In 1979, Isaac Bonewits constructed an evaluation tool which he came to call the “Advanced Bonewits’ Cult Danger Evaluation Frame” or the “ABCDEF” (because evaluating these groups should be elementary). A copy was included in that year’s revised edition of his book, Real Magic. He realized its shortcomings, but felt that it could be effectively used to separate harmless groups from the potentially dangerous ones and distinguish harmful ones from those that are merely unusual to the observer.
The ABCDEF had been used by the Federal Bureau of Investigation in its Meddigo Report on Bible-based cults (which really bothered some members of the Religious Reich). It was also used by by the government of the Union of South Africa, in its report on minority religions. This latter led to the legalization of same-sex marriage there. It has appeared in a few books by other Pagan authors as part of discussions about choosing ethical teachers and groups. [The foregoing paragraphs were adapted from Neopagan.net]
It is both instructive and enlightening to use this tool to evaluate both religious and secular groups — especially in view of recent statements by Trump’s campaign and White House.
So I’ve been one. A press flack. A spindoctor. An evil henchmen of a really disliked government.
The one thing I was NEVER EVER ALLOWED TO DO EVER was LIE. It was beaten into me on day one – if you do it you’ll be fired because you will be putting the reputation of everyone in this organization at risk.
Today, Sean Spicer could have:
Announced all the executive orders that are being signed (Look! Working Boss Working For You on Day One!
Or
Average Americans don’t have the luxury of taking time off from work or can’t afford travel and we’re here for everyone
or
LOOK A BIRD
or
JAZZ HANDS
but he chose to elaborately present a lie. A big lie. A YUGE lie. About something that is totally inconsequential. At the end of the day, if only fourteen people and a squirrel turned up, Trump still got sworn in.
But he chose to lie that it was a record breaking crowd out there when it was below-average.
That is a PROBLEM. Because this is easypeasy stuff that is of little consequence. It would have been better to not even bring it up – let alone make it the whole reason you’re there – to lie?
What if there is an emergency? What if the lights go off or SARS comes back? Because I was in the middle of both those things as well. And that’s when it was really important that reporters trusted me and the information I was giving and that the information we were sending out and the accuracy of it. Lives were at stake.
You lie to a reporter once, no one will ever believe you again. His bridge with the press corps is burned.
And you’re not upholding democracy by lying for your guy, you’re in fact doing the opposite of that. Lies coming out of a press office are every day in a fascist authoritarian regime.
There is a rule with political staffers: you get ordered by the boss to go out and lie? You quit on the spot. Because you’re paid in tax dollars and you are responsible to the people – all of them.
You know why Mike McCurry left the Clinton White House? Because he knew the time was rapidly approaching when he was going to have to cross a line, and lie for the president.
So he resigned.
I remember watching him walk out of the West Wing. Best advice anyone ever gave me, just a green kid trying to find her way in DC, was from him.
At the end of the day if you can’t look at yourself in the mirror, straight in the eye, then there’s nothing more to be done. Don’t sacrifice what you know to be right for anyone.
This. What she says is true, because I’ve been there, too. And I’ve lost a job because of it. Bill Kristol – BILL KRISTOL – has expressed his complete disbelief at Spicer’s conduct in the press room yesterday. If you’ve sunk so far that Bill Kristol is calling you out publicly, you should resign.
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