My name is Mark Vesente. I'm a director, producer, writer, and troublemaker. I'm most known as the director of the film What the Bleep Do We Know, and as one of the next-team whistleblowers featured in the HBO series, Aval. Let's just say, I know a thing or two about cults. I don't consider myself a cult expert, but I'm definitely an expert in being screwed over, waking up, and

knowing how to spot them.

And let me tell you, they're everywhere.

My mission is to help people see patterns of abuse across multiple contexts.

From personal to family, to group, to societal.

It's all the same pattern at every scale.

As you'll hear, I have a pretty salty approach to most things.

So there might be some blasphemy.

One or two sacred cows might get knocked over, and there'll likely be some foul language.

You never quite know what you're going to get, because it really does depend on what the

fuck is on my mind.

Hello, everybody.

I hope everyone is doing great in these insane and turbulent times.

Before I launch into this episode,

I want to ask you to please subscribe and like if you're on YouTube.

If you're on podcast platforms, please give me a rating

and a good review is always helpful.

So, here we are in July 24.

What a circus.

At a time like this, it's definitely worth rereading Hans Christian Anderson's story,

the Emperor's New Clothes.

There are so many important lessons woven into the story. Yes, I really did that.

...