I'm pretty much shellshocked by John's post too, which popped up way past my bedtime last night, & to which I responded without thinking. Now a day later, & I've read all the responses, I still feel the same way about the situation as I felt last night.

Which is disbelief that someone could be brought so low; I mean this is unprecedented psychological destruction, or at least unprecedented in a free society, though not in the nightmare worlds of Hitler, Stalin , & Mao. 

The man has been ruined by a monster imo, but I shouldn't be surprised by that. Ever since the blinkers/blinders came off about Rawat & his con game, & after piecing together his likely true character from all the anecdotes, I've been convinced that he'll fight like a rat in a trap to keep his ill gotten gains.

As for the true believers who are prepared to do the master's dirty business, I think they've always been there.

Those crappy academics like David Barrett who've 'investigated' New Religious Movements, would make a bigger name for themselves if they looked into the similarities between the evolution of Rawat's DLM/EV as organisations, & Mussolini's PNF.

I reckon you would've been a Ras, Joe, if you'd been a part of that world. I would've been a Squadristi. Really the parallels are remarkable.

The thugs who suppressed dissent were directed by the Grand Fascist Council, who were entirely under the thumb of the Great Leader himself. When the GFC saw which way the wind was blowing , & after nearly 3 decades of foot kissing, they abandoned the GL & his mistress to be shot & strung up by the mob which had previously hung on his every word (sort of).

Maybe history will repeat itself.