The TAT site has often made the parallel of genocide devotion to religious fervor. This was not an original idea; a pioneering genocide scholar, Terrence Des Pres, himself explained (back in 1976) the attitude of students in a genocide class as "religious."

The "religious" parallel has a more sinister undertone than what des Pres was driving at. As those of us who have taken the trouble to look beneath the surface of Armenian genocide claims have realized, there are no real facts to back up the charge. The "evidence" all boils down to hearsay, with some forgeries. But that's all right; to the genocide-adherent, facts do not matter. All that matters is faith.

As the program began, we were told that "cults share certain defining characteristics. In a cult, leaders recruit members through deceptive techniques that rob them of their identity and their individuality. Experts have termed these techniques 'thought reform.'"

Prof. of Psychiatry, Robert Jay Lifton

And the "expert" the program came up with was none other than the whistleblowing "genocide scholar," Robert Jay Lifton, himself. The professor explained that "thought reform" involves two stages, the first being a breakdown of one's own psychic integrity. The second stage "is reeducation, trying to remake the person into a new person." As an example, the program pointed to the first of three case studies, Charles Manson, who "broke down young recruits' resistance, rendering them vulnerable to Manson's bizarre reeducation."

Let's travel back in time to the days of the Ottoman Empire, where the "Loyal Millet," the Armenians, lived in relative peace and prosperity for centuries. As the "Sick Man" deteriorated, and extremists saw that benefits could be gained by turning traitorous, the Armenians' loyalty would be targeted by the "cult leaders" of that time, the Hunchak and Dashnak revolutionaries. Through their methods of terror, a segment of the Armenian population would be forced to join their cause, but this the segment of the Armenian population that maintained their free will. It's the ones who fell into the trap of swallowing Hunchak and Dashnak (as well as missionary) propaganda that started to think the Armenians were racially superior, which allowed ordinary Armenians to think of the Turks as subhuman creatures. (That is, the "reeducation" factor of "thought reform," that has carried over and is being perpetuated to this day, as may readily be seen in Armenian forums referring to the "Mongol Turks.") This is the attitude that led to so many participating in the cold-blooded ethnic cleansing campaign that would claim the lives of some half-million fellow Ottomans, murders often perpetrated in the cruelest manner, as documented, for one, by their own allies.

Dep. D.A. Patrick Sequeira

The "Manson girls," who had murdered Sharon Tate and others, are shown to be defiant in court. Los Angeles County Deputy D.A. Patrick Sequeira (the film showed him at a parole hearing of one of these women. He also attended the parole hearing of Hampig Sassounian, possibly aware of the Linda Blair-like "possession" that the Dashnak terrorist and the Manson killer shared) commented: "There's something that caused them to do such a horrible crime. And to do it in a manner where there appears to be no remorse afterwards. And so when you have someone like that, the question becomes, can they ever really be rehabilitated."


Charlie's "Angels"; Van Houten is at left

Model prisoner Leslie Van Houten, right, at 16th parole hearing. She was arrested at 19, the exact age her deranged "counterpart" and fellow cultist, Hampig Sassounian was, at the time of his arrest.

At the end of Marty Callaghan's excellent documentary, "The Armenian Revolt: 1894-1920," the narrator alluded to whether the Armenians who had committed so many crimes would be haunted in their dreams years later. The problem is, so many Armenians did not look upon their victims as human beings. (Another Manson documentary on the History Channel, 2006's "True Crime Authors: HELTER SKELTER with Vincent Bugliosi," explained that the Manson clan was brainwashed into thinking of their victims not as decent human beings, but as symbols of a sick society; the prosecutor Bugliosi elaborated, "perhaps psychologically it is easier to stab a symbol than it is to stab a human being.") As the Manson girls at the time of their trial, one wonders whether too many Armenians were bothered by their consciences.

The latter-day murderous Armenian, Hampig Sassounian, only expressed a form of remorse after a quarter-century of proclaiming his innocence, and who knows whether he did so with sincerity, interested as he was in gaining his freedom. Given their hateful brainwashing by what we may refer to as the cult of genocide, it is unlikely the terrorists from the later period would "ever really be rehabilitated." In the case of Armenian terrorists, "rehabilitation" is usually the last thing on the judges' minds. The irresponsible genocide-sympathizing and bigoted judge basically slapped the wrists of the Dashnak terrorists of the L.A.-Five, quickly releasing them back into society, intact with their racism and hatred. (Many members of the L.A. Five went on to becoming "respectable members of the community"; instead of using bombs and bullets, some graduated into positions where they managed to influence impressionable Armenians with the cult of genocide and hatred.) When France prematurely released Varoujan Garabedian, the murderous ASALA terrorist "promised to do his best for the realization of our goals" as he "was greeted with rapturous applause by dozens of supporters in Yerevan." (Per The Armenian Reporter.)

