Moonie Pie Zappa

Yesterday I had my first run in with a "Moonie," or, what they prefer: Family Federation for World Peace, and it was a doozy.

I had to do all my research after the run in, so if you don't know what i am talking about click here.

I was eating some brunch, and this young girl approached me, 18-20 years old, she had a notebook in hand, kinda resembling a journalist. She asked if she could "ask me some questions" i obliged. Being it was Culture Shock, i had this idea she was representing either the city newspaper or the school and looking to get some input from the student body.

well that changed when she said "we are looking for young peoples take on peace." I was fine answering some questions, honestly. I gave her some background information which included hobbies like: school and film. She sorta "rolled" with film. I was answering questions like: why i like film, what it means to me, etc... looking back in hindsight she was trying to make me feel comfortable and bring up a topic that makes me feel "peaceful."

Then out-of-the-blue we talked about God. I couldn't help but think it was a tad "odd" to ask such heavy questions even if they were just for opinion sake.

She than asked "do you think we could create a perfect-peaceful world here on earth?" i said no. she didn't like that answer...

Eventually she popped the question and asked if i would like to go on a "peaceful" retreat - really using that word a lot - she billed it as some spiritual place. I like that. Honestly though, i didn't think there was any kind of hidden agenda. So (regrettably) i gave her my email and phone number. And said i could probably make the retreat tomorrow (sunday). She told me a bus would pick me up and take me to the place and it would also bring me back. She said the place was like a rain forest.

Feeling uneasy with everything i talked to my roommate, who had the same problem, and he told me everything. I then did some research.

Today (sunday) i was suppose to meet her at around 10:00am, i didn't show up, she called me 10 times in a row and leaving two messages.

i don't need to say all the bad things this "cult" does, you can find most of it on Wikipedia. But, they do have a tendency to brainwash college students, and they view their founder (convicted felon) as a God, and they merry off total strangers (where the new husband hits the new wife), and they have a creepy website, parallel to Scientology.

this would have been a very different post had i gone on the bus.