In trying to understand why this revisionism thing that Rawat and his premies try to pull off bothers me so much, it occurred to me that revisionism, i.e. denial of what happened in the past, is a form of verbal abuse.
Patricia Evans outlines 15 categories of verbal abuse in her book The Verbally Abusive Relationship (highly recommended for anybody who thinks they may experience this in their life). The three categories that seem to fit this situation are:
Countering -- Countering basically tells a person that what they say or think isn't so. Maharaji and the premies are "countering" the ex's experiences of what happened in the past by saying it wasn't that way, or just plain didn't happen. Countering empowers the perpetrator and diminishes the self-worth of the victim.
Blaming - M is blaming the mahatmas and the premies for manufacturing claims of his divinity, thereby avoiding any responsibility himself. Blaming is a major category of abuse, because it switches the dynamic around where the perpetrator is now in control, and the victim is invalidated (double-whammy).
Discounting - M and the premies are discounting the ex's experiences, saying they weren't what they were, and were less important, apparent or significant than they were.
All types of verbal abuse seek to empower the abuser, and put down or humiliate the receiver. So, my interpretation, according to these guidelines, of what whitewashing is, is that it is a form of verbal abuse. As if the whole cult experience wasn't enough, he has to continue to insult us by being abusive on top of everything else. His abusive nature has been talked about more than once, I believe, but this revisionism thing really smacks of it to me, also.
So, not only does he not apologize for past behavior, he actively continues such types of behaviour by being verbally abusive to anyone who speaks the truth about his divinity claims. This is one of the reasons it gets under my skin so much, as oftentimes verbal abuse is not apparent, you just know something is wrong but can't quite put your finger on it. Then when it does become clear, you go "aha!" That's why it's really important to have things like Mike's article, and the articles on EPO to document and chronicle exactly what happened, and exactly who was (and is) in charge of it all.
Premies, by defending Maharaji's whitewash claims, are taking on the role of becoming abusers in his stead, and that's a tragedy.