Charles Manson, from a 1987 interview

To cap off then, Prof. Gallagher's statement, "...Passions and commitments that can be engendered by religion can be extraordinarily powerful, and sometimes no other human beings can stand in their way," applies to a tee, regarding the Armenian rebels and terrorists, both from the Ottoman period,and its relatively modern-day counterpart of the 1970s and 80s. We can see these religious genocide "passions" in existence in the Armenian rank and file today. So consumed are the extremists among them, some are easily persuaded to travel down the road of violence, targeting those who run contrary to their emotional beliefs. One good thing that can be said about the genocide industry's overwhelming success in getting the world to accept the "Armenian genocide" claim is that these rabid extremists not only do not see the need to turn violent these days, sitting as prettily as they are, but also realize how violence can be counter-productive to their cause. (At the core of which is innocence and victimhood.) So they are content in confining their attacks to the age-old strategy of character assassination campaigns. Their opposition, the Turks, hardly share the same passions and commitments, given that most Turks are motivated by "reason" and "fairness." Since Turks are disliked in the West, and no one is going to defend the Turks — not even the Turks —- then, truly, "no other human beings can stand in [the] way" of the genocide cultists.

As far as the program's ending statement:

"As long as reason can be eclipsed by faith, there will be those who use religion to exploit, and those who give up their free will to a charismatic cult leader."

And such has certainly been the case during Ottoman times, when many of the simpler-minded Armenians were incited to join Hai Tahd, or the Armenian Cause. For example, in the early 1890s, when the Hunchak terrorist, Hamparsum "Murad" Boyadjian, arrived in Sassun, the New York Herald Tribune reported: "Hamparsum tricked the simple people into believing that he had been sent by the European Powers to overthrow Turkish domination, and thus succceeded in realizing his murderous plans." In effect, the local Armenians proved willing to "give up their free will to a charismatic cult leader."

"Police only step in after laws have been broken and in the world of the cult, this is often too late."

Indeed, when the Ottoman police stepped in to address the crimes of Armenian terrorists from the 1890s on, as when the police of the world's countries stepped in to check the Armenian terrorists of the 1970s and 80s, it was often too late; the world of the "Hai Tahd" cult, in the case of the former, and the genocide cult with the latter would just keep growing and growing.


"The key to preventing tragedy is the individual confronting and defying the power of the cult."

And here only the honorable Armenians can break the deadly hold the Dashnaks have on the world's diaspora and the Republic of Armenia. Since the genocide cult is an expression of patriotism, and since those who speak out are in danger of being ruthlessly struck down (in the diaspora, an example; in the case of Armenia, an example), the concept of "honorable Armenian" becomes a rare breed, indeed. Unfortunately, there is no sign that this tragedy having befallen the Armenians will subside, and the harmful and hateful effects of their genocide religion and terrorist ideology will keep going strong.




Before moving on to the next section, let's tackle one other important point the program makes:

"...Cult leaders exploit members to fulfill their own needs for power and control. In many cases, the exploitation is financial; or sexual. But at times, has taken an even darker form."

All three of those elements apply fittingly to the fanatical leaders of the Armenian secret societies. We're all aware of how many cults persuade their members to give up worldly goods, as in the case of the "Moonies" or even, to an extent, the Church of Scientology. Sexually, too, a leader is not going to give up their advantage of being seen as a "God." Sun Myung Moon would have a go at his female followers, the night before their weddings, as a means of "cleansing" the women. The program makes a point of how "Charlie's girls" would see Manson as a Christ-like figure, allowing him control over their bodies, and in the show's third case study (the second was the little-known case of Paul Schaeffer, the German congregationalist who created a hair-raising "Colony of Righteousness" in 1960s Chile; his slave laborers were chillingly told "Arbeit Macht Frei," or "Work Makes You Free"), we are told David Koresh, of the Branch Davidians (whose presence seemed misplaced in this film; Koresh's greatest crime was, it appeared, child molestation of teen-agers 13 and up; he and his cult were themselves the victims of a brutal government action) had conditioned his followers to look upon him as a God, fitting the pattern.

In terms of application, many Armenians, as covered, were seduced into giving up great wealth for the "Cause," much as a good many others were forced to part with their money through terror. The sexual parallel is not as pronounced, but we can see the terrorists put their powerful position (or in their minds, their God-like status) to good use in this area, as well.

"They [the Dashnaks] quarter themselves on Christian villages, live on the best to be had, exact contributions to their funds, and make the younger women and girls submit to their will. Those who incur their displeasure are murdered in cold blood."[FO 424/196, Elliot to Currie, Tabreez, May 5, 1898]

We don't need to further elaborate on the path of the "darker form" these terrorist leaders persuaded too many Armenians to follow. To get a better understanding of the cult-like exploitation at work, a good page to consult is The "Black Hand" of the Armenians.