yeah people have told me that i seem like somebody that would join a cult
which is not a compliment no none in particular i think like when i was younger like definitely
in my 20s i was like i'd get really into astrology and i get really into palm reading and then i get
really into having like my chart read so i get i would get excited about things i almost got sucked
into landmark forum do you know what that is i've heard of it but i don't know what it is so i think
it was a cult it's one of these improve yourself self-improvement courses but i didn't know what i
was going to this is when i lived in los angeles i had a friend in my feminist circles because
when i was like super social justice i thought we were going to a feminist bookstore for a reading
and then i don't know how we got our wires lost but anyway she picked me up at my house and i was
on the phone with at the time i was working in comedy management i was on the phone with this
agent we were trying to do this tv show it was important phone call i'm just saying that so
you understand we didn't talk the whole way there i was on this call we didn't talk about
where we're going we get there it's a hotel we get out i finish the call in the lobby
you know and then i finally say hello to my friend how are you whatever go get on the elevator go
upstairs and it's this huge auditorium and there's a woman on stage with a madonna microphone oh god
and and i'm like what is this i thought we were coming to like a small feminist book we sit down
and then i realized everybody brought someone like she brought me you were the you were the plus one
yes you were the doopy yes and at a certain point the woman's on stage was giving this lecture about
uh the ways that all the different lenses that we wear that color our view of ourself and she
was doing a fun illustration where she was taking people's glasses and putting like several pairs of
glasses on and these are your self-restricting views about yourself and then taking them off
and then at a certain point they basically say okay are you going to throw down like 500
for these courses and and i i said no my friend turns to me and everybody turns to their friend
and starts talking to them and i said no i i really don't want to put that much money
into this right now your friend do this did your friend put this money down and they got into it
okay yes so i was her recruit i didn't know she was in landmark and that was she brought
me there and then then if you say no then they have them then they have them push you a little
and she did push me where she offered well i can loan you the money because that's how much i
believe in landmark forum i'll loan you the money for the courses and if you don't and i was like
just now you're now you're paying this girl interest yes like no but i'll tell you forum
it's called i was this close because it they make a good pitch and then and you're in the moment i
understand now why people kind of get swept up with things because you're sitting there
and you've got the pr they know how to bring people in because your friend brings you and
then is making the pitch to you but it just was so weird looking around this huge auditorium and
and there's a thousand copies of me and her like these little conversations happening
there you go do you guys want to live an extraordinary life and redefine what's possible do
you want to bring about positive permanent shifts in the quality of your life look how diverse
you have a shitty life are you sad did you know that more than 94 of participants surveyed
report the landmark forum made a profound and lasting difference in their lives the landmark
forum is designed to bring about positive permanent shifts in the quality of for life
in just three days what the [ __ ] tell me how i've been spending years of my life and
all this [ __ ] hasn't happened you're telling me just in three days this can happen
these shifts are direct are the direct cause for a new and unique kind of freedom and power
the freedom to be at ease and the power to be effective in the areas that matter most
they've still said nothing they've said nothing this whole no the quality of your relationship
the confidence with which you live your life your personal productivity your experience of the
difference you make in your enjoyment of life it's just like oh everything is better but we can't
we're not gonna be specific about how and why it's probably with inflation i bet it's 800 out out
landmarks breakthrough technology uh what is their breakthrough technology they're
not even telling you transformative learning structures this is all like
yeah and it's one of those personal development things where you the whole setup is that they get
you to continue to pay more money for further development classes and i'm not saying that
people don't sometimes improve themselves through things like i'm sure they do because every cult
every cult has something they're borrowing from some universal truths that's how they
sell themselves but then they market it as a special knowledge and it's all built about
it's all built on like getting you to spend more and more and yeah wow rackets this is a racket
oh my god this is so interesting and you can spend so you're saying that this was 500 when you went a
couple years ago i think it was 500 maybe 800 then i can't remember but it was less than a thousand
but it was enough that i said no thank you i think i'll just think about it it's funny because i
man i have like i almost spent like a couple years ago i almost spent like two grand
to sign up for like what was it a six or an eight week course
and it was this woman whose book i read who i really enjoyed um her name was uh
she goes by mama gina but her real name is like regina thomas howard yeah regina thomas howard
i don't know her and i almost and it's her her book that i read that i really liked
was called [ __ ] and it was all about uh like women embracing the their like making pleasure
a priority which which women don't like a lot of women particularly moms like you put yourself dead
last you my mom was a martyr like took pride in putting herself dead last and then would like
let everybody know how little she was prioritizing her her own self and how you know like that's
something to strive for so this is her and she's very cool i had gone to some of her like speeches
you know at the javits center or whatever here's a book that i read [ __ ] a reclamation and i
liked i liked the book a lot i like would bring it to work and like read it oh here's something
