I wonder how many people join thinking "this is all crazy" but do it to be in with the right crowd and make business connections?
and it is SO, SO crazy. how can anyone in their right mind... well the surface "self help" level is not so far fetched i suppose, and even the fake machines - if you are extremely gullible and really in need of SOMETHING to hold on to know what i mean? but just a little deeper, all the SP's and Orgs and lizard gods from other dimensions? how in the fuck anyone above the age of 6 can take any of it serious is fucking beyond me.
so the answer in MY humble opinion, having lived in LA for 12 years, is 95%+ of the members are in the social club to be in the right crowd trying to make the right connections. fact that it's on preposterous grounds don't matter one bit -- it's all just ego and money.
Once you're in too its not as if you can opt out.
all the alleged persecution of ex-members - what's scary is there is probably a lot of weight to it when they say "you will never work in this city again". and when they want somebody to disappear? no one probably ever heard from them again.
had a wealthy venture captialist friend who used to tell me stories... straight out of some Raymond Chandler novel. except more crazy. so crazy that it's completely believable.