Sheela? That you?

titanmaster_race said:

---

Sheela? That you?

---

Tough titties!

Pretty amazing and fascinating documentary

What a crazy story. Both the Rajneeshees and the townspeople lost their damn minds. I feel like if they cult had been allowed to incorporate their town on the ranch, a lot of it could have been avoided. They originally were taking over the town completely legally and while I think a lot of people would have reacted like the townspeople, I think the government getting involved wasn't warranted. The Rajneeshees mistake was going on the offensive to where the media could project them as evil. Anyone else think that had they played the victim card they may have been able to make it work?
Either way, it was a fascinating story!

The townspeople should have been more open to "outsiders," and much less close minded about "different" practices. Screaming in a remote field, meditation, and building an arid area into an economically productive and environmentally conscious settlement should not have been a "problem." And who cares if voluntary donations bought multiple Rolls Royces.

I'll say it. I can't put my finger on it, and she's not all that attractive but something about Sheela intrigued the hell outta me. Kinda sexy in a way.

I had no idea any of this was happening at the time. In fact I didn't know anything about it until watching the documentary. Pretty crazy.

Also had no idea that Bill Bowerman and his family were involved in this ordeal.

I remember seeing the name Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh back then, but that's about it. Not exactly John Smith.

Big Cat `93 said:

---

I remember seeing the name Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh back then, but that's about it. Not exactly John Smith.

---

Don't you mean Joseph Smith

amercer,
If this would have been tried in Germany or even if Joel Osteen wouldve tried this in Germany it would have been banned because cults are not allowed. The government takes it very seriously there.

Thought it was funny when the old guy called younglife a cult...with no sex.

This is a must see.

My take: A bunch of hippies looking for free sex and liberal commie utopia found a home. Everyone was equal? BS! That dude and his inner circle lived like a king and all he did was get high and walk around smiling.

Something is off with that lawyer. In all of his raving support and "love" for Osha and the commune, he deliberately omits talking about the financial aspect of the cult, how they bussed in thousands of homeless which ended in disaster, or the attempted murders of the townspeople. He is mentally ill, like most radicals.

Big Cat `93 said:

---

I remember seeing the name Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh back then, but that's about it. Not exactly John Smith.

---

My only real knowledge of the Rajneesh came from a short storyline in Bloom County when Bill the Cat became a member....

Oh man. How could I forget about that? I was a Bloom County addict back in the day.

I watched the last episode Wednesday. You're right about the lawyer/mayor. His Osho soliloquy creeped me out.

What was really weird (and I guess weird in all cults) was that they held Bhagwan in incredibly high regard as some divine individual with healing powers who had something incredible to offer to the world.

Reality was he hadn't done crap. Pretty cut and dry case of brainwashing.

It was so revealing when the lady that was convicted for trying to murder the doctor - she slowly came to the realization that her family was the most important thing instead of the commune and their work. It's a microcosm of what many leftists think is the way to progress. And I'm sorry to get political, but I couldn't help but view this entire situation through a political lens since it dealt with so many legalities.

Interesting perspective here.

https://uproxx.com/tv/wild-wild-country-cameraman-interview/

Just finished the doc, and I have to see the film makers did an amazing job of not taking a side. It's fascinating to me how Jane, Sheela and Nemir/Sunshine all have different takes. Nemir holds baghwan in such high regard and seems to believe everything was a complete scam, legally. Sheela still loves him but "knows" he was corrupt, and alleges that the movie producer and doctor doped him up to get control. Jane is completely out and realizes it was just a cult life.

My take away is that the majority of the rajneeshee followers acheived that utopian life they were looking for, but were 100% exploited by baghwan. He got off easy only having to leave the country.



I was a wee toddler when all this went down and I have never heard of it before.

I was in high school when the end came and I really don't recall much about it. I remember when Jonestown happened, but I don't recall anything about the Synyassans.

I learned about the documentary from this thread - I'm from a small town, I can relate to the ranchers on a personal level, so I went into the series trying to be as sympathetic to the Baghwan's group from the opening - to find the point where they lost me. I wanted to look at it from an objective angle, but starting with a waaaayyy open mind, to see where my sympathies switched to the side "I would have been on".

