In an ironic twist a newspaper run by Falun Gong, which has been described as a personality “cult,” reported about the life and criminal prosecution of “sex cult” leader Keith Raniere.
A “cult” reporting about a “cult”?
Raniere is the notorious founder of NXIVM (pronounced nexium), a supposed self-improvement seminar selling company, which spawned criminal conspiracies, sex trafficking and racketeering.
Raniere was convicted of multiple felonies at his criminal trial in Brooklyn this month. And five women that followed him have plead guilty to criminal charges. They all are now awaiting sentencing beginning next month.
Keith Raniere (center) in court
Bowen Xiao, a reporter for The Epoch Times has written a series of articles about Keith Raniere and his crimes. The Epoch Times is run by Falun Gong practitioners who follow Chinese exile Li Hongzhi, known to his devotees as “Master Li.”
Li, like Raniere, has made preposterous self-aggrandizing claims concerning his intellect. Li also says he has supernatural powers.
The Epoch Times functions much like The Washington Times, run by the followers of Unification Church founder Rev. Moon, a self-proclaimed “messiah.” Both newspapers are propaganda tools used by purported “cults” to influence public opinion. See this article promoting Falun Gong written by Bowen Xiao recently published by The Epoch Times.
CultNews has received very serious complaints about Falun Gong, including accounts from families about loved ones that believe Falun Gong can cure diabetes and thus alleviate the need to take proper doses of insulin.
“Master Li”
Apparently, Mark Jackson, an Epoch Times writer, is the person that provided the leads to the newspaper regarding Raniere’s past. Jackson knew Raniere in the 5th grade. He “rode the school bus with him for four years.”
Jackson said that Raniere had a “need to be special.” A female classmate said that Raniere was “arrogant” and liked to “show off.” Another observed that Raniere’s “ego was through the roof.” He was also a “loner.”
Interestingly, Jackson and Raniere attended a “Waldorf School” in upstate New York. Waldorf Schools are based on the writings of Austrian-born occultist Rudolf Steiner who died in 1925. Steiner’s controversial philosophy known as “anthroposophy” includes a belief about a “hierarchy in races” and “reincarnation,” reported BBC. Steiner has been called a “racist” and the Waldorf Schools described as “cult” like.
A cult leader schooled by a “cult”?
One woman who knew Keith Raniere as a child told The Epoch Times, “He’s a sociopath, a narcissist. Everything was always about him. He was always bragging about how smart he was, how much better at math. He walked around like he was a miniature professor.”
Raniere was described as a master of manipulation during his criminal trial in Brooklyn. It seems that he began manipulating people at a very early age. A childhood acquaintance explained, “He knows how to find your weak spots and poke at them. He had a really gentle voice and gentle approach. It was deceptive, it could draw you in.”
One woman that Raniere often taunted told The Epoch Times that he could “isolate peoples’ weaknesses.”
Raniere also used “compromising information” he gleaned from someone to threaten them. He told one girl, “You know, it’s like I have this little bottle of poison I can hold over your head” The girl recalled how Raniere terrorized her. She said, “He would call me sometimes and say, ‘Little bottles, little bottles.”
At the time Keith Raniere was reportedly “about 9 or 10 years old.”
“Some kids are born evil. Keith was born evil,” stated one woman who knew Raniere as a child.
Endnote: The quoted recollections about Keith Raniere come from an article written for The Epoch Times by Bowen Xiao, titled “Delving Into the Childhood of NXIVM’s Leader” published May 30, 2018.
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