Debbie Lynn Tuttle, Gerry Zonca, Paul Field, Ian Lee, Bruce McGlynn, Irina Palaszeski, never mind other cult leaders Earl Pingel, Parker Dearborn and hundreds of others that you know, love and cherish, (sorry, "follow" - you HAVE heard of the TV Show called The Followers, right?)...
... Guess what people? relationships? emotional attachments? money? power? and (of course!) notoriety? all of the above broke the law to protect? If you know any of them, you'll know exactly which words hit the nail right on the head. Look at each name and you'll know who they're addicted to.
And guess what? You are so next.
- Follows a person more than a set of beliefs (pros vs swing content, should never "question" certain people or teachers)
- Members will disassociate from the leaving member (ban her from events, clubs & studios)
- Make irrational excuses for why a member left (she's looking to win, make a name for herself) (Did you know Scientology said the EXACT same remarks about Lisa Remini when she questioned where her best friend disappeared to and subsequently left?)
- Members lie to protect the cult (lie about history, music used, steps danced, # of wins, etc)
- Lies to protect the cult to protect power, money & notoriety (The Ten, J&T, Teaching/Judging gigs, etc)
Don't think so? Look at all the cult members who, like good little culties, escalated their actions to a criminal level -multiple times- in just the last week:
Yvonne Antonacci, Joanie Fuller, Miki Holliver, Don Welch, Jessica Cox, Victor Loveira, Serina Garrett, Tyoni Martin, Mimi Johnson, Gregory Brian Britanigan, Erica Lyons, Daniel Olivares, Debbie Lynn Tuttle, Gerry Zonca, Paul Field, Ian Lee, Bruce McGlynn, Irina Palaszeski, never mind other cult leaders Earl Pingel, Parker Dearborn and hundreds of others that you know, love and cherish, (sorry, "follow" - you HAVE heard of the TV Show called The Followers, right?)...
... Guess what people? relationships? emotional attachments? money? power? and (of course!) notoriety? all of the above broke the law to protect? If you know any of them, you'll know exactly which words hit the nail right on the head. Look at each name and you'll know who they're addicted to.
And guess what? You are so next.
So, go ahead. Before the cops show up at their door, because Facebook keeps all the posts, comments, likes and shares in their storage bank, even after it's deleted or removed - just in case it'll be needed when the subpoena finally arrives...
...be sure to put them first in the next contest they enter, or buy tickets to their events, or send money and students to their organizations... or should I say, THE organization.
...be sure to put them first in the next contest they enter, or buy tickets to their events, or send money and students to their organizations... or should I say, THE organization.
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| The Entire World Swing Dance Council |
Because there is one. Remember? Cults are usually about money. And we are talking big, big money when it comes to the organization (WSDC) supporting and running the cult of WCS. You want to know about the $MONEY$? Well... this scheme makes millions. It's not about protecting their "Champions" anymore.
It's about giving them payouts in the form of "Ambassador" checks when someone gives a large donation, and about keeping all the money in their hands only... and no one else's.
Millions of dollars laundered year, after year, after year. Twenty ways from Sunday - you're in a damn cult.
It's about giving them payouts in the form of "Ambassador" checks when someone gives a large donation, and about keeping all the money in their hands only... and no one else's.
Millions of dollars laundered year, after year, after year. Twenty ways from Sunday - you're in a damn cult.
The Cult of the Council. Brought to you by Skippy Blair. And Annie Hirsch. Violence, dough, secrecy, banishment and all. Wrap them all around your shoulders as you tuck in for the night.
Congratulations. You are in.
Click here for Part Two.
From Weekly Note #85: The Cult, the Council and The End, released February 2011. Revised and updated.
From Weekly Note #85: The Cult, the Council and The End, released February 2011. Revised and updated.
