Reception

Maggie Billingsley

 The Rajneesh was first exposed to media in 1978 when Time magazine featured an article called "God Sir." This article was not the best article for the Rajneesh considering the fact that the media was never really on their side. The Rajneesh commune was harassed by media and overlooked by society into thinking this commune was so negative. It almost seemed as if the FBI's goal to tear this commune down. The FBI went out of their way to investigate even further after the Rajneesh commune had already collapsed, to break it down even more.

The Rajneesh have been a form of fascination and horror according to the media. The media has very much affected the way people that do not follow the Rajneesh look at them and think about them. Rajneesh is known for his revelation on sex and has constructed a vision of the new man that holds reputation to prior norms.

 According to Rajneesh, a man is free to carve out the cosmos of his own image. This means that they are able to basically sculpt themselves and define themselves the way they see themselves even if it is biased. This was what the media fed off of and was a reason why media and outsiders were against the Rajneesh. 

The media remained super consumed in the Rajneesh sex related actions that went on in the commune. They were accused of marrying and having sex with minors and that is when all of the terrorism accusations happened as well. It is not secret that the media destroyed this commune one accusation at a time. As I said before, even far after the Rajneesh had begun to collapse, they were still under investigation by the FBI and media instead of given a chance by outsiders.


 I like the article I chose because it was very precise as to what went on for the Rajneesh and is reliable to learn more about how media affected the Rajneesh commune.

 http://www.equip.org/article/the-rajneesh-cult/


Comments

  1. UnknownNovember 10, 2017 at 2:05 PM

    Great post, you did a great job on explaining the affect the media had on Rajneesh. I think it is very hard to keep a positive look on something when if you research it all you read is negative things about it. It sounds like Rajneesh never got a break when it came to the media, and once one bad thing happened the media would step in an blow it up. This really affects the group because it was most likely hard for them to get new members to join when all they keep receiving is negative media press. I also think when law enforcement is involved it is even harder to keep a good reputation, and it was on going. Just reading this I can tell the media played a big part in destroying this commune.

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  2. PriyankaNovember 15, 2017 at 1:02 PM

    I really like your post. I like how you talked about how media was not on Rajneesh's side. As you mentioned that Rajneesh were accused of having sex and marrying minors I feel media to this day will have something negative to say about it, since minors are involved. I agree with Brian that because media played a negative role, it was hard for new member to join the commune.

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