Ion White Poetry: Warning signs of ‘A Cult’ or How to know you are engaged by an Unsafe group Leader

by Ion White Poetry

Vanguard is his name. He leads NXIVM.

* Extreme obsessiveness regarding the group/leader resulting in the exclusion of almost every practical consideration.

* Individual identity, the group, the leader and/or God as distinct and separate categories of existence become increasingly blurred.

* Instead, in the follower’s mind these identities become substantially and increasingly fused– as that person’s involvement with the group/leader continues and deepens.

* Whenever the group/leader is criticized or questioned it is characterized as “persecution”.

* Uncharacteristically stilted and seemingly programmed conversation and mannerisms, cloning of the group/leader in personal behavior.

* Dependency upon the group/leader for problem solving, solutions, and definitions without meaningful reflective thought.

* A seeming inability to think independently or analyze situations without group/leader involvement.

* Hyperactivity centered on the group/leader agenda, which seems to supersede any personal goals or individual interests.

* A dramatic loss of spontaneity and sense of humor.

* Increasing isolation from family and old friends unless they demonstrate an interest in the group/leader.

* Anything the group/leader does can be justified no matter how harsh or harmful.

* Former followers are at best-considered negative or worse evil and under bad influences. They can not be trusted and personal contact is avoided.

About the author

Frank Parlato

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  • There has been talk on the blog on a possible mass suicide if NXIVM’s Vanguard were to be legally be held accountable for his actions. Maybe not among his main followers but by those deepest within his DOS circle. The women who have already pledged their “bodies’ and “souls” to him.

    These are the women who have spent the most time with him and are the Masters of their slaves. They have the most influences over the women within their circle of six and beyond. Those that have stayed throughout the fall out of the exposure of DOS could be at the greatest risk of any such attempt for Vanguard to get his final revenge if he thought his ship was finally going to sink and even the Bronfman’s money could not save him.
    Would Vanguard, the Bronfman sister, Nancy and Lauran Salzman, Allison Mack and any other Masters of DOS all be willing to face murder charges assuming any of them would be survivors of such mass suicide plot like Jones Town and Waco for their Vanguard?

    Would this man Vanguard, that has preached non-violence and likened himself to a Gandhi to the faces of all but behind the sense plotted horrible things. He has plotted to steal mail, going through garbage, having financials of Judges of every legal case illegally been obtained, having a dog killed, drove people to suicide if not helped with murder already, plotted kidnappings, torture, and possible killings now be planning for his final revenge?

    Does he have hired several hitmen for those that have caused him the most trouble over the years to be taken care of if his ship goes down? He would have nothing to lose that point. He would certainly have the “cash” to have plotted that a long time ago.

    Could he be planning a situation if I can’t have them, no one else can have them either? Are the police tapping phone calls of those closes to him for any of this kind of possible behavior “just in case.” Sure they can buy burner phones, but with today technology, burner phones can be figured out, can’t they? I don’t know; I know things on TV are not always possible.

    I worry about what might happen if this evil man would feel trapped. What would he and his brainwashed crew have as their exit plan and his final – Got Ya would be.

About the Author

Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist.

His work has been cited in hundreds of news outlets, like The New York Times, The Daily Mail, VICE News, CBS News, Fox News, New York Post, New York Daily News, Oxygen, Rolling Stone, People Magazine, The Sun, The Times of London, CBS Inside Edition, among many others in all five continents.

His work to expose and take down NXIVM is featured in books like “Captive” by Catherine Oxenberg, “Scarred” by Sarah Edmonson, “The Program” by Toni Natalie, and “NXIVM. La Secta Que Sedujo al Poder en México” by Juan Alberto Vasquez.

Parlato has been prominently featured on HBO’s docuseries “The Vow” and was the lead investigator and coordinating producer for Investigation Discovery’s “The Lost Women of NXIVM.” He also appeared in "Branded and Brainwashed: Inside NXIVM, and was credited in the Starz docuseries "Seduced" for saving 'slave' women from being branded and escaping the sex-slave cult known as DOS.

Additionally, Parlato’s coverage of the group OneTaste, starting in 2018, helped spark an FBI investigation, which led to indictments of two of its leaders in 2023.

Parlato appeared on the Nancy Grace Show, Beyond the Headlines with Gretchen Carlson, Dr. Oz, American Greed, Dateline NBC, and NBC Nightly News with Lester Holt, where Parlato conducted the first-ever interview with Keith Raniere after his arrest. This was ironic, as many credit Parlato as one of the primary architects of his arrest and the cratering of the cult he founded.

Parlato is a consulting producer and appears in TNT's The Heiress and the Sex Cult, which premieres on May 22, 2022.

IMDb — Frank Parlato

Contact Frank with tips or for help.
Phone / Text: (305) 783-7083
Email: frankparlato@gmail.com

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