I caught the documentary
Heaven's Gate: The Definitive Story that premiered on C&I on Thursday night and it blew me away seeing how beyond-insane some people can be. You can know that lunatics exist but actually seeing footage of them and hearing their story makes it shockingly real.
The documentary's about the suicidal Heaven's Gate cult that was orchestrated by Marshall Applewhite and his partner in evilness, Bonnie Nettles.
Applewhite claimed that he was the mind of Jesus in a new body and Nettles said she was God - too much to comprehend, I know - and together they lured vulnerable people into disowning their families and friends to live with them in a cult commune.
They told their 'followers' that they were all special and would get to the next level of evolution if they did certain things - like reject all worldly things, including their bodies - some even got castrated so that they weren't 'tempted' by sex.
The ultimate 'promise' was that if they obeyed, androgynous aliens would come to earth to fetch them.
After years of manipulating them, Bettie died from cancer - which was a problem with her being God and all - so Marshall convinced the cultists to commit suicide to join her.
It happened around the time that the Hale-Bopp comet appeared so he conveniently used it as a 'sign' that it was the right time to do it - telling his 'class' (which is what he called them) that there was a spaceship following behind it.
Where do you begin to understand how anyone could possibly,
possibly believe such drivel??
The documentary features interviews with the family's of some of the 39 people who committed suicide and it was heartgripping seeing the impact on them. There's no ways I'd cope if someone I knew got dragged into such madness - I'd have to get violent to get them back.
The other mindnumbing thing is that the entire series of events happened 'cos of one simple reason: Applewhite refused to accept that he was gay.
Before it all happened he was a married teacher who had numerous relationships with male students. He left teaching, met Bettie, saw his homosexuality as bad and together they went insane.
While everything that happened was 100% his fault it's a huge indictment on society and it's homophobia and what it turned him into.
If you didn't see the documentary I'd highly recommend you catch it - I give it a 10 out of 10 for its fry-my-brain factor. It's being repeated over the weekend at these times:
Friday 21 March: 14h40
Sunday 23 March: 22h20
Monday 24 March: 04h20, 16h20
-----