Letters to the Editor
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This is suddenly very interesting...
At first, this story was a big *Yawn* for me....I hate to say this, but I'm 35 and NONE of this Castneda cultism stuff even rings a bell...so up to the part about the missing women, this whole thing was just one long, boring story...in fact, it's just another cult expose, in my opinion...
But when I read the letters from nutbags trying to justify this tripe, this starts to make a lot more sense...this quote takes the cake...
"That he apparently had such a shadow side is tragic. Personally he may have been more akin to Jim Jones, but Jones never achieved the ability to transmit the powerful sense of connection to the idea of transendence on a more widespread level that could inspire as Castaneda did. And in this is the vast difference between the two.
-- kenkapkk "
I don't know if kenkapkk even saw the American Experience, but I think they are short-changing Jim Jones (and his ilk)...the People's Temple had thousands of followers at one time, and some measure of political clout in SF in the 1970s. Sure, his was the more fire-and-brimstone kind of religious experience, but it was just as powerful for those followers as it was for the followers of Castaneda's so-called teachings...
Unfortunately, all you folks that believe in Castaneda's mumbo-jumbo are just suckers that won't admit after all these years to being duped...
So, suckers...you found some kind of transcendent, storyteller bullshit-artist to make you feel better about your existence before you die...so what, big deal? What charitable good has Castaneda's teachings done for mankind? How many poor folks has his philosophy helped cloth or feed? With so many other more IMPORTANT problems going on in this world, does Carlos Castaneda really mean jack-shit?