“L” was a girlfriend of Keith Alan Raniere before he became the notorious Vanguard of the Nxivm cult.
By L
I find the story of Keith Raniere telling his followers that they were former Nazis really bizarre, along with things like claiming people caused the shuttle Challenger explosion or the 9/11 terrorist attack because they didn’t do what Raniere wanted.
I can wrap my head around some of his other manipulative scripts’ effects on people (my past young, naive self knows that all too well), but this one is hard to fathom.
I would have laughed if he tried this on me.
A multimeter is an electronic measuring instrument that combines several measurement functions in one unit. A typical multimeter can measure voltage, current, and resistance.
He once tried to impress me with a multimeter that showed activity when he went near it and none when I did.
I figured he probably had a heavy-duty magnet concealed some way to fool me.
Or that there was some other reasonable explanation that just didn’t warrant my time and energy to figure out.
The idea that it somehow reveals his spiritual superiority is ridiculous, but I’d bet he used the same sort of trick to fool his followers into believing he didn’t drive because he set off police radar detectors. In fact, he lost his license because he collected numerous traffic violations for which he never paid up. At least not while I was with him.
So let’s guess – who was Raniere in his past life? I’ll throw out Rasputin as a candidate. Anyone else wanna play? And me, I was probably some low-level grunt conscripted into the front lines of the German army.
Hopefully, I went AWOL and joined the French resistance.
Raniere’s mental picture of the “ideal woman”.
As a Narcissist, no one would ever measure up to that complete picture permanently which is why he was always in Pygmalion mode – trying to “improve” the models he already had to create that ideal.
Perhaps also part of his “need” to own many women – no one woman could match the ideal.
From the movie Sweeney Todd – which is the story of Benjamin Barker, a.k.a Sweeney Todd, who sets up a barber shop down in London that is the basis for a sinister partnership with his fellow tenant, Mrs. Lovett. It was based on the Broadway musical – which, incidentally, Keith Raniere never got to star in.
Keith Raniere – he could have been a Hollywood or Broadway star if only people recognized his talent.
Keith Cast as Sweeney Todd?
Keith Raniere wanted to play the title role in Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street but ended up cast as Pirelli, the sham street barber.
Ironically, that was related to another “Don’t say no to Keith’s ego” incident.
The last summer I was with him, he asked my opinion if he could be cast as the lead role in next year’s production of Sweeney Todd.
I said I didn’t think so – that they would probably go for a more physically imposing actor with a more baritone voice.
He was furious at me and made sure I knew it. It was just another nail in the coffin of our relationship – I was done being treated like that.
Don’t want my honest opinion, then don’t ask.
Incidentally, they did cast exactly the kind of actor I proposed, and additionally, one far more capable of portraying the tragic emotional creature that the role requires. Can’t portray those emotions well if you don’t even understand them.
During the run of the show, he made sure to inform me that a Hollywood talent scout was attending to see his work. At that point, I had been out of the relationship for many months. I don’t think I even bothered to respond. Pretty much avoided any interaction with him at all which wasn’t too hard since our roles didn’t intersect at all.