i would read it in the cafeteria um discover what no one taught you about the source of your
feminine power and how to use it here's something she's her branding look it's all white the book
it looks like isn't it a gold yeah gold gilded uh font it looks like a bible almost
and and that picture on the front page of her it's all white like a jlo green room
yeah it's classy classy classiness is the way in it's a new york times bestseller and i know like
there's guys listening to this going oh this is a book about like masturbating it really wasn't it
was just about um oh finding now this is gonna sound like [ __ ] finding your deepest truth
radical self-celebration how to end the war with your body um why a woman's sensual awareness
is critical for her spiritual intellectual emotional health what's you know what my biggest
takeaway from this was like oh yeah when you're feeling cranky and [ __ ] like just take a bath
that was my big takeaway is like oh and like like if your clothes that you don't look hot
look and feel hot in like go ahead and just like donate those like don't feel bad about it
okay so do you know that book the ethical [ __ ] that everybody was reading a few years ago oh wait
wait hold on we want to i want to get to that so this is the program i almost signed up for
so you you know like you read the book and then you come to one of her speeches
and then it looks just like this there's like a huge like javits center full of women
and then there's women like embedded in the crowd that have done the program and uh in fact um this
comedian that i know jocelyn chia did this program and she said it helped her with her goals so much
and she you know and now she's like passed at the fast forward she did it years ago but fast
forward now she's you know she's past the comedy seller like she's she's has a pretty good comedy
career um i mean she's trying to people wrote her jokes but she like goal wise she's doing
great and i was like that was to me like oh wow maybe i should sign up personal testimony right
personal testimony that's all that's what it's about and so this was like okay now it's a virtual
pleasure boot camp maybe because they after uh covet it's all gotta be virtual now but i really
you almost did this that picture up there would make me i mean look they picked a good photo oops
and it's also vague like how do we connect with our power how do we stick speak our
truth overcome fear it's like all just general stuff but it's so easy and it was two thousand
bucks and that the whole deal was like uh i was sitting there like that's a lot of money that's
a lot of money to just throw down on like a class and and they would tell you like they make it seem
like they give it a sense of urgency um well we can do uh you know this is really worth worth it
to yourself like you know it does the rest of your life mean anything to you like they make
it sound like you know you you're investing in yourself do you i mean do you feel like you're
worthy of investing in yourself and then you have the women that are like i'm going to do
it i'm going to do it everyone claps you know it's like yeah your future starts now don't put it off
you feel a sense of panic like if you walk away i remember being in that room like if i walk away
from this like am i deciding that i don't want a better life if i don't do this i mean it's like
i've spent hundreds of dollars on dumb [ __ ] and clothes and stuff and so what's 2 000 on something
that's definitely gonna make my life better and then it i don't know i think i was thinking of
it once and maybe i talked about it with frank once and he was like no [ __ ] no don't do it
like so firmly and abruptly like no don't do this this wait that's way too much and it kind of like
snapped you out of it it snapped me out of it but i definitely see how how easy it is to just be
like of course i want to invest in myself i i've been ignoring myself for years people that are
like i'm busy with the kids or you know this is like really appeals to people that have like been
in abusive relationships and they just you know i mean like now it's time for me yeah and not to
call this woman a grifter like i'm sure she's made positive impact in a lot of women's lives but it
was this combination of like someone i know did it and it made their life better and like just it's
so uplifting you come in there's this music and at times she makes everybody get up and dance and
yeah the more i talk about this like the dumber it really does sound that's how it sounds when
i explained landmark and how i almost got it but but when you're there there is this
excitement and and some of the things that are paused again i think these places are successful
because they bring elements of universal truth and community and all these things that we really
crave and they put them together but then they they sell you this sort of we've got the one
answer you know and here's the expensive price tag but you're investing in yourself right like
i don't know it's not that they can't help people is this this this takes advantage i mean it's very
easy to take advantage of women and i think just kind of observing like the the psyop of the last
two years like you learn that like okay like i think women are just easier to sigh up because
uh i think cause like i think what we've seen it's taking advantage of like
a woman's kind of like nurturing caring um oh yeah natural impulses and i and you look at how
the the way the pandemic kind of like the powers that be right big pharma all of it like
kind of marketed specifically like you have you have to you have to do this for your family you
have to do this for others you have to you can't kill grandma like think about how many
people with like parents like elderly parents that were still alive like i'm sure
were manipulated into like still people walking around wearing masks not traveling not doing
you know you could kill someone you got you have to mask up your kids um i just feel like women
are more susceptible to this [ __ ] than men are i do i agree with you because women
are more well they're more on average they're more agreeable than men
they're pleasers more than men and they're more what's that big five personality jordan
peterson's always talking about they're more uh neurotic than men and i think that it's easier to
manipulate their empathy but i saw your tweet about this because i think what happens is
it's easier to sigh off women but then once you have the women you can get them in