Love Has Won

I've seen videos on this cult before, but once this came out I hunkered down to binge the whole thing. Love Has Won is a deep dive into the beginning of the cult and its growth, with interviews with (former?) members of the cult sharing their views and experiences.

Honestly, I think this is one of the better cult documentaries I've seen. For once, there isn't insane child abuse, but what went on is still undeniably wild! The first episode was a bit slow for my tastes, but the last two were shocking. Seeing how deep the delusions of LHW run, hearing their beliefs, and the sheer amount of substance abuse going on has me baffled as to how they functioned for so long. I think this might be a great example of spiritual psychosis leading to the exploitation of other, more vulnerable people.

Highly recommend if you have an interest in this sort of thing.

There were several times I had to ask, is this a spoof series? Like 'This is Spinal Tap' for cults. It's sad that these are real people living life so poorly.

But, somehow, it's compelling to watch. How? How do people get this lost? I hope the rest of the series takes a dive into these lives (rather than the crazy clips) and how they became so broken. Trauma, obviously, but it's got to be more than just that.

As a parent it's a nightmare to think your kids might end up so astray in their lives. We'd like to think we'll be there for them and have given them enough tools. Sometimes it's still not enough. It's easy to call these people absolute morons. Outliers. Anomalies. Freaks. Is that in any way helpful, or preventative? I hope the rest of the series veers a little more in that direction.

Losers tend to be full of themselves, but what sets Amy apart is just how full of herself she was. She needed drugs, alcohol and colloidal silver, not food and water like normal people. She was a very sick girl.

Sick people attract people as sick as they are, and Amy collected a dozen of them. Together they didn't try to feed the hungry or clothe the poor. They got high, had sex, abandoned their children, and scammed people out of money with snake oil remedies.

These people were imbeciles, junkies, felons and fools. They needed psychiatric help, and, instead, got drunk and took drugs. The result was the stupidity you would expect, but at least this cult didn't kill Sharon Tate. That's about the only good thing to say about them.

My heart goes out to both the families of these people, and to the people of Crestone, who had to put up with them.

This was definitely a strange documentary, but it was interesting, often funny (unintentionally), and even sad at times. But when a wasted Mother God asked for Chicken Parmesan and was given meatballs, one of the funniest things I've ever seen in a documentary happened. I can't really repeat it because of all the cussing, but her delivery of "Chicken Paremsan! I love meatballs.... but that's not what I wanted! CHICKEN PARMESAN!.... and then something along the lines of "I get dumber every moment I'm around you stupid people" with much more cussing and swearing.... I mean, seriously? If this was real, who would actually think this was a God-like figure who just drank all day long and swore all the time??? If you like bizarre, this one is for you.

I think this documentary is well done in the sense it seems pretty unbiased and just presents the story as it went. Doesn't add too much unnecessary shock value, good production quality, and keeps your attention. Worth a watch if you heard about this story in the news and are curious. I'm glad some of their families came on to speak about her, it gave an insightful and humanizing view.

It's really easy to see why people write off the members as dumb addicts, but I think it's very important to keep in mind that in the right scenario and struggle, anyone can be indoctrinated into a cult. This documentary was really able to show the community aspect of the group, and how that in itself was such a breeding ground for substance abuse, shared delusion, and toxic relationship hierarchies.

My takeaway: I highly encourage people (and wish the education system would teach), to be careful of conspiracy theories, learn about the BITE model, and really read the physiological effects of every drug on the brain before you partake. Spiritual psychosis is very real and studied.