I have to admit, the way it was presented - it took longer than I thought. IF the presentation is accurate it appears they were staying between the lines up until the county election. I don't know the legal ramifications of the county stopping registering voters - but there is no doubt that after that Sheela just took it to the next level and everything from there on was wacko. What is interesting to note is that in retrospect - the experiment wasn't financially sustainable anyway. I'll add (right or wrong) that I have little sympathy for foreigners who lecture on or exploit our Constitution - that's something that I hold in high regard and apply equally to all Americans - and it applies to our guests too - but don't hold it over our head. It's not yours to do that.

Sunshine aged well. She doesn't appear to have led too rough of a life because she appeared to be an attractive lady. Usually, the 'fast lane' life starts to really show up at that age. Sheela scared the hell out of me.

I wish they had explored more about the drug accusations Sheela made regarding the people who replaced her in the inner circle. That's probably my one critique of the series. They left some threads hanging. For instance, Silvertooth talked about finding all this incriminating stuff in their dump, but they never really talked about what it was.

Interesting "Where Are They Now" article.

http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/wild-wild-country-where-are-they-now.html

Details of criminality beyond the documentary

https://newrepublic.com/article/147657/outside-limits-human-imagination

Really interesting.
How in the world did I not hear of this? Was in high school and thought I kept up with stuff.

I was (am) confused about one thing in particular.
When he decided that they would burn the teachings and move away from religion. What?????
In the show I thought that would be how they deported him - since he was only in country as a religious leader.
But it really just turned into a book burning party where everyone looked high/out of their mind as they destroyed what they said was life changing.
Well done show

Redstone said:

---

Details of criminality beyond the documentary

https://newrepublic.com/article/147657/outside-limits-human-imagination

---

Good grief. How in the world could that documentary leave out all that evil concerning kids??? I feel like they tried too hard to let people come to their own conclusion about the cult as opposed to actually exposing all the true evil the cult perpetuated.

I can't believe I left that out of my earlier post, that everyone called them evil and the doc never explored why. That was the first thing that stuck out to me while watching.

Redstone said:

---

Details of criminality beyond the documentary

https://newrepublic.com/article/147657/outside-limits-human-imagination

---

Some of Rajneesh's methods of suggestion described in that article crept into the outer fringes of Christianity in the 90s. Hank Hanegraaff wrote about it in a couple of his books.

Really enjoyed it. Agree with a lot of the points made on this point.

A couple thoughts.
1. Did they ever explain the choice of clothing? To me the fact that they all wore the same clothes made them seem so much more cultish.

2. I could have used a bit more background in Osho himself. It was kind of an abrupt intro. Sheela just meets this grown man who is mystifying and has this huge following. How did he get to that point?

3. I actually kind of liked the main lawyer.

4. Completely felt that if the towns people would have left the alone it would have even different. Off on a ranch praying and screwing. Who are hey hurting?

read the article Redstone posted.

I plan to but don't have 5 hours right now I opened it on phone and wow that thing is long. It's on my reading list though.

Just about finished up with Ep 3 and this is so good. But having read that article last night, wow, I wish they would have dove deeper into the ugly stuff.

My wife and I were both floored to learn that Bhagwan died when he was only 58. Dude looked in his 70s at least and was definitely high as a kite. There is probably a lot to Sheela's claims of drug pushing.

agchino said:

---

My wife and I were both floored to learn that Bhagwan died when he was only 58. Dude looked in his 70s at least and was definitely high as a kite. There is probably a lot to Sheela's claims of drug pushing.

---

Yep we looked up his age and were shocked. Apparently he backed off some of the free love stuff before he died, saw some speculation that he might have had aids.

That might fit too, especially since there was reporting that they were HIV testing every person that entered the commune at one point.

agchino said:

---

That might fit too, especially since there was reporting that they were HIV testing every person that entered the commune at one point.

---

Wasn't just all the homeless guys they were busing in?

Not sure this has been added but I was interested to see whatever happened to the people.

http://www.vulture.com/2018/03/wild-wild-country-where-are-they-now.html

Oops previously mentioned, nevermind