Mind control, cults and sect, oh my!

Today I wanted to explore more conspiracy theories, so I typed HAARP into google. I figured that would be a good place to start, since I don't know squat about the HAARP array. Anyhow, I got my questions answered and wandered off through the forest of conspiracy sites, looking for just one healthy tree. At present, I'm looking at FACTnet and browsing their list of cults that use "coercive persuasion mind control techniques".

I've never heard of most of the groups on the list, but a few jump out at me. Like Amway. Mom sold Amway for about a year before deciding there was no profit in it for her. When she walked away from it, several people higher up in her pyramid pestered her to come back. When she flatly refused, some of them became rude; but that was it, and after a few months they stopped calling her. Amway makes some really good products... it's the promise of riches they give their salespeople that's problematic. I well remember going to their meetings with my mom, and watching people get all excited about the $500 worth of stuff they sold. Amway meetings are kind of like church revivals, only without the singing.

Another name on the list is Landmark. I forked over my $300 and did the Landmark Forum, complete with a ten week seminar afterwards. A year or so later I invested another $90 in the Commitment seminar. It was some of the best money I've ever spent. Prior to doing Landmark, I was lazy, screwed-up and unhappy. After Landmark, I was lazy, screwed-up and unhappy, but I now have a way to recognize it and deal with it. They speak positively and never tell you you're wrong. Most of their work involves putting your control over your life back into your own hands. Here is my favorite example:
You're driving down the highway and someone cuts in front of you. You get mad and cuss out the driver. (we've all done it) Immediately, you have given your power to the motorist ahead of you. You are no longer driving your car... The other guy is! And, of course, the other guy is oblivious to the fact that you've given your control over to him. (p.s. These are my words, not Landmark's) You could spend the rest of your day being pissy over a 2 second incident, or you can take your power back.
The act of realizing you've given up your power enables you to get it back. "There goes my power, driving down the highway... Hey wait a minute... It's my power." poof. Just like that, you're back in control of your life.
Landmark's concept is that we all make choices, all the time. You pay them money to take classes on recognizing your choices before you make them. They also teach you how to dig yourself out of a hole you keep falling into. My biggest pit is what I now call "the underwear argument"
-don't drink any milk before you read this... you'll snort it outta your nose-
Way back in the first few months of my marriage, my hubby and I were poorly dealing with us both being slobs. I'm the kind of person who will polish the windowsills while ignoring the over-full trash can. Hubby is the kind of person who will take out the trash, but ignore the 12 Pepsi bottles on the computer desk. It's quite frustrating. We both have a problem with laundry. So. In our first apartment, my hubby would leave dirty clothes on the floor, and I would pick up some of them, but leave the ones I thought of as 'his problem'. That means underwear. I wouldn't pick up his undies. I'd step over them, pretend they didn't exist, spray them with Lysol, and keep on walking. (not really Lysol) Eventually, one of the cats would drag the undies out of the bedroom. I don't know why cats do that, they just do. Now the underwear is an attractive nuisance. We can't have company over if there's a pair of briefs lying in the hall. I still ignore the underwear, and stop inviting friends over. It's not my problem, you see. My darling husband also ignores the underwear. They've migrated to the hallway, so it's my job to pick them up. I won't pick them up, so he stops doing the dishes. Now I have 2 things to be upset about. We have a sink full of dishes and a pair of mens panties in the hall. So I stop cleaning the cat litter and start doing artwork on every available surface. My hubby can't have that, of course. I'm staking too much turf, so he starts leaving Pepsi bottles everywhere. Pretty soon, we have an overly cluttered house that reeks of cat litter, and pizza boxes on the floor because the dishes aren't done and the tables are covered in artwork and used soda bottles. All because of a little pair of underwear.
I've done the Forum, and I see where I could choose to just wash the damn things instead of letting it escalate into a full blown disaster. The solution is to say out loud, "I'm doing some laundry, could you dump everything down the laundry chute for me please?" I have to say it without making him wrong, of course, otherwise it doesn't work. We do still have the underwear argument. It doesn't have to start with a pair of undies, either. Any bit of mess will do, but now I see the argument, and get to decide whether I'll argue or not. I have a bit of control over the issue. Thank you, Landmark!
I don't think Landmark is a cult, but I can see how it would be perceived as one. Seminars start every 3 months or so, and they encourage you to take their seminars, for which you pay $75-$100 or so. They encourage you to "share" and bring guests who might want to do the Forum. -They encourage that one a lot.
However, they heavily discourage "fixing" people, and they won't let someone with a mental illness do the Forum. They are not looking for broken, co-dependant people who will get sucked into their program and spend every dime they have for more.