The borderlands between social branding and cult behavior have always on my radar. Long ago I predicted that actual cults will distill out of the pollution of 21st century-style marketing and no surprise – here they are…
“I really feel like he is setting people up for a mass suicide. He talked about ‘The Harvest.’ I always had a weird feeling.” – Former core staff member
Inside Bentinho Massaro’s cult that grafts together new age self-realization philosophy salad with the malignancy of tech bro narcisscism. Here comes Silicon Sedona. Beware.
“If anyone has an issue with me, turning against me, they stand to lose all these people they’re really close to”
“The C.E.O.s, inside they’re hurting. They can’t sleep at night.”
Esalen Institute rebrands itself to help Silicon Valley power brokers figure out why technology didn’t work in the way they expected. (my gut reaction… fuck them. their souls could stand to burn some more.)
I spent a week with 8,000 worshippers of the fake, fantastical cult of zumba.
Links:
The photography book shows a world most of us will only ever see in images. Wealth so glaring it is almost insulting. Inequality so massive it becomes preposterous. I’m not entirely convinced that we needed more visual testimonies of a situation we’ve been reading about day after day since the onset of financial crisis but the selection is excellent. I should probably add that the majority of the photographers in the book are men and/or from Europe or Northern America. Now that’s what i call perpetuating privileges.
We Make Money Not Art takes a look at Privilege in a Time of Global Inequality – the photobook of the exhibition.
Robert Blakeley, Who Created a Sign of the Cold War, Dies at 95.
What Happened to the $2.2M Marina Abramović Raised to Build Her Institute?
The slow death of the Ludlow Cafe.
Allison Bennett teaches you how to play The Smiths (and more) on guitar.
