Herding the Moo

EPILOGUE “In a time of unusual deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act” ‐ George Orwell From its heyday of around fifty schools in the early to middle 1990s, this organization still exists today with more than a dozen remaining cash collection stations scattered in Washington, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, California, plus a few remaining outposts in the Midwest. These states have lax consumer protection laws and prior to the Internet, were under most folk’s radar. New legislation in Washington State limits the amount karate studios can charge there for instruction. The new limit enacted of $3,600 per year, will seriously affect the Moo’s cash collection activities. Many students pay two or three times that annually. The hook is the same, “It’s up to you, how much do you want to learn?” Who is John C. Kim? His real name we may never know. Jack Park was one alias used of a Korean child who died at a very young age. Kim obtained false passports and other identification using the stolen social security number, his lawyers arguing the government bureaucracy had once again made a mistake. The year after leaving prison, Kim changed his name to Won Chin Kim according to Cook County, Illinois records. Released from federal custody in 2001, Kim was granted early termination of his three year supervised release in 2003 by his affirmations to the court. Research into what might have been his original training in martial arts reveals a faint association to well regarded masters from Korea, a few of whom have been in the United States for at least as long as Kim has. But Kim or is it really Park, keeps his operations far removed from what could have been his peer group lest he be found out as a phony. The Moos never interact in any way with true martial artists. The consensus of several of the contributors here believe John C. Kim was a beginning level student at an area in Pusan, South Korea and to his twisted credit was able to copy fragments of more than a few systems over the years subsequently concocting his own royal heritage. Of all the lies, false promises and manipulative crap Kim has spewed on people over four decades, the worst has to be, first you have to earn. Who is he to say who should earn or not. And what are they earning? Instructor Jeff earned his first black Moo belt in the early 1980s and helped build the Farm in Illinois and the Ranch in Texas and stayed ever loyal through the FBI raids. He died of a brain tumor while Kim stood by and did nothing. The stress of serving Kim, nonstop for years; the confusion, the false truths and promises never realized of better mind, better body, but first you have to earn, took the ultimate toll on Jeff. Kim said he could have cured him, as he always says, but it would attract too much attention. Same reason Kim does not float around in public anymore. Instructor Jane was the wife of a national instructor turned felon and was herself a full fledged black Moo belt, one of the very few women to ever reach such a rank in the Moo without marrying and receiving the title as a mere position. She died of cancer after years of caring for the Kim family and being a close confidant for the many failed businesses Kim used as fronts for money processing. Again Kim stood by and did nothing, not so much as a card to her family. Kim could not afford being linked. He said he could, but would not cure her as it would be taking advantage of his power. The guy who claimed he was sent to Earth to finish the work of Jesus saying verily, after all your work you are not worthy. Jane held title documents to property the Moos needed to sell in order to pay Kim’s attorney’s fees. Her only visits in the hospital from Moos were to obtain her signature on the land deed. Her husband never went, he was too busy handling. Instructor John was an electrical engineer with a solid reputation and ethic. He had worked at Cape Canaveral and for GTE and had traveled around the world. He sought better health and thought martial arts would help. He was older than most students starting out and eventually made sixth section then black Moo belt honorary for his work at the Farm and the herbal products businesses. He died in the pool in Kim’s backyard at the Farm, due to an epileptic seizure. John developed progressively worse seizures the more he was around Kim who convinced him he was better off without medication; that a cure was not only possible, but Moo had one used for centuries, but first he would have to earn. Kim had his Moos handle the situation while he fled, not willing to be linked or lend assistance in any way. When first leaving the cult, you will struggle to find the real you. Different than when you started, there are holes drilled into your psyche, the abscesses leaching cult mannerisms. You still relate to an environment where others should bow to you, that you know something better, you just haven’t figured it out yet. The reality is you’ve been kept in a psychological closet for years and are now thrust back into society as if for the first time. Moo‐ness has a strange way of manifesting itself inside us until we face it head on. Unless one confronts Moo‐ness it will continue to permeate all that we do. If you do not think you were in a cult, there is more work to be done. Retaining anything Moo be it artifacts, pictures, words, phrases, symbols; any of it is a detriment to cleansing. There is no good in Moo. Not the movements, not the system, not any of it. This takes further reflection and inspection to realize. If you proceed with real martial arts training, what you will very much need to be wary of is any new authentic learning will be polluted by the Moo experience in ways you can not perceive. The new forms gained are at risk of becoming Moo‐ified, slowly at first but eventually becoming useless because the Moo piece of dirt was dissolved into the clean glass of self you thought was rinsed pure before you re‐filled it. Because you could not detect the remaining Moo, the replenishment was tainted. Remember, the invisible is much more powerful. And, your new mentors may not want to deal with your past. Naturally, there are disagreements about the specific reasons why people join cults and much controversy over explaining complex behaviors in group dynamics. Dr. Michael Langone, executive director for the International Cultic Studies Association, specializes in research about cultic groups and psychological manipulation. In the Psychiatric Times July 1996 edition he discussed three models, summarized here: 1. Deliberative model, favored by sociologists and religious scholars ‐ people join cults because of what they think about a group. 2. Psychodynamic model, favored by mental health professionals without direct experience with cult members ‐ says people join a cult because of what the group does for them, it fulfills unconscious psychological needs. 3. Thought Reform model ‐ favored by mental health professionals who have worked with cult members says people join because of a systematic program of psychological manipulation that exploits rather fulfills, needs. The Moo cunningly employs significant aspects of the models presented. You think you are learning eight martial arts from instructors approved by the champion of all Asia because that’s what they advertise. You think you are doing something good as you start to practice, as the cult reinforces that Moo is the best way for you and makes you feel part of an elite group. Then the Moo uses subtle, patient manipulation to entrap you until willingly you sell your core beliefs and give them huge sums of money for “opportunity.” You have given so much; you must have faith in it. Don’t doubt yourself, don’t fight it, give in to Moo. It might be some time before you are able to identify that Moo was a sink, not a source of knowledge and vitality. Until then you push nearly everyone away, not wanting to be further drained. Reasoning be